by Dan Frey, Director of Government Relations
Good afternoon everyone, I wanted to update you all on some of the developments that occurred during the week of April 18, in Springfield. It was Third Reading deadline week, meaning all bills that originated in either house needed to be passed out by the end of the day Friday in order to be considered in the opposite house moving forward...
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by Eryn MacNeil
If you’re a young woman who has experienced hiring discrimination and a lack of resources, it would be easy to give up. Instead, Meghan Williams has turned her past experiences into a way to help others.
As a 21-year-old transgender woman, she works with AFC’s Project Elevate, a peer-led STI prevention campaign, on its Youth Expert Advisory Board,...
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by Jasmine Tucker, AFC Associate Board Co-chair and HIV advocate
As I was riding the Pink Line to 200 W. Jackson Blvd at 5 a.m., I had no clue what HIV Advocacy Day was going to bring. I was nervous, because this was my first time having a chance to potentially meet face-to-face with my legislators, Representative (and Majority Leader) Barbara Flynn Currie and Senator Kwame Raoul. I knew...
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by Mirhanda Alewine
CommunityLinks, a program of the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC), contracts with managed care health insurance plans to offer a variety of services to their members. One of the services CommunityLinks offers is Reach and Locate, which aims to find and engage members in their health care plans, ultimately offering them services intended to improve care and health outcomes...
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by Dan Frey, Director of Government Relations
Good morning everyone, I just wanted to take a few minutes to update you all on a busy week in Springfield. It was committee deadline week, and as such many pieces of legislation came up for an initial vote. This was a week of movement on substantive bills, but there is also a little budget news. Let’s dive right in to it!...
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by Mirhanda Alewine and Eryn MacNeil
In Plain Sight, from Chicago’s History Moves “mobile museum” project , aims to engage communities in conversation about the history of women living with HIV in Chicago by highlighting the stories of participants in the Women's Interagency HIV Study (WIHS). Eryn MacNeil and Mirhanda Alewine, two AFC staff members, had the opportunity...
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by Dan Frey, Director of Government Relations
Good afternoon everyone! Though the legislature has not been in session for a few weeks now, AFC has been busy in preparing for their return to Springfield on Monday, April 5.
Virtual Advocacy Days
AFC held its second Virtual Advocacy Day on Wednesday, March 23. Over 100 individuals and organizations took to...
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by Josh Boegner, AIDS United Team Chicago AmeriCorps fellow
Every week, the AIDS United Team Chicago participates in a Fifth Day, where the entire team comes together to complete a service project in the community. Recently, we had the opportunity to partner with AIDS United’s Team Cleveland and Team Indianapolis on a “Super” Fifth Day in support of the community...
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by Dan Frey, Director of Government Relations
Good afternoon, everyone! I just wanted to take a quick moment to update you on the March 24 Illinois Supreme Court ruling on AFSCME back pay, and how that might affect the budget process moving forward.
The ruling dealt with an issue that arose back in 2011, in which former Governor Pat Quinn refused to give AFSCME workers a wage...
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by Ramon Gardenhire, Vice President of Policy and Advocacy
Yesterday, the Illinois Senate passed a bill designed to get billions of dollars to universities, college students and a variety of human-services programs. The Democrat-dominated Senate approved the bill SB2059 on a 39-18 vote, with Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed. Two Republicans did not vote....
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