The AIDS Activities Coordinating Office announced the recipients of a funding program for HIV-prevention efforts this week, and a number of local HIV/AIDS service organizations were absent from the list.
The High-Impact HIV Prevention Services awards, funded by the Centers for Disease Control, totaled about $2.8 million, split among 15 agencies, compared with 22 in the most recent cycle.
According to the CDC, the High-Impact Prevention efforts use “combinations of scientifically proven, cost-effective and scalable interventions” targeted to certain populations to reduce new HIV infections and work to maximize prevention efforts among those most at risk, including gay and bisexual men and transgender men and women.
The funding is divided into six categories: testing in health-care settings, targeted testing, social network strategy testing, comprehensive prevention with positives, health education/risk reduction and local intervention.
According to a spokesperson for the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, the CDC this cycle shifted emphasis from health education/risk reduction for HIV-negative individuals to the other testing categories and efforts with those who are HIV-positive.
The PDPH said that 33 agencies submitted 73 proposals for consideration for the funding and that “past performance” was a key criteria in selecting the awardees.
Among the agencies that received the funding, those focused specifically on the LGBT community are Mazzoni Center, SafeGuards, Prevention Point Philadelphia’s Trans-Health Information Project and The Attic Youth Center.
Agencies that did not receive funding for the next cycle included Action AIDS and The Colours Organization Inc.
Mazzoni received a total of $665,480, with funding in four of the six categories, except for testing in healthcare settings and local intervention.
Nurit Shein, executive director of Mazzoni, said the organization recieved $610,000 in the previous funding cycle, adding that AACO awarded them level funding in two categories, an increase in one category and a decrease in a fourth category.
SafeGuards received $61,248 for social networking efforts, TIP got $75,000 for comprehensive prevention with positives and $75,000 for health education/risk reduction and The Attic received $50,000 for health education/risk reduction.
At least two organizations that work with LGBT and HIV/AIDS communities and that had been funded in the past through the program were not awarded this cycle: Colours and Action AIDS.
According to PDPH, Colours is currently receiving $190,000 through the program: $80,000 for HIV testing and counseling, $70,000 for local intervention and $40,000 for a social-networking strategy.
Colours board director John Clayton said the board will meet in the coming weeks to address the significant loss.
Action AIDS received $233,000 in the last cycle but was awarded nothing this time around.
Action AIDS executive director Kevin Burns said the organization was funded through the program for a number of years, and most recently received $154,000 that was used for testing and referrals and $79,000 that it used for comprehensive risk counseling and services.
Burns followed up with AACO after the awards were announced and said he was told that, while Action AIDS’ application was “strong,” the number of positive HIV tests it had been generating wasn’t high enough to warrant the funding.
The current funding cycle ends at the end of December, so Burns said the agency will have to make some quick decisions.
“This is going to have a huge impact on our prevention and testing work,” Burns said. “We’re still assessing what this is going to mean in terms of staffing and programming, but I know we are going to have to pull back on our programs and eliminate some of our services. This was our largest source for prevention and testing funding, so I’m pretty devastated.”
Numerous agencies not currently funded through the program but that had applied for the coming cycle were not selected.
BEBASHI and the Gay and Lesbian Latino AIDS Education Initiative sought funding through the social-network program, while Philadelphia FIGHT also applied for that category, as well as targeted testing and health education/risk reduction.
FIGHT director of development and communications Mark Seaman said the agency was “disappointed” it had not been selected.
“There were many qualified and capable applicants, but unfortunately we weren’t selected,” Seaman said.
The PDPH spokesperson said funding for people of color organizations was “part of the discussion” and that the program is “only part of the prevention portfolio.”
Local agencies are also eligible for money through state and local programs, Enhanced Comprehensive Planning and direct CDC funding, all of which he said were taken into consideration “in making decisions in order to spread funding around.”
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].