In this inspiring Medill News Service story, Jay Sympson is featured as an HIV-positive triathlete. Sympson, who was diagnosed with HIV nearly 25 years ago, trains with the TEAM TO END AIDS (T2), which raises money and awareness for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago.
This year's T2 events include the the Chicago Marathon, the Wrigley Field...
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Activists rally in support of the Robin Hood Tax ahead of a NATO Summit in Chicago, IL. Photo courtesy of Occupy Wall St .
By Jim Merrell
CHICAGO, IL - Usually, when NATO descends on a city it's more about destroying targets than being one. This week, however, activists from across the world have flipped the cross hairs as the NATO summit in Chicago is targeted as...
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The Change My Story team at the Golden Trumpet Awards, from left to right, Alicia Bunton, Director of Care and Quality Improvement; Johnathon Briggs, Chief Officer of External Relations; Wady Guzman, Graphic Design/Web Content Coordinator.
By Johnathon E. Briggs and Alicia Bunton
Inside the Palmer House Hilton Hotel, at the premier awards competition for Chicago’s...
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Pete Subkoviak, policy coordinator for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. AFC Photo-Ed Negron
Born a girl, Pete Subkoviak began telling his parents he was a boy at age 3.
“In general, I would say I was a really happy kid except for the whole wrong body thing,” Subkoviak quipped in a recent interview.
At 17, he finally found the word to describe himself...
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By Eva Westley
In Chicago, as elsewhere in the country, more people depend on HIV-related care, case management, housing, food vouchers and mental health services than ever before.
But how do you track all of that? How do you measure the success of an integrated system of care and supportive services for thousands of people?
In a time when increasingly...
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Linda Coon is the project director of the Families' and Children's AIDS Network (FCAN) . She traveled with a group of HIV advocates to Springfield last week. Below are her thoughts on the experience.
By Linda Coon
"If the choice is her medication or our housing, we will be homeless."
That was an actual quote from an HIV-negative man who was speaking on behalf of...
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Julie Davids, at center with sign, and other AIDS activists joined Occupy Wall Street last week. (Photo courtesy of Kaytee Riek)
AIDS activism has a rich history of taking advocacy to the streets, into city halls and state houses, and into American consciousness.
Last week, veterans of ACT UP — the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power — joined the Occupy movement...
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Advocate Renee Radosz, at right, speaks to Rep. Mary Flowers about opposing cuts to HIV services. AFC Photos-Ed Negron
The advocates woke in the dark before dawn and trudged half-asleep onto a bus bound for Springfield.
Bound together by a single purpose, they came from Chicago’s distinct neighborhoods, from the rural communities of southern and western Illinois,...
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It was a busy week in the news for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) and its network of advocates.
On Wednesday, about 200 hundred HIV/AIDS advocates traveled to Springfield, for AFC's annual Lobby Day, to fight the proposed $4 million in HIV service cuts. At the same time, Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed a plan to cut $1.3 billion from the state's Medicaid program. Many of...
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Take seven minutes of your day and watch this video on what the proposed budget cuts to HIV services would mean for people in Illinois.
On Wednesday, hundreds of Illinois HIV/AIDS advocates will travel to Springfield, Ill., to oppose the devastating $4 million in proposed budget cuts for HIV services.
Gov. Pat...
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