In June this year, AFC and Pride Action Tank announced the pilot launch of the Connection to Care Learning Collaborative (CCLC) , which seeks to work with Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs) and look-alikes in Chicago to increase their capacity to provide LGBTQ+ HIV care for their patients.
This Learning Collaborative is focused on increasing capacity...
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It is with heavy hearts that we, the AFC family, announce the loss of our colleague and friend Clinton Latimore, but it is with a joyous spirit that we celebrate his life.
Clinton joined the AFC family in 2019 as an intern with the Housing Stabilization Team and Housing Navigation Program. Over the years, he made a significant impact on Chicago and the people fortunate...
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By Livvie Avrick
The role of Black women in healthcare often goes unseen and undervalued. At AFC, the impact of Black women cannot be overstated. Take the Care team for example, led by four extraordinary black female-identified leaders, Bashirat Olayanju, Lakethia Patterson, Angela Jordan, and Melanie Cross, these women are critical in keeping the Chicago HIV communities healthy, well, and...
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By Indigo Quashie
Caprice Carthans is a member of AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Board of Directors and Community Advisory Board (CAB) and fierce advocate for competent transgender health care across the city. As a Black transgender woman herself, Caprice centers her advocacy work around supporting, inspiring, and protecting her communities and the physical spaces they inhabit...
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By Indigo Quashie
Dominique Hayes is the Lead Care Coordination Specialist (CCS) at AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC). She began her work in the field as an intern with Pediatric AIDS Chicago Prevention Initiative (PACPI). Now rebranded as the Mother and Child Alliance (MACA) , this initiative provides prenatal and postpartum comprehensive services to pregnant women and their families...
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By Indigo Quashie
Between July and September of 2021, Pride Action Tank (PAT) , through the support of AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC) , hosted three monthly events geared towards bringing together BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) and LGBTQ+ leaders to work collaboratively to discuss the ways community members can be involved in public policy work...
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By David Fischer, Juvenile Justice, Education, and Youth Development Consultant, Quo Vadimus, LLC
Do you remember the first-ever document you had to sign? Maybe it was an assent to participate in a survey in high school or college for aid paperwork. How carefully did you read that document? Did all of it make sense? For some children and youth, one of the...
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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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By James Cotromanes
I remember how I felt anticipating my HIV diagnosis. As I walked into the clinic and heard the door shut behind me, I felt an uneasy calm, but also unwittingly, a fearful expectation of a positive result. A positive result would be life changing on a physical, mental, emotional and spiritual level. I asked myself what if it turns out I have...
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By Ella Shapiro
In 2013 , Neil Halpin’s coworkers encouraged him to sign up for a half marathon in Las Vegas at the same time as a work conference they were attending. Reluctantly, Neil, who was not an experienced runner, agreed and started training. At the last minute the conference was cancelled, forcing Neil...
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