by Ashley Slupski and Raven Feagins

Please join us in welcoming four new members to the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) Board of Directors, congratulating our new Board chair, Anna Laubach, and honoring our past Board chair, Ben Stringfellow. The 30-member Board helps AFC achieve health equity and justice for people living with HIV by setting strategic direction and raising funds for the organization while staying true to our mission.

“In a year where we have chaos in Washington and still lack a state budget, many of our organization’s values are under assault,” said President/CEO John Peller. “I’m proud that AFC’s Board brought on this new group of incredibly diverse members to contribute their knowledge and experience to help AFC thrive in challenging times.”

We look forward to working with these incredible individuals to create justice and equity for people living with and vulnerable to HIV and related chronic diseases!

	Ben Stringfellow – Outgoing Board Chair We thank Stringfellow for his tremendous work as our Board Chair and look forward to continue working with him as a board member. As Board Chair, he oversaw the six-month, national search for a new CEO and served as a mentor to new CEO John Peller, helping him manage the transition to new leadership. Additionally, Stringfellow helped launch AFC’s new three-year strategic plan, Positive Momentum, setting the stage for AFC to deploy new tactics to end homelessness and the HIV epidemic.
	Anna Laubach – Board Chair Laubach serves as the Director of Special Initiatives at The McCormick Foundation and on the board of Thresholds. She is dedicated to improving access and quality of health, mental health and social services for disadvantaged populations. Prior to becoming Board Chair, Laubach has served on the board since 2008.
	Gary B. Beringer, Dr. P. H. Beringer is a neuroepidemiologist and research methodologist in private practice. He has conducted teaching and research on diverse subjects including health services, health policy, juvenile/adult mental health and juvenile/adult criminal justice.
	Kevin Lamarr James James is a sociologist focused on race, ethnicity and gender and serves as the University of Illinois at Chicago’s director of service learning. He has developed partnerships with more than 200 community-based organizations in Chicago to promote diversity, inclusion and improved race relations.
	Craig Johnson As part of the American Medical Association, Johnson manages the Minority Affairs constituency group and Advisory Committee on LGBTQ Issues to the Board of Trustees. He is passionate about health equity and eliminating health disparities among racial, sexual and gender minorities.
	Nanette Silva Silva serves as program director at Community Memorial Foundation, managing the implementation of the Regional Health and Human Services Agenda for Chicago’s western suburbs. With professional experience in domestic violence services, HIV/AIDS risk reduction for women and adolescents and behavioral health, she brings a wealth of expertise to the AFC Board.

The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) strongly condemns House Republicans’ repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which has provided access to comprehensive healthcare coverage to nearly 24 million Americans and over 1.2 million Illinoisans. The ACA dramatically increased health insurance coverage for people living with HIV in Illinois.  If enacted by the Senate and signed into law by the President, over 12,000 people with HIV in Illinois will lose health coverage. The American Health Care Act (AHCA), which would give states the option to waive rules surrounding essential health benefits and age bans, would be fundamentally harmful to vulnerable Americans including those living with chronic illnesses, young people and older adults.

Click here for a gallery of images calling out Illinois House Republicans and their votes against health care access for all.

Recent amendments to the bill unfortunately weaken discrimination protections for people with pre-existing conditions, like people living with HIV, thus making a bad bill even more awful and morally insensitive. With the AHCA’s $880 billion cut to Medicaid and weakened protections it destabilizes our healthcare delivery system and returns us to a time when healthcare coverage was out of reach for too many people living with and vulnerable to HIV.  “The AIDS Foundation of Chicago knows exactly who will be devastated if the AHCA moves forward – the most vulnerable among us,” said John Peller, president and CEO of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. “This proposed repeal would hurt the sick, the old and the poor. The out-of-pocket costs for individuals would be higher, while coverage and protections would be lower. How long will it be before we, as a country, can agree that access to healthcare is a fundamental right for all?”

