At the end of September, Arturo Bendixen retired from his role as the executive director of the Center for Housing and Health, a supporting organization for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago that has focused on innovative housing models to shift the landscape of supportive housing in Chicago and across the U.S. Art worked at AFC and the Center for a combined 13 years. Taking his role as the Center’s...
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By Jennifer Moreno, CADC
To honor National Recovery Month, we asked AFC’s Certified Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse Counselor (CADC) to reflect on the difficult road to recovery. Since July 2015, Moreno has conducted health assessments for 42 of AFC’s housing clients who are regular or recovering users of drugs and alcohol, and she has developed treatment plans with 23 clients...
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by Mirhanda Alewine
The AIDS Foundation of Chicago's Corrections Case Management program aims to support detainees living with HIV as they transition from incarceration, providing them with case managers to help connect them to care and housing. Darlene Davis divulges her experiences with incarceration and HIV, explaining the impact of her corrections case manager.
What does...
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by Malary Gregory
Kasey White is a student and advocate for homeless youth in Chicago, specifically those who identify with the LGBTQ community. She has been featured in the documentary Homestretch, which followed three homeless youth living in Chicago as they navigated completing high school and building their futures. In 2014, she was awarded with the Windy City Times’ 30 Under...
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by Eryn MacNeil
The apartment is dimly lit, but spacious. There isn’t much decoration, but it’s well-kept. It’s a short walk up in a neat brick building on a tree-lined street. Today, the shades are drawn, but on the weekends the apartment is filled with children. Jeanette Thomas spent several years being homeless, battling addiction, and was recently diagnosed with breast...
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by Mirhanda Alewine
Access to Care is an in-home substance use counseling program run through the AIDS Foundation of Chicago in partnership with housing agencies across the city. George Scroggins became the first client of Access to Care in 2015, and he believes that the case management and housing services he receives from AFC and Heartland Alliance saved his life.
...
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Updated on May 31, 2016:
The Pay Now Illinois coalition has grown to 82 human and social service agencies and companies suing Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner, Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger and seven state agency department heads for breach of contract. On May 25, they filed a motion seeking a preliminary injunction for emergency relief that would require the state to begin immediate...
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Pride Action Tank and Polk Bros. Foundation will host a Tiny Home Summit April 18-19, 2016, to bring together experts from across the country to address the issue of youth homelessness and new solutions to house this vulnerable population in Chicago.
The Chicago Tiny Home Summit will be at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Monday, April 18, 9 a.m.-5 p.m. and Tuesday,...
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This article is the third in AFC’s Cuts to the Cascade series, which focuses on the people, programs and communities representing columns of the HIV treatment cascade . All of the Cuts to the Cascade subjects are under threat of losing vital state support as a result of Governor Rauner’s proposed cuts to the Illinois budget.
Behind thirty front doors...
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“Home” has meant many things to Nancy. It has been a space for argument, for rejection, for abuse — and when she hasn’t had a home, Nancy’s life has been even worse. But today, Nancy has a home, and it has served as the foundation for her many life goals....
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