By Cheyenne Butler and Raven Feagins
It's 2018 and gender identity beyond the binary is here and more visible than ever before!
Young people are paving the way for a society evolved from the gender roles we learned about in grade school. We want everyone to feel safe and accepted. Here are a few things to keep in mind so that your language is affirming and inclusive.
Want...
Read more...
By Andrea Callow, Associate Director of Medicaid Initiatives at Families USA
HHS has issued its first two approvals for state Medicaid waivers that make a person's health coverage contingent on their work status. Kentucky and Indiana are the first states to get approval for waivers that tie coverage to work. Other states that are seeking approval for similar waivers include New Hampshire,...
Read more...
The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) is deeply concerned by the Rauner Administration’s unilateral decision to not spend $9.7 million in approved HIV funding that was appropriated by the Illinois state legislature in FY 18, without any public disclosure or notification of this decision. In its response to a recent Freedom of Information Act request filed by AFC, the Illinois Department...
Read more...
By Marq
This post originally appeared on January 24, 2017 on Angry Black Hoemo . Marq is an activist based in Chicago who proudly and un-apologetically expresses their truth.
…but not in the way they’d like to think.
So, at the time of this being published, we’re 2 weeks from National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day . I think this is as good of a time...
Read more...
Update: IDPH released budget information and responded to AFC's FOIA request. Click here to read our findings.
How has the Illinois Department of Public Health spent the $25 million in state funds budgeted for HIV services in FY18? The AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) doesn’t know, and we’re disappointed in this lack of transparency regarding taxpayer dollars...
Read more...
Helping people leaving Illinois’ jails and prisons thrive is at the core of the Safe & Sound Return Partnership (SSRP), a three-year program that started in October that will connect 215 returning citizens Led by the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) and funded by a $900,000 federal grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), SSRP will also partner with and train...
Read more...
AFC and Pride Action Tankstrongly condemn the announcement by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create the Conscience and Religious Freedom Division (CRFD) in the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR). The Trump administration and HHS announced the CRFD will be tasked with “restoring federal enforcement of our nation’s laws that protect the fundamental and...
Read more...
By Raven Feagins
Dec. 13, 2017 was a cold night on the west side of Chicago, but just over 30 community members from across the city made the trip to gather at Malcom X College for the first Getting to Zero Illinois town hall . Getting to Zero is a state-wide initiative that will end the HIV epidemic in Illinois by implementing a statewide plan that is informed by communities most affected...
Read more...
By Brian Solem
Housing and health are inseparably linked. You’re more likely to be in consistently good health if your housing costs (rent or mortgage plus utilities, groceries and other household needs) take up a limited slice ( 30% by most estimates ) of your overall budget. If you are barely making ends meet, your health might show it, and you become more susceptible to unstable...
Read more...