After the initial failure of the AHCA, House Republicans under pressure from the Trump Administration and House leadership  led enough members of Congress to pass the revised bill by promising an additional $8 billion toward coverage for pre-existing conditions. This amount is still painfully modest, and millions with pre-existing conditions would lose their health insurance indefinitely, according to independent analysts. Illinois has experienced high-risk pools in the past under its Comprehensive Insurance Plan (ICHIP). IHCIP didn’t work due to unsustainable costs and restricted availability for Illinois consumers, many of them people living with HIV.  America cannot go back to a system were vulnerable patients were forced to gamble on high-risk pools. Repealing the ACA would jeopardize the health and wellbeing of millions of consumers and the protections the ACA affords them, including:

• Health insurance coverage of preventive services, such as cancer screenings and flu shots, without co-pays, coinsurance or deductibles
• Employer-sponsored health insurance providing important consumer protections, such as restricting insurance providers from enforcing an annual and lifetime limit, protection against unfair policy rescissions, and coverage of preexisting health conditions
• Access to any high-quality marketplace coverage purchased through the insurance exchange
• Financial assistance to purchase marketplace coverage in 2016, which is now likely to become unaffordable
• Cost-sharing reductions aimed at lowering out-of-pocket costs like deductibles, co-pays and coinsurance, are now at risk of becoming unaffordable if the cost-sharing reductions are removed
• All coverage by the ACA’s Medicaid expansion

The fight continues and AFC, along with thousands of our advocates and nationwide partners, will now focus our attention to the Senate to prevent this bill from moving forward. While the ramifications of the AHCA will not be immediately felt by the millions of Americans benefiting from the ACA, we cannot let access to healthcare be stopped now or ever. AFC urges Illinoisans and Americans alike to call their Congressional leaders and demand that any revision to healthcare not be detrimental to the health and wellness of all Americans, including those with pre-existing conditions. 

Please distribute the graphics below calling out Illinois House Republicans and their votes for the AHCA, which will restrict health care access for millions in the U.S.

by Dan Frey, Director of Government Relations

Quick update on a busy at the Capitol.

Substantive Legislation

Friday marked the deadline in both houses for substantive bills in their original house to be heard, so there was a great flurry of activity going on on the floor of each house. The bills AFC has been working on with partners include:

• HB 2800 (Flowers – Chicago) – Mandates a second HIV test in the third trimester of a woman’s pregnancy. This bill passed the House unanimously on a vote of 112-0-0 and now moves to the Senate, where Senator Donne Trotter (D-Chicago) will be the lead sponsor.
   
• HB 311 (Harris – Chicago) – Creates the Network Transparency Act which would help to ensure that health insurance providers maintain an adequate network of providers and have that information easily accessible to their members which will make it easier for people living with HIV to understand where they can seek care. This bill passed the House 110-2-1 and now moves to the Senate, where it will be led by Senator Linda Holmes (D-Aurora).
   
• HB 40 (Feigenholtz – Chicago) – This bill strikes a dangerous “trigger” provision in the Illinois abortion law and affirms that Illinois will not go back to the pre-Roe v Wade days of illegal abortion. By removing the anti-choice “trigger” language from the 1975 Act, HB 40 ensures that women’s health care will be protected in Illinois, regardless of what happens to the Supreme Court in a Trump administration. HB 40 also would allow Illinois to use state funds to provide women with health assistance funds that cover the full range of pregnancy-related care, including a woman’s decision to end a pregnancy. HB 40 passed the House on a vote of 62-55-0, and now moves to the Senate with Senator Heather Steans (D-Chicago) leading the effort. Gov. Rauner, though pledging to support these legislative proposals during his 2014 campaign for governor, has recently pledged that he would veto the measure should it reach his desk.
   
• HB 1785 (Harris – Chicago) Amends the Vital Records Act. This bill is a modernization of Illinois’ law that allows transgender individuals to change their gender designation on their birth certificate to reflect their lived gender identity without necessarily undergoing surgery. Many transgender individuals must undergo costly surgery before being allowed to change their birth designation. This legislation was not called for a vote before the deadline due to concerns with the roll call, but we remain hopeful it will be granted an extension to be called in the coming weeks.

Budget News

There was not much in terms of budget progress this past week. The Senate did not immediately take up HB 109, the House’s Lifeline Budget for Human Services and Higher Education, though they could do so in the coming week. Stay tuned.

One call for measured optimism was that Speaker Michael Madigan and Gov. Rauner met for a private meeting last week, something that had not occurred in months. Hopefully that conversation will lead to more and continued fruitful discussions.

The governor over the last several weeks made continual claims that the Senate was close to passage of its Grand Bargain. While that would be cause for much optimism and enthusiasm, members on both sides of the aisle did not share the governor’s appraisal of the deal’s imminent positive prospects.

