Community AIDS Partnership of the Capital Region

www.aidswalk-capitalregion.org/

Contact Name: Eloise Bennett
Title: Program Coordinator
Phone: (518) 489-1112
Fax: (518) 489-9654
Email: cares@ajgol.com
Address: c/o CARES
16 Watervliet Avenue
Albany, NY  12206
Jurisdiction(s) Served: Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady Counties NY

As within communities across the United States, HIV/AIDS has continued to have a tremendous impact on the Albany, New York region where the number of AIDS cases over the past few years has increased. The need for counseling and support services, family support services, peer support, home delivered meals, and financial assistance is ever pressing. In response to these unmet needs, the Community AIDS Partnership of the Capital Region (CAP-CR) was formed in early 1994 under the sponsorship of the not-for-profit CARES, Inc. The Partnership represents a collaboration of local funders, persons with HIV/AIDS, community and business leaders, clergy, and AIDS service providers in Albany, Rensselaer, Saratoga and Schenectady counties.The Partnership has three goals: 1) to expand the availability of private sector funding for AIDS services in the region and to distribute this funding to local agencies which provide AIDS prevention and care; 2) to increase community awareness regarding the impact of AIDS in the community; and 3) to bring AIDS service providers together with funders and community leaders to promote cost-effective and efficient provision of services. With the support of the National AIDS Fund and resources raised through the annual Capital Region AIDSWalk, CAP-CR provided over $200,000 in grants to community organizations in 2001.

Grantmaking Highlights
CAP-CR strategically funds HIV/AIDS programs that address emerging needs. Among these programs are those which increase the capacity of communities of color to respond to the AIDS epidemic; peer outreach programs for at-risk youth and communities of color; and programs that address the gaps in funding from governmental sources, such as counseling services for families of persons living with HIV/AIDS, home delivered meals, peer support services, and financial assistance. Programs and agencies supported by the Partnership have continued to be both successful and innovative, reaching their target populations with critical prevention, care, wellness, and capacity-building services. Highlights of community programs that have received support from CAP-CR include:

The Capital District African-American Coalition on AIDS provides HIV prevention and outreach services to African-Americans. It sponsors an annual conference to educate Black clergy and mainstream service providers about the need for targeted prevention services to African-Americans. In addition, the Coalition provides outreach at community events frequented by African-Americans.

The Eddy Visiting Nurses Association Care Team works with Black churches to educate them about HIV/AIDS and to establish a team of volunteers within each congregation to provide support to persons living with HIV/AIDS.

Albany Medical Center administers a peer education/mentoring program for HIV-infected women of color that teaches the women how not only to be peer educators but also to assume leadership positions in the community.

Albany Medical Center and Just Cause, a grassroots agency that serves persons of color, have collaborated on a program that promotes treatment adherence by persons living with HIV/AIDS while providing them with ongoing peer-delivered support in preventing the spread of the disease to others.

The TOUCH Program provides peer HIV prevention and education services to teens and teaches them to be buddies with young children who have been infected or affected by HIV/AIDS.

The Capital Region chapter of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt offers intergenerational AIDS education to elders and school-aged children as elders assist the children in making panels for the AIDS Quilt.