The Campbell Foundation provided a $2,500 emergency relief grant to each of 10 HIV organizations in Florida to help them weather the COVID-19 crisis. Each of the groups continues to provide direct HIV services to local vulnerable communities amid stay-at-home orders and financial insecurity.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is stretching local organizations’ resources to their limits, and we wanted to help fill some gaps,” said the foundation’s executive director Ken Rapkin in a press release. “While our overall mission is cure research, The Campbell Foundation has always stepped in during times of need. We have provided emergency grants following natural disasters, fast-track grants to local researchers, as well as our annual year-end (Holiday Hug) grants.”

The 10 recipients are:

  • A.H. of Monroe County Inc.
  • Broward House
  • Children’s Diagnostic &Treatment Center (Comprehensive Family AIDS Program)
  • Compass
  • Latinos Salud
  • Legal Aid Ryan White Program
  • McGregor Clinic
  • Poverello Center
  • SunServe
  • World AIDS Museum

Kara Schickowski, a staff attorney at the Legal AID of Broward County Ryan White Divison, said the emergency funding will help ensure the staff can work remotely and reach clients during the pandemic.

A.H. Monroe will use the funding for rental assistance and food vouchers. The organization is located in the Florida Keys, a region that’s closed to nonresidents and where 60% of the workforce is unemployed.

The emergency relief will help Latinos Salud continue to offer HIV testing and counseling in a manner that keeps staff and clients safe.

Wilton Manors–based SunServe has seen an increase in clients needing mental health services. “This [emergency grant] will help us defray some of the costs and keep helping people,” said the group’s executive director Mark Ketcham.

Based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, The Campbell Foundation funds nontraditional, laboratory-based HIV research. It has awarded more than $11 million since it launched in 1995. To read about its recent $80,000 grant, see “What Is BG18, and Can It Lead Us to an HIV Vaccine?” Earlier this year, the foundation celebrated its 25th year.