History
1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999
2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009
Dean Goishi and five other members of the Asian Pacific Lesbians and Gays (APLG) start the APLG AIDS Intervention Team (AIT) in response to APLG members being directly affected and infected by HIV/AIDS.
APLG AIT becomes the first gay and lesbian agency member of the Asian Pacific Planning Council (APPCON) and helps establish its HIV committee which later becomes the Asian Pacific HIV/AIDS Caucus of Los Angeles.
The California Community Foundation gives APLG’s AIT its first external funding to develop HIV education materials in API languages – Cambodian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Tagalog, Thai and Vietnamese.
APLG and six mainstream Asian Pacific service providers forms a consortium, The Asian Pacific AIDS Education Project and is awarded HIV prevention funds specifically for APIs in Los Angeles County. AIT’s role is to develop and provide gay sensitivity training and HIV education to API service providers and consumers.
AIT hires first outreach staff. Joel Tan and Ric Parish
are hired to conduct HIV outreach activities targeting
gay API men at local gay bars, clubs, bathhouses and
public sex environments.
Because of AIT’s rapid growth, AIT becomes the Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team (APAIT) co-founded by Dean Goishi, Ric Parish and Joel Tan with support from Terry Gock and Sally Jue. APAIT chooses Special Service for Groups (SSG) as its fiscal agent. APAIT becomes a member of the National Minority AIDS Council, the only national minority HIV/AIDS advocacy coalition.
Support groups and Mental Health Counseling become
APAIT’s first direct services for APIs affected by HIV/AIDS
with Title I Ryan White CARE Act Funds. Joel Tan becomes
first Support Group coordinator and Margaret Endo is
hired to provide mental health counseling and psychosocial
support. APAIT establishes a Community Advisory Board
made up of AP advocates, consumers, and activists to
provide community input and direction.
APAIT participates in its first Christopher Street
West Parade in West Hollywood. CARE Act Title II Funds
enable APAIT to provide the first HIV/AIDS API focused
case management program in LA County. Tracy Nako is
hired as Case Manager. Ric Parish becomes APAIT’s first
Treatment Advocate. APAIT receives its first State of
California funding. Dredge Kang and James Skakakura
are hired for the APIT Men Who Have Sex With Men outreach
and education program. Dean Goishi becomes APAIT’s Director
full time. APAIT starts its Testing Information program.
APAIT receives Centers for Disease Control funding for
technical assistance in its organizational development.
APAIT conducts its first API Buddy training. APAIT has
its first client Christmas Holiday party. Each client
receives a food gift basket. Noel Alumit was hired to run the LA County Mens Program and starts outreach into important community festivals, including the Lotus Festival, Nisei Week Festival, and the Sunset Junction Street Fair.
APAIT begins HIV outreach efforts to Samoan and Tongan
youth. APAIT is the host agency for the National Minority
AIDS Council’s first national API HIV conference, which
is held in Los Angeles.
APAIT starts its API Women’s Project and Southeast
Asian outreach programs. The California Community Foundation
gives APAIT funds for technical assistance in reorganizing
its Advisory Board.
APAIT staff member Pauline Kamiyama begins the Family Room drop-in program for clients.
After restructuring, Tracy Nako is promoted to Director
of Client Services and Byung Chu Kang (Dredge) is promoted
to Director of Prevention Services.
Noel Alumit becomes a founding member of the newly formed Los Angeles HIV Prevention Planning Committee, which sets HIV prevention planning priorities.
APAIT begins its API Transgender outreach program.
The Gay Asian Support Network honors APAIT with their
1994 Dennis Akazawa Leadership Award. Karen Kimura is
promoted to Director of Community Services. APAIT holds
its first major fundraising event, the Amy Hill performance
of “Reunion.” APAIT receives the
Horizon award for the best non-profit English and API
language campaign for its HIV Asian Pacific Islander
media project entitled “Facing HIV.”
The Horizon awards are given by the Asian American Advertising
and Public Relations Alliance. APAIT Board of Advisors
reorganization is implemented. J Craig Fong is elected
Board Chair.
