Miami Herald - June 26, 2005
Darran Simon, dsimon@herald.com

Wade dumped them in a box that already had a few. In between the stop-and-go din of barber clippers, she drummed home to a customer that condoms are a must during sex.

Wade is one of four outreach workers with REACH 2010, an effort to reduce HIV disparities in Broward County's minority communities. They walk the streets, stop in barbershops and other places, talking about HIV and giving out condoms. They work in 12 Broward ZIP codes that research showed had the highest percentage on average of AIDS cases among the county's black and Hispanic young adults.

"People spend a lot of time at their barbers and in the beauty salon. In that time, they develop relationships," Wade said. "They confide in their barbers and their beauticians. A lot of times that is the area where HIV is discussed."

A proposed cut in funding would slash the program by about half, which means South Florida may no longer be able to afford to pay its full-time outreach workers.

REACH is slated to lose about $400,000 in federal funding in its upcoming budget, said Leandris Liburd, chief of the community health and program services branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The loss of $3 million in federal funds could also affect six of REACH's 42 projects, including programs in Boston, Los Angeles, New Orleans, North Carolina and South Florida.

REACH is part of a national effort by the CDC to reduce health disparities like AIDS, cardiovascular disease and diabetes among minorities across the country by 201O.

'GRAVITY . . . NOT PETRO'

The South Florida REACH has a budget of about $900,000. The educators are based at the Urban League of Broward County and the Hispanic Unity of Broward County.

William Darrow, REACH's project leader in South Florida, said the budget shortfall won't shut the program down, but would hamper its impact.

"The car will have to run on gravity and not petro," said Darrow, a professor of public health at Florida International University in Miami where REACH is based.

"We cannot afford to put any gas in the tank."

The local REACH program targets 18 to 39 year olds -- the group at the highest risk for HIV infection. The outreach staff also recruits, trains and educates about 200 volunteers.

REACH also does research to see why African-American, Caribbean and Hispanic cultures don't heed messages about HIV prevention.

EDUCATIONAL IMPACT

Magaly Alvarado, project coordinator for REACH 2010 at the Hispanic Unity of Broward County, said the federal cut will prevent minorities from getting the educational information.

"It's not the way to attack the problem," she said.

REACH will also have less money for condoms and public service announcements done in spoken word, said Ula Zucker, REACH's media and communications coordinator.

REACH workers capitalize on the relationship people have with their barbers.

CONDOMS 'A LIFESAVER'

Lawrence Jones, who was getting a cut at Fresh Cuts in Hallandale Beach, remembers when condoms were used for birth control and to prevent diseases like syphilis.

"At first I didn't see the importance, but it's a necessity now. Condoms, they are a lifesaver," said Jones, 48, a Hallandale Beach resident who recently got a negative result back an AIDS test this month. "It's a shame it had to get to that point."

New Florida Department of Health figures show that new HIV diagnoses among blacks have decreased since 1999. Hispanics and blacks still suffer disproportionately from HIV. REACH officials plan to contact the U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations, the largest Senate committee that doles out federal funds, Zucker said.

There are other HIV prevention programs in Broward, but the REACH cuts come at a time when new HIV infections are hovering around 40,000 cases a year, and more than one million people are living with AIDS in the United States -- the highest level since scientists battled with the epidemic in the 1980s, new national figures show.

The funding was reduced because the National Center on Minority Health and Health Disparities could only contribute $2 million instead of the usual $5 million it has given the CDC since 1999 to help pay for REACH. The National Center has to fund its own grants and congressionally mandated programs, according to John Ruffin, the director.

"We don't have the funds around that people think we have," Ruffin said.

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