African American AIDS Response Act (IL) Grant

African American AIDS Response Act (IL) Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Illinois Department of Public Health
Amount: US $85,000 - US $200,000
Last Updated: May 12, 2025

Summary

The African American AIDS Response Act in Illinois aims to combat HIV disparities affecting the African American community. Despite a 22% decrease in infections from 2010 to 2019, African Americans represent 50% of HIV cases in Illinois. This grant focuses on prevention services, including testing, medical care, and support for high-risk individuals, aiming to reduce these disparities. Up to 15 grants will be awarded to organizations dedicated to culturally competent HIV services within the community.

Overview

African American AIDS Response Act (IL) While progress is being made in the effort to end the HIV Epidemic among African Americans in Illinois, many challenges remain. Over the past decade, the number of HIV infections annually among African Americans fell 22% between 2010 and 2019. HIV infections among African American women fell even more sharply with a 26% decrease during this period. Despite this positive progress, painful disparities remain. African Americans account for half (50%) of all HIV cases in the State of Illinois, though they comprise only 14% of the state’s total population. In 2019, the Illinois HIV incidence rate of African Americans (37 new diagnoses per 100,000 per year) was more than 11 times higher than that of whites (3 diagnoses per 100,000 per year). The African American HIV/AIDS Response Fund was created as a special fund to support programs to prevent HIV transmission, ensure HIV treatment access, and strengthen the capacity of HIV disease service delivery systems within the African American community in Illinois. The fund provides resources to support an HIV/AIDS service delivery system that reduces the disparity of HIV infections between African Americans and other racial/ethnic populations in Illinois. The primary focus of this grant opportunity is core HIV prevention services, including HIV/STD testing, linkage to medical care, and partner services along with risk reduction and interventions for individuals most at risk for HIV infections. This is required and IDPH expects to award up to 15 grants for this purpose. Applications for Activity 1 will: Have current documentation of a Physician Standing Order and CLIA waiver for conducting HIV testing;Focus on reaching African-American persons at greatest risk for HIV infection and unaware of their status;Submit a HIV Surveillance Case Report for every client testing HIV positive;Link individuals with newly diagnosed HIV to medical care;Refer individuals with newly diagnosed HIV to partner services;Provide services in a culturally competent manner;Implement health education and effective risk reduction interventions;Ensure staff members assigned to implement HIV and STD testing and those assigned to implement risk reduction services have successfully completed the four required IDPH HIV trainings: IDPH Confidentiality and Security Training;IDPH HIV Prevention Home Study Course;IDPH HIV/STD Risk Reduction Counseling Training;IDPH Risk Based HIV Testing Training. Additional funding will be awarded to 1-2 grant applicants to develop and/or maintain a resource hub, whereby clients can access a range of HIV-related services in one location. This is optional. Applications for Activity 2 will: Establish a location where clients can receive -HIV/STD counseling and testing, including linkage to care;HIV-related case managementPrimary HIV-related medical care;PrEP services; andSupport services such as housing, food pantry/soup kitchen, clothing, harm reduction, and substance use services.Develop MOU or other formalized agreements with organizations/agencies to provide services not offered by the applicant on-site. Strategies should ensure timely, barrier-free access to services, such as:Active referral/warm hand-off with priority given to clients referred by applicant agency or a dedicated staff person at the referral agency to serve as a liaison by accepting phone referrals, taking phone calls, and ensuring coordination; andOther innovative approaches to facilitate rapid linkage to services within the network.Grant applications should clearly describe the scope of work and budget justification for one or both the above grant activities that includes the following content: Description of the need or justification of the proposed effortDetailed project description with key strategies and objectivesAlignment with stated priorities, goals, and values of this NOFOBackground and history of the organization, areas of expertise, familiarity, and capacityExpected challenges or limitations and a description of how the applicant will mitigate themA description of how applicant will evaluate activities to determine success. Funding $85,000 - $200,000

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Nonprofit Agencies applying for funds through this notice, must be located in Illinois and meet the following eligibility requirements set forth in Ill. Admin. Code tit. 77, § 691.300 (2007):Be in good standing with the State of Illinois;Have a Board of Directors, the majority of which are African-American;Provide services to individuals or families impacted by HIV;Be physically located within the community to be served;Provide HIV/AIDS services, including, but not limited to, HIV prevention, case management and treatment services, in communities primarily populated by individuals and families that identify themselves as African-American;Be in existence for at minimum one year prior to applying for a grant award.