Update: October 17, 2025 – On October 16, Mayor Brandon Johnson released a budget that proposes level funding for HIV delegate agencies. We thank Mayor Johnson for prioritizing HIV services in a challenging budget year.  AFC will continue to monitor the budget process.

On September 29, AIDS Foundation Chicago joined 37 local HIV sector organizations as a signatory on a letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson and Alderpersons Jason Ervin, Chair of the Committee on Budget and Government Operations, and Pat Dowell, Chair of the Committee on Finance, requesting maintenance of $3.35 million in city funding for HIV services in the FY 26 Budget. Stable HIV funding is critical to the work to end the HIV epidemic in Chicago, especially with cuts being threatened on the federal level. The full text of the letter is below.

RE: Maintain $3.35M in City Corporate Funding for HIV Services in the FY26 budget

Sept. 29, 2025

Dear Mayor Johnson, Chair Ervin and Chair Dowell:

Thank you for your shared commitment to ending the HIV epidemic in Chicago and for ensuring we have a strong public health infrastructure in the city. Mayor Johnson, thank you for enthusiastically embracing the Getting to Zero Illinois (GTZ-IL) campaign to end the HIV epidemic in Chicago and Illinois.

While the City has a significant budget deficit for next fiscal year, the 38 undersigned HIV organizations believe it imperative that Chicago maintain city corporate funding for HIV services in the FY26 budget at the current level of $3.35M. Any cut to this Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH) funding is unacceptable and would severely impair the City’s ability to respond to the HIV epidemic in Chicago – which currently, is growing. City corporate dollars represent less than 10% of total funding for HIV services provided to delegate agencies in Chicago and fund critical services that other funding sources cannot and/or do not provide.  The remaining about 90% of funding is from the federal government for HIV prevention, treatment and housing, but much of this funding is slated for elimination by President Trump and Republicans in Congress.

Today, we have the biomedical and behavioral tools and scientific knowledge to stop HIV transmission, ensure people living with HIV live full lives, and protect those at risk. There is clear scientific consensus: people with HIV who achieve viral suppression through treatment cannot transmit the virus. Therefore, linking people to care and implementing prevention programs including pre-exposure prophylaxis medication (PrEP) effectively prevents HIV acquisition. However, these treatment and prevention efforts must reach the communities most impacted, requiring sustained funding.

The number of people newly diagnosed with HIV in Chicago has dropped from a high of 1,800 to approximately 800 in 2023 (the most recent year available). However, we continue to see significant racial health equity challenges in Chicago. In fact, the number of people newly diagnosed with HIV increased from 628 in 2022 to 865 in 2023, a 38% rise. In the Chicago region, the populations most impacted by HIV continue to be Black and Latiné gay and bisexual men, Black women and Black and Latiné transgender women.  Too few people who are most vulnerable to HIV are taking PrEP or, if living with HIV, are virally suppressed. In 2023, over 19,000 people diagnosed with HIV were living in Chicago.

City of Chicago corporate dollars are vital because they can be used to fill critical gaps in federal funding or for purposes that are prohibited under federal rules. Examples of how CDPH has allocated these dollars to community partners include:  

  • Stable housing and supportive services for people who use PrEP: CDPH supports safe and stable housing for Black and Latiné gay and bisexual men who are HIV-negative and who are using PrEP, the HIV prevention medication. This is one of the only programs of its kind in the nation. Outcomes to date include 68 people housed; 97% (66/68 participants) remained HIV negative while in services; 65% gained employment and increased income; 78% transitioned to stable housing. Beyond housing, city corporate funds pay for critical supportive services for people who use PrEP.
  • Sterile syringes, supplies and services to respond to the opioid crisis. CDPH is blocked from using federal funds for sterile syringes, which are vital for preventing opioid-related infectious diseases, including HIV and viral hepatitis. Chicago continues to have record-low numbers of new HIV diagnoses among people who inject drugs, and corporate funding is needed to sustain this important progress. These infectious disease prevention funds are a necessary harm reduction complement to other city-funded programming serving people who use drugs, including substance use disorder treatment and recovery services.
  • Out-of-pocket medical cost support and emergency housing for people who use PrEP: The HIV prevention medication, PrEP, is a vital part of Chicago’s strategy to end the HIV epidemic. However, even small increases in the cost of PrEP or related medical services can cause people who take PrEP to abandon their medication (Dean 2024). CDPH funds can be used to cover 100% of medical out-of-pocket costs for people who take PrEP; this is particularly vital for people who are uninsured. CDPH corporate dollars are also allocated for people who take PrEP who need emergency rental payments to prevent homelessness.
  • Flexible funding for population centered health homes and primary care providers: CDPH funds 12 population centered health homes that deliver comprehensive HIV prevention and care services, including health care. City corporate dollars are used at these organizations and other medical providers for health care, outreach, transportation, medication adherence counseling for prevention and treatment, to amplify HIV awareness activities, to support HIV testing and linkage, and more.

 Any funding cut to City of Chicago corporate funding for HIV services would unquestionably worsen HIV outcomes in Chicago and would increase the number of people who are diagnosed with HIV and who are not engaged in life-saving treatment. The average lifetime cost of medical care for someone diagnosed with HIV is approximately $420,000, much of which is paid for by public funding sources.

Maintaining stable funding for HIV prevention and treatment programs is the fiscally responsible choice: it costs far less to prevent new cases than to manage them after the fact. Although there is much work to do to improve racial and ethnic health equity in Chicago, abandoning that commitment now would be both short-sighted and harmful to the city’s health and economic security.

Thank you for your commitment to ending the HIV epidemic in Chicago. For more information, contact John Peller, President & CEO, AIDS Foundation Chicago.

Sincerely,

  • Agape Mission, NFP
  • AIDS Foundation Chicago
  • Ascension Illinois Housing & Health Alliance
  • Asian Human Services DBA Trellus
  • Black Leadership Advocacy Coalition for Healthcare Equity
  • Brave Space Alliance
  • CALOR
  • Center on Halsted
  • Chicago Black Gay Men’s Caucus
  • Chicago House & Social Services Agency
  • Chicago Women’s AIDS Project
  • CQLC NFP
  • Deborah’s Place
  • Equity Alliance Health of Illinois
  • Esperanza Health Centers
  • Haymarket Center
  • Heartland Human Care Services
  • In Demand Entertainment
  • Legal Council for Health Justice
  • Life is Work
  • Medical Organization for Latino Advancement
  • Michael Reese Research and Education Foundation
  • Mother and Child Alliance
  • Near North Health
  • Neelyx Labs
  • Nefuse
  • Open Door Health Center of Illinois
  • Primo Center
  • Proactive Community Services
  • Project Vida Inc.
  • Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago
  • Sinai Infectious Disease Center
  • South Side Help Center
  • TaskForce Prevention and Community Services
  • The Boulevard of Chicago
  • The Chicago Recovery Alliance
  • The Puerto Rican Cultural Center (TransChicago, Vida/SIDA and El Rescate Permanent Supportive Housing)
  • Vivent Health + TPAN