AFC News

The HIV Resource Coordination HUB (the HUB) is Chicago’s one-stop shop for comprehensive healthcare, regardless of HIV status.  We know that navigating healthcare sucks – and the HIV Hub is helping to change that.  Now approaching its fourth anniversary, the HUB is a community partnership between AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC) and the Center on Halsted to…

Women, and Black Women, have always been powering the movement to end the HIV epidemic, in Chicago and beyond. One of AFC’s most experienced and impactful leaders is Freddie Shufford, Vice President of Care. We sat down with Freddie during Women’s History month to ask questions about connecting women to care, and about her own…

The Learning Circle Collaborative (LCC) is an organizational development and capacity-building initiative for Black-led Organizations in Chicago, conceived by Dr. Cynthia Tucker of AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC) in 2016. The newest cohort for 2024 consists of small and growing Black-led organizations serving Black Chicagoans through HIV care and prevention. These hard-working community organizations provide access…

By Carolyn Bloom, Harm Reduction Program Manager The Connection to Harm Reduction (C2HR) program, in conjunction with AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC) and Center for Housing and Health (CHH), is proud to support a free Narcan Newsstand that is located just outside of AFC’s offices on the southwest corner of Monroe and Wells in the Loop.…

By Diego Roman, Communications Specialist This week marks the 33rd Anniversary for the Ryan White CARE Act, which provides HIV treatment, care and services to low-income individuals living with HIV. This act is crucial to ending the HIV epidemic, as it aids those in greatest need with medical care, food, and even housing. In honor…

By Livvie Avrick  Did you know just under half of people newly diagnosed with HIV in Illinois are young people ages 13-29, and youth living with HIV are disproportionately Black? Yes! Read that again. This data from the Getting to Zero Illinois Dashboard collected in 2020 highlights the impact of racism as a public health…

This year’s US Conference on HIV and AIDS was held on the island of Puerto Rico in its capital city, San Juan. The island is rich in history with San Juan (founded in 1521) being the oldest city in the US territory and the island itself, after being colonized by Spain and later the US…

AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC) will distribute $8.82 million to 40 organizations to deliver high-quality, cost-effective Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program services in Cook County and surrounding Collar counties. In September 2022, AFC released a Request for Proposals (RFP) to local organizations to support eleven service categories under the Ryan White program. The Ryan White program serves…

By Livvie Avrick The role of Black women in healthcare often goes unseen and undervalued. At AFC, the impact of Black women cannot be overstated. Take the Care team for example, led by four extraordinary black female-identified leaders, Bashirat Olayanju, Lakethia Patterson, Angela Jordan, and Melanie Cross, these women are critical in keeping the Chicago…

By Indigo Quashie Dominique Hayes is the Lead Care Coordination Specialist (CCS) at AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC). She began her work in the field as an intern with Pediatric AIDS Chicago Prevention Initiative (PACPI). Now rebranded as the Mother and Child Alliance (MACA), this initiative provides prenatal and postpartum comprehensive services to pregnant women…

By Ella Shapiro For those of us working to end the HIV epidemic it is not news that housing is health care, but perhaps for others that connection is not so obvious.   When you have a house, steady employment and a primary care provider it becomes easy to prioritize your health because your basic needs are being met. When those same basic needs are not met, it becomes challenging, and…