By Indigo Quashie
SPRINGFIELD – On April 9 th , 2022, The GTZ Omnibus Bill was added into the HB900 Illinois State Budget by the Illinois General Assembly with a $10 million dollar investment in Getting to Zero Illinois (GTZ-IL) ! Passed by the Illinois House of Representatives with a vote of 72-42, this budget allotment is historic because this is the most funding AFC and...
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By Indigo Quashie
SPRINGFIELD – HB4343, Medicaid Omnibus & Healthy Illinois for All passed out of the Illinois House of Representatives early morning on April 9 th , 2022 with a vote of 71-42. This bill calls for the expansion of Medicaid coverage across Illinois, as well as reducing Medicaid churn.
“COVID-19 has lifted the veil on the importance of access...
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By Indigo Quashie
SPRINGFIELD – On April 7 th , 2022, HB4430: Increasing Access to PrEP & PEP Through Community Pharmacies was passed by the Illinois House with a vote of 72-30! Sponsored by State Representative Kelly M. Cassidy (D-Chicago), HB4430 calls for the pharmaceutical dispensation of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP),...
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By Indigo Quashie
SPRINGFIELD—On March 31 st , 2022, SB3490: Disrupting Disparities for LGBTQ+ Older Adults and Older Adults Living With HIV passed out of the Illinois House of Representatives with a bipartisan vote of 71-32 ! This is the first of AIDS Foundation Chicago’s (AFC) 2022 policy priorities to pass both chambers during this year’s state legislative...
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By Livvie Avrick
Photo taken by Chicago Therapy Collective
AFC mourns the loss of Elise Malary, beloved community leader and trans liberation activist. Her body was recovered from Lake Michigan, March 17, 2022. Elise was a cherished Policy and Advocacy Social Media Intern here at AFC From January 2016 to August 2016. She is remembered fondly by all that...
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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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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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T oday, AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC) is thrilled to join Getting to Zero Illinois (GTZ-IL) in announcing the grant recipients for the first-ever Getting to Zero Illinois Community Grant Program, a pool of grants totaling $350,000. Fourteen organizations across the state have each received one-time grants of up to $30,000 for new projects that will help the...
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On Thursday, April 8, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) echoed a deep, unconscionable truth that Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) have known and experienced all along: racism is a public health threat . CDC’s new agency-wide initiative called Racism and Health aims to “refocus the CDC’s public health efforts on recognizing, acknowledging,...
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