Bay Area Reporter - August 16, 2007
Kris Larson

"Get your cupcakes! Get your picture with a drag queen! We've got it all!" promised one of the salesmen. "Come have a cupcake after a long day at the gym!"

BAY Positives is a peer-run agency for young people living with HIV/AIDS. The bake sale û and more like it in coming months û was a response to recent funding cuts faced by the small organization.

Curtis Moore, executive director, told the Bay Area Reporter Tuesday, August 14 that some collaborations with other organizations recently ended because they were not funded at the same level as previous years. One of those, a partnership with the Lavender Youth Recreation and Information Center and the Center for Young Women's Development, was aimed at hiring 10 high school-aged young people to work 10 hours a week for the summer. The $35,000 that BAY Positives received in the previous fiscal year was not funded this year, Moore said. However, the students had already committed to the program.

All told, BAY Positives' annual budget is now around $300,000, Moore said, though the agency is seeking funds to replace those that were cut. BAY Positives lost another $20,000 because of federal budget cuts, Moore said.

Last week's bake sale brought in $1,071, but the money wasn't entirely the point.

"When people receive services from an agency, there's a sense of powerlessness," said Logan Gutierrez-Mock, a peer educator. "The bake sale is something to actually do about the funding cuts, something that makes an impact, where [our members] can visibly see what that impact does for our agency."

The sale was staffed by members, who baked the goods and volunteered to work at the table.

"Everyone felt really great," Gutierrez-Mock said. "The members are psyched."

"We're struggling as a smaller agency," Gutierrez-Mock added. "We only have four people on staff and only one person full time. But we do great, amazing work. The youth really like our agency."

The agency serves youth age 26 and under. The average age is 22. Currently, the youngest member is 17 years old.

"We're working on writing grant applications, but that takes a while," said Gutierrez-Mock. In the meantime, BAY Positives will continue to hold bake sales. "We're going to do this in the next six months to raise awareness as we figure out where else to get funding."

There are about 100 members of BAY Positives. The agency provides case management, a weekly drop-in support group, weekend and day retreats, and more.

"Our weekend retreat gets members out of the city [and] into nature," said Gutierrez-Mock. "We talk about safer sex during those times. And we have workshops at the agency. We just finished a mural workshop where youth planned a mural and painted the mural in our back room, and we just finished a wellness series workshop."

BAY Positives also offers a space for HIV-positive youth to hang out, complete with a GameCube, computers, and a kitchen.

To learn more about BAY Positives, or to donate to the organization, visit http://www.baypositives.org.

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