Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1999. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
PRNewswire - November 29, 1999
Jannie Blackwell, in whose City Council District the project is located, will deliver opening remarks at the event, to which other city officials have also been invited.
The grand opening of We The People West and the Arnold Jackson Memorial Clinic will be held on Wednesday, December 1, 1999, at 11:00 a.m., at 4016 Lancaster Avenue.
We The People West is part of a major new initiative developed by the city's AIDS Activities Coordinating Office to bring AIDS services to low-income neighborhoods which have been underserved by AIDS services since the beginning of the epidemic. As the first "storefront" AIDS service center in Philadelphia, We The People has been asked to develop new sites in West Philadelphia and in the city's Kensington section. The Kensington site is expected to open in early 2000.
The "storefront initiative" is a multi-agency collaboration that has been formed by WTP which also involves Blacks Educating Blacks About Sexual and Health Issues (BEBASHI), the Jonathan Lax Treatment Center, Philadelphia Community Health Alternatives (PCHA), One Day At A Time, and Prevention Point Philadelphia. Together, these agencies will offer a variety of HIV prevention and care services including HIV counseling and testing as well as primary medical care to uninsured and underinsured persons living with HIV/AIDS.
This is the second major effort led by We The People to assist West Philadelphia in helping people with HIV/AIDS in their community this year. Marlton Residences, a 25-unit affordable rental housing complex designed for occupancy by people living with HIV/AIDS, opened in July only a few blocks from the new center.
Charles Starnes, WTP Board Chairperson, noted that WTP has long recognized the need to provide services in the communities most heavily impacted by HIV disease.
"We have been advocating for neighborhood based services for years and I am pleased that the City's AIDS Activities Coordinating Office has finally been able to find the resources to help in this effort. This project is the beginning of a new era for WTP, one where we officially become a 'hybrid' between an advocacy group and a professional health and social service organization."
WTP has received over $415,000 in Ryan White Care Act funding to expand its neighborhood-based activities. The project is unique in that it provides for a variety of peer and professional services in a non-traditional low demand atmosphere. All services are offered on a walk in basis and the service delivery model incorporates a peer-based approach blended with professional care services.
Rob Capone, WTP Executive Director, said that it is particularly appropriate that the new program be led by people living with HIV/AIDS themselves. "I am excited about this project. We are the experts in peer based drop-in type services; we have been doing it for over ten years and our partners are equally experienced in their professional care services. This project represents an evolution for WTP which will greatly increase our ability to help our own," Capone said.
Capone said that WTP is pleased to be able to officially open on World AIDS Day.
"We have a history of honoring our brothers and sisters who have passed by taking action on this day, to help those still struggling to survive. This year, while many around the world gather to emphasize the need for increased access to care, WTP will again take action with the opening a new facility designed to do just that for the first of two Philadelphia neighborhoods."
We The People has for many years been the largest regional coalition of people living with HIV/AIDS in the nation, and is by far the largest AIDS service organization comprised primarily of people of color in the region.
SOURCE We The People West
CONTACT: Rob Capone of We The People, 215-545-6868/
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