San Francisco AIDS Foundation

Joseph Lopez

What It’s All About

San Francisco AIDS Foundation works to ensure the HIV epidemic ends in the same city where it began.

We work towards HIV prevention and care on issues ranging from harm reduction to total health and wellness.

Established in 1982, San Francisco AIDS Foundation refuses to accept that HIV transmission is inevitable.

VALUES and MISSION

We believe there is no greater power than the power of the human spirit.

Through community involvement and support AIDS becomes a illness of the past.

We strive to educate and service people in all walks of life about the destructiveness of AID.

Inputs

The 18 members of the board are all volunteers and act as a scaffolding to whole operation. Each has been deeply and personally affected by the epidemic--almost all have lost a lover, husband, sister or brother to AIDS.

We host a variety of community fundraisers and events to help fund our services and educate those who may think they don’t run the risk of contracting AIDS.

Outputs

We offer the following services:

Financial benefits counseling:

Counselors help individuals understand and public benefits systems, including the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), General Assistance, Food Stamps, Medi-Cal, CARE/HIPP, Medicare, Social Security, and Medi-Care.

Rental subsidy program:

This program provides rental assistance to over 350 individuals. Through the work of our client advocates and the clients themselves, over 95% of these individuals remain stably housed.

Outputs (Continuted)

The Stonewall Project: The Stonewall Project is a harm reduction counseling and treatment program for men who have sex with men (queer, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, or no label) who have questions about speed, want information about speed and want help dealing with speed.

Magnet: Provides STD screenings to the Castro, the neighborhood which continues to have the greatest concentration of new HIV infections in San Francisco. Magnet also provides a space in the Castro for gay men to network and socialize.

Process

We provide an education to people of all kinds.

We offer support services in hope to better our clients standard of living

We create an environment where people can end their silence and be open about all that they are.

Outcomes

A drastic reduction in the number of new infections a year

Well informed people about the consequences of unsafe sex and drug use

An environment where people realize that AIDS is just a part of who they are

A system that supports not stigmatizes

The GoalMake knowing your HIV status as

common as knowing your address

Make testing facilities accessible to all

To abandon a didactic style of educating

To voice our solutions

Creating a community were people feel safe to share and learn from others.

To spread awareness

To give knowledge and make people more cognitive

To avoid impressionistic ideas that AIDS only happens to homosexuals and drug users.

To conduct research

To reduce the number of new infections in ½ by 2015

Outliving AIDS

Need in the Community

1/4 of California’s AIDs case come from San Francisco alone

HIV/AIDS is now the third leading cause of death for men aged 25–54 years in San Francisco

In 2008 there were 15,757 San Franciscans living with HIV/AIDS

Outlive HIV

Our program seeks to give individuals empowerment and not be ashamed of who they are

We encourage our clients not to stay silent but voice their stories and take action to see that others don’t have to become a victim

We give them the tools to get through this challenging stage in their life and live to see another day, another year, and another decade

Link to Critical ACTION!

Shuttleworth Foundation

Your foundation has paved the way for organizations to prosper through funding positive change. AIDS started in San Francisco and it will end here.

What starts in San Francisco dissipates throughout the world.

Help us bring about this substantive and positive change by funding our life changing programs.

As a homosexual man I am statistically at a greater risk of dying from AIDS over other individuals

I strive to see that I am aware of actions and their consequences and want to see that other gay men eliminate their risk entirely of a preventable disease

Making A Connection

Getting InvolvedVirtually the backbone of

the AIDS Foundation, volunteers make every aspect of our life-saving work possible.

To get involved in our walks and fundraisers sign up at http://www.sfaf.org/volunteer/

Giving your time helps ensure more time to live for victims of AIDS

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONSIDERATION