The AIDS Coalition of Southern New Jersey, which has provided comprehensive services to those living with HIV/AIDS for 22 years, will close its doors this summer.
ACSNJ president Arthur Dion said the agency has not been able to survive recent cuts in government funding.
In the past few years, ACSNJ has seen a 40-percent cut in federal, state and municipal governmental support.
Dion noted that if it weren’t for the agency selling property and being awarded several grants, the decision to close could have come even sooner.
The immediate impetus, however, was the loss of the agency’s.
“The major determinant was that our bank, in whatever wisdom they chose to use, decided that they would eliminate the line of credit, so that pushed us over the edge because we have to have a line of credit to operate,” he said. “We made several attempts at securing other resources, but we were unsuccessful.”
ACSNJ was founded in 1988 and incorporated the following year. At the time of its launch, the organization had only four or five employees but the staff has grown to 30 in the past two decades.
The agency, which is headquartered in Bellmawr and also has a drop-in center in Camden, serves those living in Burlington, Camden, Gloucester and Salem counties and sees about 1,700 clients a year.
The organization offers an array of programs, including case management, prevention and outreach services, a legal department, employment program, food bank, tuition assistance for those who are HIV-positive and their families, support groups and free transportation services to doctor and social-services appointments.
Dion noted that ACSNJ is the only HIV/AIDS community-based agency in the area; the rest are medical providers that situate HIV/AIDS services into wider health programs.
Dion said the organization is connecting with other programs in the area, such as Cooper University Hospital Early Intervention Program and the Garden State Infectious Diseases Associates, in the hopes that such organizations will absorb ACSNJ’s programs and clients.
“We’re hoping that many of our clients will probably move to some of these other providers and we’re hoping they’ll take on the types of services we’ve been providing, but there’s really no assurance of that,” he said.
The entire transition process could take up to two months.