APAIT holds its second major fundraising event, The
Community Film premiere of Elizabeth Sung’s “Requiem.”
APAIT receives its first Labor Day LA grant for client
retreats and the Family Room Program. APAIT begins new
Behavior Change and Prevention Contracts for API Men
Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) featuring Pro 96.7, Boyluck
Club, Bowl of Tea and GenerAsian “Y” begin.
APAIT moves to new home at 605 W. Olympic Blvd, 6th
floor in Los Angeles, CA.
HIV Prevention and Crystal Clear program begins with
BIenestar Latino AIDS Project as the lead. The California
Endowment grants a two-year grant to APAIT Women on
Women (WOW) Program. Los Angeles County gives a grant
to APAIT’s Self-help Peer-to-Peer Program. APAIT hosts
“Open House” at its new Olympic Blvd home.
Over 100 volunteers and community members attended.
The Family Room is named in honor of James Sakakura
(posthumously) and the Treatment Library is named for
Ric Parish for their pioneering contributions to APAIT.
HIV and Substance Abuse Crosstraining workshops begin
at APAIT with AADAP as lead. “RENT” performance
fundraiser nets over $7,000 for APAIT. Reception follows
at the Taipan Restaurant with Sony Entertainment’s Chriss
Lee and Columbia Tri-Star’s Fritz Friedman as hosts
and sponsors.
APAIT receives its first Colin Higgins Foundation grant
for Client Services Programs. Barangay honors APAIT
with its 1997 Kapatiran (Brotherhood) Award. Asian Business
League of Southern California honors APAIT at its Annual
Installation Dinner and presents a grant for APAIT programs.
APAIT joins two research projects: Los Angeles County’s
UARP Transgender Project and Health Research Association’s
HIVNet Project.
“An Exploration In Strings” fundraiser
featuring API members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic
is held at the Hotel Nikko and raises over $7,000 for
APAIT. Kaiser Permanente is the event sponsor. APAIT’s
Quilt Making Support Group presents the members’ first
quilts made in memory of loved ones to The AIDS Memorial
Quilt, The Names Project Foundation. APAIT is selected
by the Leadership Education for Asian Pacifics, Inc.
(LEAP) to participate as a community based organization
site for LEAP’s Leadership in Action Summer Internship
Program. The Women’s Prevention and Community Services
Units move into their own suite. API Women support group
organizes and implements the Women’s Brunch program.
The second annual “An Exploration In Strings”
fundraiser featuring APA members of the Los Angeles
Philharmonic is held at the Hotel Nikko and raises over
$29,000 for APAIT. Kaiser Permanente is once again the
event sponsor. First API women’s Retreat is conducted
by APAIT and attended by eleven (11) APII women. APAIT
convenes a service provider and community one-day Symposium
on API “HIV Risk Behaviors and Prevention the
Asian Pacific Islander Community.” LEAP honors
APAIT as a recipient of their 1999 Asian Pacific American
Community Leadership Award at their Eleventh Annual
Leadership Awards Dinner in Los Angeles. Centers for
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) awards APAIT with its
first directly funded federal grant providing prevention
and outreach to API MSMs in Orange and Los Angeles Counties.
An Internet Program is also funded. Plunket Phommachanh is hired as the first APAIT Orange County staff.
APAIT represents the API HIV Southern California community
at the White House Initiative on Asian Americans and
Pacific Islanders per President Clinton’s Executive
Order at the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration followed
by a dinner reception at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion
with appointed commissioners Dr. David Ho, Shamina Singh,
Tessie Guillermo, among others.
APAIT convenes 2nd Annual “Crossing Cultural
Bridges” Symposium with the API HIV Caucus at
AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA) focusing on language
access, substance using youth and the South Asian community.
Findings from the symposium were later presented at
the local Prevention Planning Council. The agency also
co-sponsors the Gay Men of Color Consortium conference
- Positive Colours – at California State University,
Los Angeles. Furthermore, APAIT convenes the first symposium
on HIV/AIDS in Orange County. Dean Goishi and Maryanne
Foo, Executive Director of OCAPICA, serve as panelists
with the Public Law Center’s Beth Fung, JD, of
the Orange County API HIV Community Planning Group co-chairing.
