AAC receives major grant

The AIDS Action Committee of Massachusetts (AAC) received a major grant from an organization called AIDS United on Feb. 9.

The Washington, D.C.-based organization awarded a $217,250 grant to the AAC to improve access to local, high quality care for low-income individuals living with HIV/AIDS.

"AIDS United is proud to be supporting the work of AIDS Action Committee and its community collaborators with this SIF grant," said Mark Ishaug, AIDS United President and CEO. "In addition to developing innovative ways to help get people living with HIV in Massachusetts into the care they need, AIDS Action Committee's commitment to matching its grant from AIDS United with resources from the local private sector will significantly increase the funding available for critical access to care activities for the populations most impacted by the epidemic."

The grant is one of ten being made as part of AIDS United's Access to Care (A2C) initiative, which is supported by a grant from the Social Innovation Fund (SIF). Each grant recipient must collaborate with multiple community-based organizations in each service area.

AAC will use the grant money to jump-start the Linking for Access and Retention in Comprehensive Care (LARCC) Project. LARCC will improve the health outcomes of HIV-positive U.S. and non-U.S. born women, gay and bisexual men, and injection drug users; enhance and expand access and retention in mental health services and self-management support groups; improve the self sufficiency of people with HIV/AIDS who are not engaged in care through maximization of benefit enrollment, training, education, employment; and expand the continuum of care for people living with HIV/AIDS to better support long-term self-sufficiency. LARCC partners include Partners in Health, Codman Square Health Center, Multicultural AIDS Coalition, and Institute for Community Health.

"This grant is an example of the sorts of real public-private partnerships that are making an impact in the fight to end the transmission of HIV and improve the health outcomes of those who are already infected," said Rebecca Haag, AAC President and CEO. "The LARCC Project will connect people who are HIV positive with live-saving care and help them deal with other issues related to HIV that impact their health such as HIV stigma, poverty, and limited access to health care."