Thirty-one organizations in the Chicago area will receive a total of $7.35 million to help them provide services to people living with HIV/AIDS, according to a press release from the AIDS Foundation of Chicago (AFC), which evaluated and awarded the funds provided by the national Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.

In selecting the organizations, AFC took into consideration the local populations most affected by HIV, including Black and Latino gay and bisexual men, transgender women of color and cis Black women living in neighborhoods with high rates of HIV. AFC also gave the organizations that applied for the funds health equity scores based on the HIV rates and availability of support services and medical care in the neighborhoods they serve.

The awardees provide a variety of services, including housing, food banks, outpatient medical care, mental health, oral health, medical nutrition therapy, substance use, psychosocial services, medical case management, legal services and nonmedical case management.

The federal funding arrives via the Illinois and Chicago Departments of Public Health and will become available to the awardees in March or April 2020.

Based on their health equity scores, the following 10 neighborhoods ranked as needing the most HIV-related support:

  • West Garfield Park
  • Riverdale
  • Englewood
  • Washington Park
  • North Lawndale
  • West Englewood
  • East Garfield park
  • Greater Grand Crossing
  • Oakland
  • Austin.

“Over the course of the HIV epidemic, the face of people living with HIV and the communities most impacted by it has shifted,” said Román Buenrostro, AFC’s director of special projects and planning, in the press release. “We feel very proud that the organizations selected to provide this new level of care reflect the diversity of the communities currently impacted by HIV in Chicago."

The following groups received AFC funds for the first time: AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Chicago Women’s AIDS Project, Human Resource Development Institute (HRDI), Lawndale Christian Health Center, Men and Women in Prison Ministries, Southshore Hospital and the Will County Health Department.

The press release includes a complete list of the 31 awardees.