APAIT continues its provision of innovative HIV prevention
services through a four-year grant with the County of
Los Angeles, Dept. of Health Services – Office
of AIDS Programs and Policy. The program under the Health
Education and Risk Reduction contract focuses on gay
and bisexual men, transgendered communities, and women
at sexual risk. In keeping with cutting edge programming,
APAIT embarks on the first phase of integrating its
prevention and client services becoming the Interventions
Department.
Founding Director Dean Goishi bids farewell to APAIT
after thirteen-years of pioneering and grassroots leadership.
He is succeeded by Ruel Berris, formerly an APAIT Board
of Advisors member.
A Chinese-speaking HIV-positive support group begins
under the coordination of Mental Health Support Specialist
Jih-Fei Cheng, along with the revival of the Buddy Program.
APAIT receives its first directly-funded HIV testing
and counseling grant from the Office of AIDS Programs
and Policy. Rosalinda Castaneda serves as the first
HIV testing counselor.
In celebrating fifteen years of community service,
APAIT hosts a Pancake Breakfast and Volunteer Appreciation
Awards on March 24, 2002. The agency begins its relationship
with AmeriCorps Vista with the internship of Volunteer
Coordinator Marie Auyong. A year later, she joins APAIT
as an employee in the same capacity ushering in an active
APAIT Volunteer program and reviving the agency newsletter
APAIT Pulse.
Jury Candelario is hired Interim Director in April
2002 and becomes the third full-time APAIT Director
in February 2003. Joy Alumit is hired as the first dedicated
APAIT Resource Development Associate Director while
John Caranto is selected to lead the integrated prevention
and client services – Programs Department in July
2002. The department is divided into four interventions
– individual, groups, case management and outreach.
An agency staff retreat is held in June 2003 at Avalon,
Catalina Islands.
APAIT and the HIV Caucus convene its 3rd annual symposium
on prevention for HIV-infected persons at the Patriotic
Hall, a new prevention approach formulated by the Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). This is followed
by a national meeting in San Francisco in coordination
with national partners Asian Pacific Islander American
Health Forum and the Asian Pacific Islander Wellness
Center. APAIT also convenes the first ever summit on
Filipino HIV-infected individuals in Palm Springs, CA,
in partnership with San Francisco’s Filipino Task
Force on AIDS and San Diego’s Asian Pacific Islander
Community AIDS Project. Longtime AIDS advocate Gil Mangaoang
serves as facilitator.
The first ever “Quest for the Cover” community
event is held in partnership with the internationally
renowned Girl Talk Magazine highlighting transgender
advocacy and awareness. The Advocacy Award was named
after the dearly departed Connie Norman, a long time
transgender and AIDS activist. Children Hospital’s
Alexis Rivera becomes the first Quest for the Cover
Girl. APAIT Outreach Level Intervention Lead Jordan
Blaza and Board of Advisors President Rob Lai co-chair
the event.
Congresswoman Juanita Millender-Mc Donald and the League
of African-American Women invite APAIT to join in the
fifth annual AIDS Walk for Minority Women and Children
at California State University Dominguez Hills. APAIT
receives a $10,000 grant from the AIDS Walk which supplemented
resources for its women’s program.
APAIT embarks on its first directly funded research
project in collaboration with UCLA/UCI Associate Professor
Lois Takahashi. The research focused on the primary
needs of API women at sexual risk and youth of Orange
County. Findings were presented at a Southern California
API research roundtable covering Los Angeles, Orange
and San Diego counties with Abbott Laboratories as major
sponsor.
Ruth Pichatwattana is hired as Case Management Specialist
and spearheads the first Thai-speaking HIV-infected
support group in response to the increasing HIV incidence
rates within the Thai community. Noel Alumit celebrates
ten years of community service with APAIT becoming the
senior staff in the agency’s sixteen-year history.
