The Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) announced a grant-making partnership with the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF). Together, they awarded a combined total of $315,000 to six organizations fighting the epidemic in the South.

“Because of poor access to HIV testing and health care, many people living with HIV in the U.S. South enter into treatment when their HIV disease is much more advanced and find it difficult to remain on treatment. As a result, the U.S. South has the lowest rates of successful HIV treatment in the country,” said EJAF chairman David Furnish in a press release. “This is particularly true for LGBTQ individuals and black Americans living in the Southern states.”

Most grants were awarded for $50,000. The projects receiving the grants, and the organizations they are affiliated with, are:

  • The LGBT Center of Hampton Roads, with AIDS Care Center for Education and Support Services (ACCESS) in Norfolk, Virginia

  • Magic City Acceptance Center, with Birmingham AIDS Outreach in Birmingham, Alabama

  • Georgia HIV Advocacy Network, with the Equality Foundation of Georgia in Atlanta

  • IMPACT, with the Health Outreach Prevention Education (H.O.P.E.) in Tulsa, Oklahoma

  • Becoming a Healthier You Program, with My Brother’s Keeper, Inc., in Ridgeland, Mississippi

  • Solutions Not Punishment Coalition and Campaign, with the Racial Justice Action Center in Atlanta, Georgia

More details about each project are available on the EJAF press release.