By Indigo Quashie
Hey advocates,
In celebration of the success of Illinois HIV Advocacy Day on March 9, 2022, I wanted to discuss the importance of communal support and recovery. Hundreds of you took time out of your Wednesday schedules to advocate for AIDS Foundation Chicago’s (AFC) legislative bills that will get us closer to zero, and I...
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By Indigo Quashie
SPRINGFIELD – Late in the evening on Thursday, March 3, 2022, AIDS Foundation Chicago staff, as leaders of a broad community coalition, celebrated legislation crossing the first lawmaking hurdle to making HIV prevention medications more accessible through local pharmacies. The bill, HB4430: Increased Access to PrEP & PEP Through Community Pharmacies...
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By Indigo Quashie
SPRINGFIELD — Last week on Wednesday, Februrary 23 rd , HB4656/SB3490: Disrupting Disparities for LGBTQ+ Older Adults and Older Adults Living with HIV was passed through the Illinois State Senate with a bipartisan vote of 37-09! While SB3490’s advancement is far from over, as it still needs to be voted on by the House, news like this reminds us...
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Meet AFC's new Board of Directors members
AFC welcomes eight new members to it's board and associate board.
Tanya Lopez (she/her/hers) joined the AFC board in 2022. She currently serves as the Director for the Council on Medical Education for the American Medical Association (AMA). Tanya provides leadership in all aspects of the work of the Council, which reviews and proposes...
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By Meg McElroy
SPRINGFIELD – Today, HB4430 — Increased Access to PrEP and PEP sponsored by Rep. Kelly M. Cassidy—was introduced to continue to address the health disparities communities disproportionately impacted by the HIV epidemic face, and to take steps to end the HIV epidemic in Illinois by 2030. Rep. Cassidy commented, “expanding access to this life-saving...
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By Indigo Quashie
Peter Toepfer, Executive Director, Center for Housing and Health
“One of the hallmarks of White Supremacy is fixing the problem and trying to directly come to a solution rather than sit with the discomfort. Rather than taking the time to really do things right and allow for different levels of work.”
When asked about his experience...
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By Indigo Quashie
Jerome Montgomery, Executive Director of Project Vida
Content warning for topics involving sexual violence and drug abuse.
20 years ago, if you saw Jerome Montgomery, then an electrical engineer and software developer and were told he would become the Executive Director of an organization that fought to support Latino and Black gay, bisexual, and...
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AFC Board Chair Craig W. Johnson, photographed by Bailey Williams
By Bailey Williams
CHICAGO--Today, on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC) is announcing its first-ever racial equity action plan, a three-year plan intended to heal past harms and achieve racial equity within AFC and the Center for Housing and Health (CHH)'s...
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Speaking under the dome of the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois Governor JB Pritzker delivered his annual State of the State and Budget address on February 2, 2022. Acknowledging that the state “continues to battle an invisible enemy [COVID-19]”, Governor Pritzker outlined his $45.4 billion Fiscal Year 2023 budget that includes substantial investments in education,...
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AIDS Foundation Chicago ( AFC) is proud to announce its 2022 state legislative policy agenda . G rounded in racial health equity, t hese legislative priorities are and will help advance the goals and priorities of the Getting to Zero Illinois (GTZ-IL) plan to end the HIV epidemic by 2030.
W e are extremely grateful for the collaboration of the...
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