America Living With AIDS

AM E R I C A Living With AIDS

pie who can afford to
volunteer in communities
I polled a bunch of ravaged by poverty. The
teer managers at other gay community is losing
s and said, "Here's your many volunteers to
to say something. What burnout and to sickness
you want me to pass on and death, and others are
u?" And one man just choosing to funnel their
on the phone, this man energies into spurring
e San Francisco AIDS governmental action to
ition, and he said, "Just provide needed services.
m that without the huge Community-based
Iteer work force in our organizations are strugizations this epidemic gling to keep pace with
ild have crippled the increased caseloads.
y a long time ago. Just Many such groups are
sure they know that." finding that the skills and
energies necessary to get
AURIE SHERMAN them off the ground are
July 1990 different from those
needed to sustain them.
Many community-based
organizations are struggling to diversify and solidify sources
of funding, as they run out of funds
from sources of seed money and
demonstration grants.
Federal, state, and local entities
must provide support for training,
technical assistance, supervisory staff,
and program coordination to acknowledge and support the communitybased organizations, family members,
friends, and volunteers who are an
integral part of the HIV care system.
Applications for funding are frequently
too complex and bureaucratic requirements too burdensome to allow programs to flourish in communities of

greatest need. Community-based
organizations must be given greater
lattitude to experiment with programs
to address the needs of particular communities.
Small investments of funds in supporting and training volunteers will
yield enormous returns of invaluable
services. Funders should support
newer programs while resisting the
temptation to pay for such support by
trimming viable existing programs.
Community-based organizations
formed in communities of color and
in cities where there are large numbers
of intravenous drug users with HIV
disease have special needs. Inadequate
and unstable funding sources contribute to unnecessary competition
among local groups, when coalition
building is essential.
In the second decade of the AIDS
epidemic, care will have to be provided to many thousands of people. It
will have to include social and mental
health services alongside medical care.
It will require trained providers at
locations across the country where
people come for care. And it will
require the commitment of the nation
to make care accessible and affordable.

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