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Annual Meeting Provides Inspiration and a Plan

November 5, 2012

AFC staff and community partners gather for the 2012 Annual Meeting. Immense health care changes are coming, regardless of who wins tomorrow’s election. But we will confront these new realities with hope, purpose and a plan. Such was the collective feeling Thursday night at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago’s Annual Meeting at the University of Chicago Gleacher...
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Hurricane Sandy Victims Need Our Help

November 2, 2012

As the Northeast continues to reel from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy, communities are now turning their efforts towards clean up and relief. Natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy have a disproportionate impact on the most vulnerable among us, including people living with HIV/AIDS, making the restoration of vital human services and the institutions that provide them...
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Rooted in the Cause

October 16, 2012

Iliana Gilliland never planned to move to Chicago. Bombings and the constant threat of political violence made the choice for her. Gilliland’s path has led her from the dangers of drug violence in Colombia to a long career in the HIV case management field. She fell into her career almost by happenstance but has stuck with it for 20 years out of a passion forged from...
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From Botswana to Chicago, Refugees Fight Stigma

September 25, 2012

A young refugee in Botswana. UNHCR photo. By Lorraine Ma Seeking refuge in a Botswana camp, a Somali woman found no peace. Known to be HIV-positive, she was subjected to ridicule and threats from her refugee camp neighbors. Stones rained down upon her roof at night.   It was but one striking example of how HIV-positive people...
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ACT UP Movie Coming to Chicago

September 12, 2012

The acclaimed documentary, "How to Survive a Plague," is slated to open in Chicago at the Music Box Theatre on Friday, Sept. 21. We expect it to be both a powerful reminder of the past and a clarion call to action for today. The film depicts the dark early days of the AIDS epidemic, the callous disregard of the government to respond...
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From Crunching Numbers to Chasing a Dream

September 12, 2012

Paula Foster, founder of Moments in Frames, has partnered with the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC) in her pursuit of doing meaningful work for a just cause. For every picture frame purchased with the AFC promo code, $5 goes to lifesaving HIV prevention, care and housing services. Foster contributed this blog to Inside Story to explain how she got into this line of work. By Paula Foster...
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Illuminating Life with HIV

September 11, 2012

Jeff Berry is editor of Positively Aware, a Chicago-based magazine for people living with or affected by HIV. By Jeff Berry, editor of Positively Aware , “A Day with HIV” co-founder Last September, a collection of 120 online photographs gave a face to hundreds of thousands of people in North America who live with HIV every day. This portrait of people...
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Vogueing for Change

August 30, 2012

  If you don't know who Shaun Sperling is, or in the very least know who the "bar mitzvah vogue guy" is, you may be living in a cave. (Or it's also possible you don't constantly troll the Internet for viral videos.) At any rate, Shaun Sperling is a Chicago attorney who found sudden and instant fame recently after he uploaded a home video of his 13-year-old self dancing to Madonna's...
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Transgender Killings Reflect Deeper Injustice

August 17, 2012

By Jim Merrell For the second time in Chicago this year, the life of a gender-variant young person of color was lost to violence. Donta Gooden’s body was found in an abandoned building on the city’s West Side late in the evening of August 14th.  Gooden, 19, who also went by the name “Tiffany,” was stabbed to death just three blocks from where Paige Clay,...
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Medicaid Cuts are Bad News

August 14, 2012

Hundreds gather in AFC co-sponsored town hall meeting to discuss the impact of sweeping Medicaid cuts on communities of color By Sara Semelka In an effort to alleviate Illinois’ financial crisis, the state this summer made deep cuts in Medicaid funding, imposed new restrictions on Medicaid eligibility, programs and services, and enacted a slew of cuts to community-based...
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