The Bay Area Reporter - July 30, 1996
Edward Zold, ACT UP/Golden Gate Writers Pool

It is important to note that we have come a long way on the federal level toward meeting the needs of young people with HIV prevention efforts. The community planning process involves young people (and representatives of all affected communities) in identifying needs, setting priorities and allocating resources. Last year, CDC officials, U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services Donna Shalala, White House officials, and an advisory committee of young people (including an AU/GG member) unveiled the federal government's first ever condom ads featuring and targeting young gay men. San Francisco's Department of Public Health and health departments around the country are hiring young people to develop and manage programs to reach young people, in recognition of the fact that community members are most effective in developing appropriate programs.

CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH) is the federal agency charged with administering prevention programs for young people under 18. While most of the funding for HIV prevention programs from CDC comes through community planning groups, DASH funds come through school boards. School boards and community planning groups are not required to have - and seldom do - any formal communication around how funds are being used.

While by no means aggressive (or effective, for that matter) in providing guidance to school boards on how to use funds, DASH does make data available to schools on what groups of young people are at risk for HIV and other health hazards. This information is collected through surveys administered to young people in schools across the country and assessed through a national youth risk assessment database funded by CDC.

During a presentation on this data collection procedure at the International Conference on AIDS in Vancouver, a DASH official was called on to explain why information about gay and lesbian youth, including any question about whether young people were gay and lesbian, is not collected by DASH. The answer: they fear losing the participation of school districts who "object" to such questions.

Homophobia and political cowardice apparently outweigh the pile of studies the size of Mt. Everest demonstraing the high risk of young gay men for HIV infection, suicide, STDs, and a slew of other health hazards that DASH funds are meant to prevent. And really, god forbid that a federal agency issuing funds for specific purposes should mandate that funds be used in an effective, intelligent manner. DASH does not believe that it is proper to issue any such mandate.

No joke

The comedy of errors and mind-boggling policy decisions which have defined DASH for years would provoke side-splitting laughter if young gay men and lesbians were not becoming infected with HIV and dying as a result. The mismanagement and bad policies at DASH are no joke; young lives are being lost needlessly to HIV. Reform is overdue.

ACT UP/Golden Gate's HIV Prevention Committee is calling on CDC officials and other federal leaders to intervene and make significant changes to DASH and the way it is run. The committee believes that school system officials responsible for DASH funds must be required to participate in community planning groups, which also attempt to serve young people. Such participation will eliminate duplicative efforts and ensure that all young people at risk for HIV infection are targeted with prevention efforts. We believe that DASH should have an advisory committee of community leaders to make recommendations on its policy decisions and to review the use of DASH funds by school boards, which may not have the knowledge of public health or the political will needed to stop the spread of HIV.

Further, DASH should receive increased funding to be used for targeting young people under 18 who do not attend school. All studies done on these populations indicate greater risk for HIV and STDs than in-school youth, yet DASH-funded programs seldom reach them.

Communication is essential if DASH is to succeed in its efforts. DASH funds must be governed by the same principles of community-based planning and community involvement in priority setting and resource allocation that govern the expenditure of other CDC prevention funds. Elected politicians who sit on school boards are hardly "the community"; real people, including young people, must be empowered to make such decisions if we wish to put the lives of young people before politics.

Recently, ACT UP/Golden Gate's HIV Prevention Committee contacted a San Francisco Department of Public Health official who is very knowledgeable with federal prevention efforts to discuss our recommendations around DASH. His response: "What's DASH?"

While disturbing, we have heard this question over and over when contacting public health officials who should be involved in spending these funds. Instead, politicians elected to school boards have this responsibility, for which they are most likely completely unqualified.

It is time to put the lives of young people before politics and to make sure that federal funds for young people are spent responsibly. Otherwise, we will lose another generation of young gay men and lesbians to senseless death.

For a copy of our document "Recommendations for Federal HIV Prevention Reform," call us @ (415) 252-9200, write to us at 519 Castro St., #93, San Francisco, CA 94114, or e-mail us at actupgg@out.org.

Clinton sacrificed queers to the politics - Poor women, children, and PWAs are next

The House and Senate have already passed welfare "reform" proposals that would cut $60 billion from Aid To Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and nutrition programs for kids. Twenty-six billion dollars will be cut from food stamps. Three hundred thousand disabled children will lose health care and legal immigrants could lose all benefits. The Children's Defense Fund estimates that as a result, 1.1 million children already living below poverty level will suffer from malnutrition. Fourteen million will become undernourished. Countless people wlth HIV who depend on AFDC, food stamps, Medicaid, and the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) will also be hurt.

Stop the attacks on America's most vulnerable citizens! Tell Clinton to veto this legislation! Phone (202) 456-1111, fax (202) 456-2461, or e-mail president@whitehouse.gov.

Senators Boxer and Feinstein voted against the bill. Thank them and ask that they call the president also. Call the senate switchboard at (202) 224-3121, or call these local offices: Boxer 403-0100; Feinstein 536-6868.
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