Recognizing that HIV/viral hepatitis co-infection is
prevalent within the API community, APAIT convenes a
roundtable for clients and service providers alike,
facilitated by a Cedars-Sinai Hospital physician and
sponsored by Gilead Sciences. In addition, APAIT in
collaboration with A3PCON and parent organization SSG
host a town hall meeting to address the stigma and discrimination
facing many APIs in light of the Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome (SARS) epidemic. Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention’s (CDC) Senior Health Scientist,
Dr. Francisco Sy serves as Keynote Speaker. The agency
also becomes a member of the County of Los Angeles SARS
Task Force created by Board of Supervisor Don Knabe.
The California Wellness Foundation grants APAIT a three-year
$95,000 resource development and volunteer program contract.
In addition, the agency receives its first directly
funded Office of Minority Health (OMH) three-year federal
grant to build HIV prevention capacity among API-specific
community based organizations, LGBT social organizations
and planning groups. The OMH grant officially expands
APAIT’s services through the creation of the Community
Development and Research department led by Tim Young,
who also becomes the Orange County Director of Programs.
Orange County services also expand into prevention case
management through a one-year grant from the Orange
County Health Care Agency. Patrick Sullivan is hired
as the agency’s first OC Prevention Case Manager.
“Embraceable You: Building Alliances between
the straight and lgbt API community” conference
was convened at the Union Church of Los Angeles in Little
Tokyo with the committee composed of leaders from APAIT,
Gay Asian Pacific Support Network, Trikone (South Asian)
Los Angeles, China Rainbow Association, O Moi, California
State University Northridge, and the API Parents and
Families of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG). The conference
renews HIV prevention outreach efforts towards the API
faith based community. Honorable Assemblywoman Judy
Chu serves as Keynote Speaker.
Ingleheim-Boehringer Pharmaceuticals grants APAIT
funds to sustain its Treatment Adherence newsletter
program.
APAIT re-launches its newly designed website www.apaitonline.org.
APAIT commemorates World AIDS Day for the first time
in Thai Town, Hollywood, to reflect the epidemic’s most
recent direction towards the Thai community and as a
prelude to the 2004 International AIDS Conference to
be held in Bangkok, Thailand. At the same occasion,
the League of African American Women awards APAIT a
$20,000 grant for minority women and children. Leadership
awards were also handed out to outstanding community
and corporate members supportive of the API HIV/AIDS
cause.
PROGRAMS AND GRANTS
APAIT receives new social marketing and public relations
grants from the AIDS Partnership California – Northern
California Grantmakers and the California AIDS Clearinghouse.
Meanwhile, capacity building and technical assistance
programs are sustained with renewed five-year funding
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC) under national partners the Asian Pacific Islander
American Health Forum and the Asian Pacific Islander
Wellness Center. The new contract focuses on organizational
development, program development with emphasis on the
new CDC initiative Advancing HIV Prevention (AHP), social
marketing, and community planning groups. In addition,
APAIT sustains supplemental funding for its transgender
program from the City of Los Angeles through a collaborative
led by Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA).
ADVOCACY
APAIT partners with the Southern California HIV/AIDS
Coalition (SCHAC) and the Asian Pacific Islander California
Action Network (APIs CAN) to advocate against the proposed
budget cuts targeting the AIDS Drug Assistance Program
(ADAP) and other health and human services programs
through letter writing campaigns and local, regional
and statewide advocacy rallies and visits with legislators
and public officials. Veteran consumer advocate Nancy
Shearer led the APAIT contingent at the AIDS Lobby Day
in Sacramento.
ORANGE COUNTY
The Orange County program celebrates its five year anniversary
in Garden Grove, CA, by hosting a Volunteer Appreciation
Gala. Guests include community supporters and collaborators
including the Public Law Center, the Orange County Gay
and Lesbian Center, Chronic Med Pharmaceuticals, the
Orange County Asian Pacific Islander Community Alliance,
and the Orange County Health Care Agency who renews
APAIT OC’s prevention case management program for fiscal
year 04-05.