ACA Repeal Efforts

Republicans in Washington continue to work toward a bill that would receive a majority of support among their own caucus to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, as soon as this week. The amendments being proposed are still just as awful as the original American Health Care Act (AHCA) that was pulled from a floor vote due to a lack of support. Protect Our Care IL continues to lead efforts on the Illinois front to make sure that does not happen. Please visit the website to sign up for the coalition and get involved in the fight to save our health care.

Advocacy Day

AFC is hosting our next Advocacy Day on Wednesday, May 17.  Please click here to register and come make your voices heard loud and clear that we must #Fight4HIVLives and Pass a Positive Budget NOW.

Up Next

The Senate reconvenes in Springfield tomorrow, Tuesday May 2 through Friday, May 5.  The House is in recess this week and will be next returning to session on Tuesday, May 9.

About the blog

BudgetWatch is a weekly update from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s on-the-ground team in Springfield about the state’s longstanding budget impasse. Follow along at aidschicago.org/budgetwatch.

by Cristal

As a child of immigrants, I was taught to migrate in order to survive. In the past three years, I have bounced in between California, Chicago, and Mexico searching for both community and financial stability. One thing that I have learned as a migrating queer chicanx is that outside of protests (and sometimes even then) and queer+trans circles – we are constantly FORCED to talk about sex.

As womxn, as genderqueer or trans folks, we don’t always have the choice of being the sexperts.

Our own identities and chosen paths force us to learn to talk about sex and to discover new and creative ways of finding pleasure in our own and other’s bodies.

Attempting to unveil the many ways in which we are forced to talk about sex, as womxn, as non-heterosexuals, and non-gender conforming folks, I realized we are best when speaking from experience. Along the same vein, I began reflecting on various situations – that are not uncommon in which I was asked to be a sexpert for someone else’s sole benefit. I call these, ‘what the fuck’ moments.

Read the rest of Cristal’s reflection at Sexperts Slay, a project of AFC in honor of National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.

Young activist Ava Santos-Volpe, age 12, is a girl on a mission. While working on a class leadership project two years ago, Ava asked a youth homelessness advocate to visit her school to discuss Chicago’s youth housing crisis. After learning more, Ava decided she needed to help — but didn’t know how. That summer, while on a family trip to Florida, she spotted a parking meter collecting coins to donate to a homeless shelter. Something clicked.

Santos-Volpe had always aspired to be like her LGBTQ activist moms, Theresa and Mercedes. “All my life, my moms influenced me to make a difference, to try and help people,” she says. 

Santos-Volpe was moved to connect with Pride Action Tank, a project of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC), and multimedia artist Sam Kirk. Together, they created Ava’s Change4Youth, an art mentorship program that raises awareness of youth homelessness – a problem that disproportionately affects LGBTQ teens. 

Now Santos-Volpe and her family have teamed up with AFC to enter Ava’s Change4Youth into the USA Today Network’s grant program, A Community Thrives. The online competition invites members of the community to view Santos-Volpe’s video and vote up to once per day to help her compete for a $50,000 or $100,000 award.

If she wins, Santos-Volpe plans to use the money to kick off the project, which will:

• Pair participating youth with prominent artists to transform repurposed parking meters into captivating public art pieces. Artist mentors will work with youth to help them create a personalized meter representing their own journey 
• Install meters as donation stations across the city, collecting coins to be disbursed among local nonprofit groups
• Collect more change through “art house” boxes, painted by youth and positioned in retail businesses
• Empower youth by placing them on an advisory board to decide how collected funds will be allocated. While actively working to problem-solve, young people will be encouraged to share their stories, develop leadership skills and build a sense of community

Ava’s Change4Youth goes beyond helping teens find a place to live to create a ripple effect that impacts their holistic health and well-being. “Faced with no other options, more than 20,000 young adults and students in Chicago are looking for a home, not just overnight shelter,” says John Peller, AFC’s President/CEO. AFC cares deeply about helping them get back on their feet and giving them opportunities to succeed.”

To watch the video and vote for Ava’s Change4Youth, visit http://act.usatoday.com/submit-an-idea/#/gallery/60313503/. 

Pride Action Tank, AARP and Affinity Community Services will host OUTAging: Summit on Our Possibilities, including an opening reception, on May 23-25. The summit will bring together LGBTQ older adults, service providers, clinicians and advocates from across the nation to talk about the needs of LGBTQ older adults (55+ years of age) in the Chicago region.

