In August, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that new annual HIV infections in the U.S. are 40 percent higher than previously thought. HIV rates are rising among gay and bisexual men, and an epidemic is surging among people of color. At the same time, funding for HIV/AIDS programs has been flat or shrunk for nearly a decade, and people living with or at risk HIV/AIDS increasingly face the challenges of poverty, low self-esteem and homophobia in their communities.

These new numbers don’t surprise us, which is why our prevention programs -- including our African American Gay Men's Health Initiative and Mpowerment youth prevention program -- have been working to reduce infection rates among the hardest hit. It’s why our vital programs get people housed and fed, and help them explore the connections between substance use and HIV risk. After all, these numbers are really people -- men and women who come through our doors every day. Until there’s a national investment to end AIDS in this country, they will count on us -- and we on you -- for life-giving support and care.
  

Craig E. Thompson
Executive Director

On August 1, APLA expanded its service portfolio to provide HIV prevention and care services in the Antelope Valley that were previously delivered by Antelope Valley Hope Foundation (AVHope). With this move, APLA has become the area's provider of dental care, free groceries, case management services and treatment education for people living with HIV/AIDS, as well as a provider of HIV prevention education in the region.

Since 1997, AVHope had provided programs for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS in one of California's most geographically diffuse but fastest growing communities. The Lancaster-based agency ceased operations on July 31. Read more in an interview with APLA Executive Director Craig E. Thompson from the September 1 Antelope Valley Press.

In 2003, shortly after learning he was HIV-positive, Rick Coons moved to Los Angeles, determined to make it on his own. He was reluctant to seek help, but when he learned that APLA offered a group for people newly diagnosed with HIV, Rick found "a community of people who understood what I was going through," he says. He also met with a case manager and began receiving dental care through APLA Dental Services. But it was the group that would have the most profound effect on his life, inspiring him to launch his own career in mental health. Now, each Thursday, he leads an APLA mental health group through a weekly discussion of the challenges, frustrations and successes of life with HIV.

"When I was first diagnosed, I never imagined I’d eventually lead a group for men living with HIV," Rick says. "Now, I can’t imagine doing anything else."

On October 19, "nothing -- absolutely nothing -- will keep me from this year’s AIDS Walk Los Angeles," explains APLA donor Carol Williams. Not even the fact that Carol, who oversees the Los Angeles County office that processes voter registrations, will be just weeks from a presidential election.

"Of course, I’ll be busy," Carol says. Her office will also receive absentee ballots and respond to voter questions. “But I’ve been a part of AIDS Walk for ten years, and I’m always one of the first to sign up. I wouldn’t have it any other way.” Throughout the year, she also volunteers to staff other APLA events.

"A friend once asked me why I spend time fighting AIDS when I personally haven’t lost anyone to the disease," she recalls. "But I explained that this epidemic is bigger than any individual. It affects entire communities, and if I can do something to help, then that becomes a really big deal." 

AIDS Project Los Angeles is taking its advocacy to Washington, DC. On September 15, APLA and several national partners will hold a Congressional Briefing on men who have sex with men and the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. The event will be held in the U.S. Capitol in cooperation with Congresswoman Barbara Lee (D-Calif.). 

Learn more about APLA's global advocacy or join our online activist network today.