City ups HIV prevention budget
City ups HIV prevention budget
By Gary Barlow
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
November 22, 2006
The Chicago City Council passed the City’s 2007 budget Nov. 15, including a $500,000 increase in funding for HIV prevention.
The increase represents the first rise in the City’s HIV prevention funding since 2003. Advocates for the increase had asked for an extra $1.7 million but expressed satisfaction after Mayor Richard M. Daley and the City Council added the $500,000 increase.
“We thank Mayor Daley and the City Council for increasing HIV prevention resources in Chicago,” said AIDS Foundation of Chicago Executive Director Mark Ishaug. AFC led the fight for the increase, arguing that critical prevention programs were being cut by decreases in state and federal HIV prevention funds in recent years.
The City’s HIV/AIDS prevention budget last increased in 2003, jumping from $3.6 million to the current $4.2 million. At the time the city counted 16,377 people living with HIV/AIDS. By last year that number had risen to almost 20,000. The City’s contribution makes up almost 40 percent of Chicago’s overall HIV/AIDS prevention spending, with the remainder coming from the state and the federal government. About half of the money goes to community-based agencies, with CDPH accounting for the other half.
Advocates for the increase said the disease is striking more and more people, including gay and bisexual men, in Chicago’s black and Latino communities.
“Three-quarters of new HIV infections in Chicago today are among people of color,” said the Rev. Doris Green, director of community affairs at AFC. “The new funding will help restore critical and innovative interventions that will reach these groups.”
After the mayor’s initial budget proposal left HIV prevention funding static, AFC and its allies mounted an intensive lobbying campaign, with concerned community leaders and others protesting and testifying at City Hall Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. AFC also enlisted help from Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), who sponsored a resolution seeking an additional $1.7 million in prevention funds and quickly rounded up support from 36 of his 50 colleagues on the City Council. After last week’s vote, Tunney said he would continue to keep a close eye on the City’s HIV prevention efforts.
“The City Council recognized that additional prevention funding is needed to curb the rate of new HIV infection,” Tunney said. “I pledge to work closely with Mayor Daley, my colleagues in City Council, the Chicago Department of Public Health and advocates to make sure HIV prevention is a priority in the 2008 budget.”
By Gary Barlow
Copyright by The Chicago Free Press
November 22, 2006
The Chicago City Council passed the City’s 2007 budget Nov. 15, including a $500,000 increase in funding for HIV prevention.
The increase represents the first rise in the City’s HIV prevention funding since 2003. Advocates for the increase had asked for an extra $1.7 million but expressed satisfaction after Mayor Richard M. Daley and the City Council added the $500,000 increase.
“We thank Mayor Daley and the City Council for increasing HIV prevention resources in Chicago,” said AIDS Foundation of Chicago Executive Director Mark Ishaug. AFC led the fight for the increase, arguing that critical prevention programs were being cut by decreases in state and federal HIV prevention funds in recent years.
The City’s HIV/AIDS prevention budget last increased in 2003, jumping from $3.6 million to the current $4.2 million. At the time the city counted 16,377 people living with HIV/AIDS. By last year that number had risen to almost 20,000. The City’s contribution makes up almost 40 percent of Chicago’s overall HIV/AIDS prevention spending, with the remainder coming from the state and the federal government. About half of the money goes to community-based agencies, with CDPH accounting for the other half.
Advocates for the increase said the disease is striking more and more people, including gay and bisexual men, in Chicago’s black and Latino communities.
“Three-quarters of new HIV infections in Chicago today are among people of color,” said the Rev. Doris Green, director of community affairs at AFC. “The new funding will help restore critical and innovative interventions that will reach these groups.”
After the mayor’s initial budget proposal left HIV prevention funding static, AFC and its allies mounted an intensive lobbying campaign, with concerned community leaders and others protesting and testifying at City Hall Oct. 31 and Nov. 1. AFC also enlisted help from Ald. Tom Tunney (44th), who sponsored a resolution seeking an additional $1.7 million in prevention funds and quickly rounded up support from 36 of his 50 colleagues on the City Council. After last week’s vote, Tunney said he would continue to keep a close eye on the City’s HIV prevention efforts.
“The City Council recognized that additional prevention funding is needed to curb the rate of new HIV infection,” Tunney said. “I pledge to work closely with Mayor Daley, my colleagues in City Council, the Chicago Department of Public Health and advocates to make sure HIV prevention is a priority in the 2008 budget.”
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 10:02 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home