OUTAging will begin with an opening reception at Affinity Community Services, 2850 S Wabash Ave, on Tuesday, May 23, from 6-8 p.m. Summit days will take place on May 24 and 25, 9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m., at the Chicago offices of AARP, 222 N. LaSalle St. OUTAging’s lead sponsor is Lambda Legal, and other sponsors include AARP, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and Chicago Foundation for Women.

The Wednesday, May 24, summit day is free to attend and only for LGBTQ older adults who are not paid staff of service providers or related institutions. There is a registration fee for Thursday, May 25, which is targeted to service providers, clinicians, researchers, advocates and others who are interested in improving outcomes for LGBTQ older adults.

Guest keynote speakers include Barbara Satin, transgender activist and assistant faith work director for The National LGBTQ Task Force, and Imani Woody, PhD, founding director and president of Mary’s House for Older Adults in Washington, D.C. Panel speakers include Dr. Magda Houlberg from Howard Brown Health, Karen Loewy from Lambda Legal, Dr. Adeyemi Oluwatoyin from Stroger Hospital, and Serena Worthington from SAGE. Facilitated discussion topics include health and well-being, personal safety and security, and community and connections.

Heron Greenesmith, senior policy analyst for the Movement Advancement Project (MAP) will also present findings from MAP’s latest report, Understanding Issues Facing LGBT Older Adults, which will be released at OUTAging.

There are 1.5 million LGBTQ older adults in the U.S.; approximately 40,000 of them live in Chicago. These numbers are expected to double by 2030. From lack of acknowledgement of families of choice to the challenges of meeting the needs of an aging population living with HIV to forcing people back into the closet when they reside in senior facilities, it is evident that our systems of care often do not work for LGBTQ older adults.

The summit’s goals are to:

• Create a platform that centers the voices and experiences of LGBTQ older adults to shed light on the issues they face and gaps in services, resources and opportunities;
• Provide a diverse and inclusive forum for redefining aging and care; and
• Develop an agenda for advocacy, resources and inclusion with and for LGBTQ older adults.

OUTAging is organized by a planning committee that includes LGBTQ older adults as well as staff from AARP, Affinity Community Services, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Center on Halsted, Pride Action Tank, University of Illinois at Chicago and SAGE.

Participants must register here for each activity they plan to attend.

Early-bird registration for Day 2 of OUTAging is $35. After May 12, registration is $45. Breakfast and lunch will be provided for May 24 and 25. To register for activities and learn more, go to bit.ly/outaging.

Pride Action Tank is a project of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. Our mission is to improve the health, safety and progress of individuals and groups within the LGBTQIA community by inspiring, supporting and leading collaborative action that improves policy, service, access and community dynamics in the core areas of housing, health, safety, financial security, youth and aging.

Unexpected life challenges can propel us to become more involved with our communities. For Anton X, re-connecting with his father and getting tested for HIV were the pivotal moments that led him to become the HIV advocate he is today. Now at 23 years old, he is changing the face of leadership in the health equity movement.

Originally from Maywood, a village just outside of Chicago, X currently lives in Aurora. He made the move with his mom over seven years ago, after she decided she wanted to be closer to her family. While X and his mom have always had a close, strong relationship, he can’t say the same for the relationship with his dad.

“We have had a bit of a spotty relationship since my childhood,” says X. “But once I became 18 years of age, I wanted to explore a more in-depth view of manhood.”

X moved to the south side of Chicago to reconnect with his dad in hopes of developing a tighter bond. Here, X learned about his father’s involvement with the Black Panther Party Cubs (BPPC). The group’s mission is to empower and support oppressed communities through acts of community service. They draw from the Black Panther Party’s ideology developed in the late 1960s. This messaging immediately drew X to the group and he knew that this was something he wanted to be a part of.

In fall of 2014, X began participating in a service events with BPPC to bring food and other immediate resources to communities throughout the Chicago area. They traveled to different neighborhoods, and X had the chance to see, first hand, the positive impact that this group had on people. 

“People come together and we bring masses of food … We’re doing this as a community. Day in and day out in this city, most people don’t even recognize [us] … This is our duty for the people.”

X not only grew closer to his dad during this time, but also felt connected to a larger cause. He felt a new sense of purpose. However, after about a year, X began feeling homesick and decided to move back to Aurora with his mom. He still stayed connected to BPPC and often made trips between the two cities to continue participating in service events.

