Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2005. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
Chicago Tribune - July 7, 2005
Charles Storch, cstorch@tribune.com
As community affairs director for the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and coordinator of its year-old Faith in Prevention program, Green is confident funds will be raised not only to sustain but to expand the church-based initiative.
The program has 12 churches and faith-based groups in Chicago thick in the fight against the HIV/AIDS epidemic in African-American communities. Each received $10,000 from the AIDS Foundation, which distributed a one-year federal grant of $120,000 that had been secured by U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.). That funding soon expires.
Mark Ishaug, the foundation's executive director, said his organization will provide $60,000 -- $5,000 to each of the 12 groups -- and try to raise more, from public and private sources, to keep the initiative going.
Green is optimistic that support will be found. She wants to enlist eight more groups, many from the suburbs, to bring the total in the program to 20. David Munar, the foundation's associate director, said the goal is to raise $500,000 in the next 12 months for the initiative.
Green said the groups now involved "are demystifying the epidemic and providing messages of prevention and hope." She said they are reaching out to their communities, distributing information on the disease, raising funds for AIDS ministries and other programs and even sermonizing about the need for testing.
"They're talking not only about abstinence but about comprehensive AIDS prevention and testing," she said, adding that testing is being performed in some churches.
Another of the foundation's special initiatives is the South Side Women's Collaborative. The foundation already has given $60,000 to this effort to curb the sharp rise in AIDS among women. The collaborative's partners encourage beauty salons and other shops catering to women to refer customers who might benefit from HIV testing and care.
In the fiscal year that ended June 30, the foundation awarded more than $1.4 million in grants, the most in its 20-year history. Representatives of 50 recipient organizations were on hand last Thursday for the foundation's annual recognition breakfast.
Ishaug said AIDS programs generally fared well in the recent legislative session in Springfield. Lawmakers maintained funding levels for most efforts and provided $2 million in new support for HIV/AIDS prevention education in state prisons and services for HIV-positive inmates returning to their communities.
Federal funding is more problematic. Munar noted that even if current funding is maintained in fiscal 2006, it will be below the level set in fiscal 2003.
After Live 8: For people interested in helping the needy in Africa, non-profit evaluator Charity Navigator has on its Web site (www.charitynavigator.org) listings of highly rated charities working in individual countries on the continent.
Confab: More than 500 people are expected at the Renaissance Chicago Hotel for the July 13-17 joint conference of the Alliance for Nonprofit Management and National Council of Nonprofit Associations.
Conference topics are expected to include board governance, accountability and strategic planning. Peggy Saika, head of Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy, is the scheduled keynoter.
Foot soldiers: The city will host a "Marketing Boot Camp" for area dance companies and presenters, set for July 22-23 in the Chicago Cultural Center. Discussions are expected to touch on the benefits of collaboration among troupes and methods to build audiences.
Hubbard Street Dance Chicago is project director and Carol Fox & Associates project manager. The event is being underwritten by the Chicago Community Trust, Gaylord and Dorothy Donnelley Foundation, Prince Charitable Trusts, Joyce Foundation and Richard H. Driehaus Foundation.
People: Cheryl Potts, program manager at the AIDS Foundation of Chicago for the last seven years, is leaving to become a program officer at the National AIDS Fund in Washington. ... Jack Fuller, a former Tribune Co. executive and publisher of its Chicago Tribune, joins the board of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. ... Chicago Sinfonietta adds to its board Jeffrey Bechtel, Eileen Chin, Tara Gurber, Robert Ingram, Debra Moore, Richard Shields, Valerie Smith and Almarie Wagner. ... The DuPage Homeownership Center elects to its board Michael Czuba, Jerry Lee, Joan Rickard and Amy Robey.
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