RESEARCH
Community research expansion comes full steam with new
partnerships including Children’s Hospital Los Angeles
to conduct a five-year study of HIV-seroconversion among
youth at risk for HIV/AIDS. A new exploratory research
was also funded by the University-Wide AIDS Research
Project (UARP) in coordination with UCLA’s Urban Planning
Associate Professor Lois Takahashi to identify societal
and economic risk behaviors among HIV-infected Filipino
men in Southern California with emphasis on Los Angeles,
Orange and San Diego counties.
QUEST FOR THE COVER HITS 3rd YEAR with a BANG
The premiere national transgender pageant, Quest for the Cover, celebrates its third year on November 13, with major sponsors including The California Endowment, MAC AIDS Fund, the County of Los Angeles – Office of AIDS Programs and Policy, Red Dragon, and Wells Fargo Foundation. Melene Eleneke of San Francisco’s Filipino Task Force on AIDS, is crowned the third Quest winner, with representatives from the LA Gay and Lesbian Center and Imperial Court of Los Angeles placing in the finals.
PROGRAMS AND GRANTS
APAIT receives new Health Education and Risk Reduction grants from the County of Los Angeles, Office of AIDS Programs and Policy focusing on men, women and transgendered adult and youth communities. The grants are in collaboration with APAIT’s new community partner – Foothill AIDS Project, whose services include San Bernardino County.
Meanwhile, new private grants from Broadway/Equity Cares, The California Endowment, Entertainment Industry Foundation, Kaiser Permanente, the League of African-American Women, Macy’s Passport, the Margaret Oser Fund – Orange County Community Foundation, and Southern California Edison will continue to sustain the vital work of APAIT for the community.
HIV TESTING FOR MEN NATIONAL RESEARCH STUDY
APAIT embarks on a five-year national research study on men who have sex men through HIV testing and surveillance with Georgetown University, spearheaded by nationally renowned researcher Dr. Frank Wong and long-time community activist Vince Crisostimo. The national study includes agency counterparts in San Francisco, New York and Boston.
In the winter of 2005, APAIT receives two generous private foundation grants from Johnson and Johnson and Queenscare Foundation to expand its case management program.
2006 was a wonderful year for APAIT. It began in February with our participation in the Chinese Lunar Parade. It was the first time APAIT had marched in this parade. It was even more special because APAIT marched with API Equality, a coalition of organizations raising awareness about gay marriage. It was a first for the Chinese Lunar Parade as well. In its one hundred year history, it was the first time that an openly gay contingent had marched in the parade.
In March, the Orange County office launched Peers Empowering Peers (PEP). PEP raises HIV awareness by educating Asians and Pacific Islanders on how to talk to others about AIDS.
In April APAIT participated in the 10th Annual 5k AIDS walk for Minority Women and Children. It is organized by Congresswoman Juanita Millender-McDonald and the African-American Women Health and Education Foundation. It was APAIT’s 5th year in the walk which raises awareness and resources for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment specifically around minority women and children.
In May, APAIT participated in the Banyan Tree Project, a national effort to call attention to striking down the stigma and discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS in the API community. APAIT presented two events for the occasion, one in Orange County and the other in Los Angeles.
In June, APAIT, along with the Asian Pacific Islander Pride Council, marched in the Gay and Lesbian Pride parade. We also participated in the Pride festival, an event that is always a highlight for the agency.
During the Summer months, APAIT spent a lot of time outdoors. In August the Prevention Unit produced the Midsummer Night’s Dream at Plummer Park in West Hollywood. It was a night of games and costumes to highlight prevention services.
In September, APAIT Los Angeles spent a day with APAIT Orange County staff. The purpose of the day was for both offices to reinforce their working relationship. The day ended with a meal at Huntington Beach.
October was a busy month. It began with Quest, a transgender pageant that encourages the development and advancement of transgenders and celebrates the uniqueness and diversity of the transgender communtiy. Later that month, staff participated in Macy’s Passport, a fundraiser for AIDS organizations. With Macy’s Passport, comes Macy’s Teen Night, an innovative way to showcase HIV/AIDS prevention messages by presenting safe sex games to various LA County students.