In January of 2015, X made one of his frequent trips into Chicago, but this time he decided it was time to finally visit a health center to address the “unsettling feeling” he was ignoring for some time. X went to a hospital on the south side to get tested for HIV – his results came back positive. X felt numb and overwhelmingly insecure after hearing his results. He did not want to talk about his status with anyone. The hospital referred him to Open Door Health Center in Aurora so he could receive services and figure out his next steps for treatment.

This was a new world for X and a new part of life to navigate. “It was a slow start,” says X when talking about first working with his case manager. “It was a new crowd, but we eventually got acquainted.” HIV was not something X imagined would be a part of his life.

“It’s good to know that you live with it, but it doesn’t really take the worry away.”

X consulted with his case manager for several months and developed a stronger relationship with her. Her connections helped him find resources beyond HIV treatment and re-focused his energy on personal development.

“She does do a lot of resourcing … I can come in sometimes and ask her ‘My finances are completely crap. Do you have help for that?’ and she’ll sit me down and I’ll have several different opportunities … She’s good like that!”

In addition to helping him manage his finances, X’s case manager connected him to events and trainings to familiarize him with this his new community of people living with HIV. The 24^th Annual Illinois HIV/STD Conference in Springfield, Illinois kick-started X’s activism and advocacy for people living with HIV. X was surrounded by people who were striving, like him, to make a difference while thriving with HIV.

Following the conference, X dedicated himself to connecting with the HIV community in Aurora. Luckily, Open Door Health Center, a prominent organization in Aurora, connects people living with HIV to health services and partners with the AIDS Foundation of Chicago on trainings, community events and advocacy.

“First I was a patient, then advocacy became part of it. They sent me to some training seminars [at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago].”

With these new skills, X confidently participated in his first Advocacy Day with advocates from across Illinois in May of 2016. This was his first taste of HIV/AIDS advocacy. X quickly embraced the role of an advocate and understands the importance of sharing his story and uplifting others to do the same. 

“I think it’s important to share. Everybody should share their own story … not just people who are positive,” says X. “I share my story mainly to kind of shed a light on some of the things I’ve seen from my own perspective.”

X participated in a number of round-table discussions focused on HIV and continues to attend every conference, advocacy day and BPPC community event he can. His dedication to learning, sharing resources and connecting with communities continues daily, and will only end once everyone has equitable access to resources.

by Dan Frey, Director of Government Relations

Though the Senate spent last week in recess, the House was in session in Springfield, and I wanted to provide a quick update on how things are progressing in our state capitol.

Budget Update

Unfortunately, there has been little public movement on a state budget in Springfield in either house since the Senate’s Grand Bargain was shelved by Gov. Rauner telling Senate Republicans to remove their support some weeks ago. Despite that stalling, the House and Senate continue to hold subject matter hearings with department leaders on the governor’s proposed budgets. 

Substantive Legislation

Initiatives AFC has been working on with our partners all moved out of committees in previous weeks, and now we await their call on the House floor.  We expect HB 2800 (Flowers-Chicago) to be called for a floor vote in the coming week, and hope to be able to provide updates on when our other legislation will be moving soon.

ACA Repeal Efforts

As you’ve likely heard, on Friday President Trump and House Republicans announced they would not be calling their Affordable Care Act (ACA, aka Obamacare) repeal and replace bill, the American Health Care Act (AHCA) and announced that they would be moving on from the issue for the time being. This is an amazing win for us, and I want to say a personal thank you to each and every one of you who called your legislators, went to rallies, marched or made your voices heard in other ways. You made this happen, and that is worth celebrating. We must be strong and vigilant, as this is a battle won, but we can assume that they will not be stepping away from this core campaign promise for too long.

Advocacy Days

AFC’s first Advocacy Day of the year is next week, April 4! We hope to be seeing you there, but if you can’t make it, please be sure to click here to register for our May Advocacy Day on May 17.

Up Next

Both the House and Senate reconvene in Springfield tomorrow, Tuesday March 28. The Senate will hold session through Thursday, while the House will remain through Friday.

About the blog

BudgetWatch is a weekly update from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s on-the-ground team in Springfield about the state’s longstanding budget impasse. Follow along at aidschicago.org/budgetwatch.

Confused about the what the American Health Care Act (AHCA) will mean for you? Want to know how it differs from the Affordable Care Act (ACA)? Take our quiz to learn more. Then call your legistor to ask them to vote NO on AHCA.