The year rounded out with World AIDS Day on December 1st. APAIT chose to focus on educating Youth, those individuals under 25 years and have know about AIDS their entire lives.
APAIT turns 20 years old!
PROGRAMMING
APAIT holds the public unveiling of the 3rd Annual API HIV Awareness Day public service announcement (PSA), “Banyan Tree Project: Rooted in Acceptance,” at the National Center for the Preservation of Decmoracy, in partnership with the Tony Cox Community Fund’s Cable Positive. The PSA promotes and encourages HIV testing in Asian and Pacific Islander households. Immediately after, APAIT co-hosts with API Equality-LA, APA for Progress, API Pride Council and several other organizations, “We Do, Too,” a forum to discuss marriage equality in the Asian Pacific Islander communities with activist Helen Zia, Rev. Mark Nakagawa, among others, serving as one of the panelists.
To celebrate the two-year mark of APAIT’s Orange County Peers Empowering Peers / PEP Program, a youth-driven formal dance gala was held in Buena Park, CA. The PEP Program trains a cadre of API youth leaders to empower their peers to prevent and raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in Orange County. The project is funded the California Endowment.
APAIT receives a generous grant from the National AIDS Fund and Johnson & Johnson Companies that focuses on monolingual Chinese women entitled The Chieh Mei Ching Yi / Sisterhood Project. The program is in part a response to the escalation of HIV/AIDS infections among women in the United States. The program adopts the evidenced based intervention, SISTA project, geared towards African-American women; and converts it to a culturally and linguistically appropriate prevention intervention plan to reach out to monolingual Mandarin and Cantonese-speaking women for HIV/AIDS awareness and risk reduction.
20TH ANNIVERSARY COMMEMORATION
APAIT is named the Community Grand Marshall of the annual Christopher Street West – LA Pride festival. APAIT anchors the Asian Pacific Islander contingent for the annual parade in West Hollywood which include representatives from community stakeholders such as the API Parents & Families of Lesbians and Gays (API PFLAG), Asian American Queer Women’s Activists (AAQWA), API Equality-LA, API Pride Council, Barangay Filipino organization, Chinese Rainbow Association, Gay Asian Pacific Support Network, Satrang (South Asian) organization, and many others.
To commemorate its twentieth year anniversary, APAIT holds a dinner gala at the Music Box, Henry Fonda Theater in Hollywood, CA, on October 14, 2007. Founding Director Dean Goishi receives the Visionary Award while Wells Fargo Foundation receives the Corporate Leadership Award.
ADVOCACY
Act Now Against Meth Coalition Efforts Bear Fruit
As one of the founding coalition members of the Act Now Against Meth in 2006, APAIT and local HIV and substance use providers reap the benefits of its grassroots community organizing after the Board of Supervisors invests $1.7 million dollars in crystal meth prevention, treatment and community mobilization demonstration projects throughout Los Angeles County.
Statewide Viral Hepatitis Convening
APAIT is one of a handful of local organizations invited to participate in the first statewide viral hepatitis convening in Sacramento. The summit developed statewide policy and program recommendations including but not limited to HIV/viral hepatitis co-infection, testing and linkage to care efforts, and the ongoing increase of hepatitis B infections among Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders.
RESEARCH
National RAPIHHD Summit Addresses HIV/AIDS and Health Disparities
With primary funding from the National Institutes of Health’s National Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIH/NMHHD), APAIT hosts the national Research on Asian Pacific Islanders HIV and Health Disparities (RAPIHHD) Summit at the California Endowment headquarters in downtown Los Angeles in November. The summit drew over 75 key researchers, community leaders and advocates, health department officials and funders to develop recommendations on API HIV and other health disparities in the sectors of research, advocacy and program implementation. Findings were reported a year later by APAIT Director Jury Candelario at the NIH Health Disparities Conference in Bethesda, Maryland.
Hepatitis B and HIV Co-infection Study Begins
APAIT embarks on a two-year community research project to study the prevalence of HIV and hepatitis B co-infection among Asian populations in Los Angeles through direct funding from the University of California, California HIV Research Project (UC CHRP). APAIT Director Jury Candelario serves as Principal Investigator with Dr. Lois Takahashi as the academic (UCLA) Co-Principal Investigator.
PROGRAMS
APAIT Becomes An Outpatient Substance Use Treatment Clinic
As part of its comprehensive approach to HIV and other health disparities, APAIT begins to offer outpatient substance use treatment clinical services. The program called Team 360 provides intensive six-month individual and group therapy sessions, HIV testing and substance abuse screening, and after-care program. The program is fully funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (DHHS/SAMHSA).
Community Development Integrating HIV/AIDS, Mental Health and Substance Use
The Community Development and Training (CDT) Unit of APAIT begins a 3-year capacity building and technical assistance program integrating the implementation of HIV/AIDS, mental health and substance use among Asian American and Pacific Islander communities of Los Angeles. The project is in partnership with the Asian American Drug Abuse Program (AADAP) and the Asian Pacific Health Care Venture (APHCV) and funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health (DHHS/OMH).
ADVOCACY
Budget Cuts Protest Across California
With the California economic crisis in full throttle, APAIT stakeholders join fellow activists in action demonstrations protesting the drastic cuts in HIV/AIDS funding in Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles and culminating in Sacramento where state legislators mulled over the state budget for fiscal year 2009-2010.
5-Year Anniversary of The National API HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
The Banyan Tree Project aka The National API HIV/AIDS Awareness Day commemorates its 5thyear anniversary with a banquet luncheon honoring real life heroes in fight to eradicate HIV/AIDS stigma in the Asian Pacific Islander community. Hosted by actress Tamlyn Tomita (Karate Kid), hincluded actor James Kyson Lee (NBC’s Heroes) who serves asthe national spokesperson for the Banyan Tree Project; IMRU – the local gay and lesbian radio talk show from local station KPFK; and Stephen Simon from the City of Los Angeles AIDS Coordinator’s Office.
APAIT Leads National Meet & Greet With Newly Elected Congresswoman Judy Chu
With national partners the Asian Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF) and the Asian Pacific Islander Wellness Center (APIWC), APAIT hosts US Congresswoman Judy Chu in its downtown LA office. The two-hour session was aimed to educate the Congresswoman of the API HIV national partners’ AIDS agenda and ask her to champion HIV/AIDS issues on behalf of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders. She responds by offering to hold a legislative briefing in the future and hopes to strengthen her advocacy for API HIV/AIDS issues in the long term. Dr. Chu is the first Chinese-American woman elected to the US Congress.
RESEARCH
APAIT At The American Public Health Association (APHA) Conference
Research Analysts Samuel Ou and Michelle Magalong present APAIT’s research findings from the two-year HIV/hepatitis B co-infection prevalence study at the American Public Health Association conference in Philadelphia. The study is also under review for several journal publications.
PROGRAMS
Treatment Advocacy Program Falls Victim To Budget Cuts
The California budget crisis dramatically impacts state and local HIV public health portfolios. With over $85 million slashed in the state’s AIDS budget, APAIT’s own treatment advocacy program, which serves as a vehicle of communication between HIV/AIDS patients and their physicians through Treatment Advocates, ends its fourteen-year run.
Chieh Mei Ching Yi Sisterhood Program Stays Put
The groundbreaking HIV prevention program targeting monolingual Chinese women who work in massage parlors is sustained through a through a 3-year grant from the California Wellness Foundation. The program was originally funded by Johnson and Johnson and the National AIDS Fund’s Generations II awards.
Local Health Departments Renews APAIT’s HIV Prevention Programs For 4 Years
The LA County Department of Public Health Office of AIDS Programs and Policy renews APAIT HIV prevention programs. Traditional health education and risk reductions programs will also feature new comprehensive risk counseling services (CRCS) and HIV counseling and testing (HCT).