PRESS RELEASES

Here’s the latest from our agency.

Dustin Vance 6/21/21 Dustin Vance 6/21/21

CAP + Our House are Moving in Together!

Dear Friends and Supporters,

After more than 30 years of collaboration and a shared mission, Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) and Our House are finally moving in together. Unifying our two organizations will allow us to better serve and support the needs of our community, while also expanding our vision of care.

We appreciate all your support along our ever-evolving journey to stifle stigma, provide compassionate care and end suffering for individuals with HIV and AIDS.

Together under one roof, we will continue to serve and support our community. This strategic partnership will allow us to reach new communities, restructure our existing services to meet the evolving needs of individuals living with HIV and AIDS and the LGBTQ+ community, and ensure all in our community have access to the help they need at the right time.

Never have our programs, our services and our ability to be flexible in the ways we define and provide care been more important than they are now. We will continue to ensure that our community is receiving the entire spectrum of HIV services such as awareness and prevention education, testing and linkage, housing stability and long-term complex, specialized care. We see this as an opportunity to re-evaluate the ways we provide care and discover new strategies through which we can continue to thrive.

There are many ways to get involved in this exciting next chapter and we hope you will join us as we evolve together under one roof.

With gratitude,

Dustin Vance 2/5/21 Dustin Vance 2/5/21

HIV Organizations Announce Racial Justice Index To Remedy Disconnect Between HIV Leadership And Community Impact

Leading up to National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, AIDS United and its Public Policy Council, composed of 55 of the nation's leading organizations dedicated to ending HIV, are announcing they have launched the Racial Justice Index. AIDS United is working collaboratively with the Black AIDS Institute, a Public Policy Council member, to guide this work. After the summer of 2020 that ushered in a racial reckoning in America, this novel initiative aims to create awareness — and eventually sustainable change — around the misalignment between who holds power and resources in HIV organizations and the epidemic’s disproportionate impact on Black Americans.

The Racial Justice Index is part of a series of outcomes that emerged from more than two years of conversations led by leaders of color among the Public Policy Council and was made more urgent by the national outcry for racial justice. In June 2020, AIDS United, along with 53 members of its Public Policy Council and more than 20 other HIV organizations, issued an open letter to all elected officials calling for all policies to be enacted through a racial justice and equity framework. The Index’s mission is to assess and improve the HIV sector’s commitment to racial equity by creating assessment tools and resources to combat anti-Black racism and other forms of racism that will first be analyzed in PPC organizations and then the HIV sector. This includes hiring practices, leadership, talent retention and decision-making in the HIV movement. The Index’smethodical implementation process will seek to onboard HIV organizations to respond to an online national survey that will inform a publicly-released report, which will facilitate critical leadership conversations among HIV stakeholders.

The initiative will be guided by the Racial Justice Index Committee, a committee formed out of AIDS United’s Public Policy Council and co-chaired by Raniyah Copeland, president and CEO of Black AIDS Institute, and A. Toni Young, CEO, Community Education Group — nationally renowned Black leaders in the HIV community. The PPC and the Index committee are managed by Carl Baloney Jr., AIDS United vice president for policy and advocacy. AIDS United Board members, Dr. Kimberley Jeffries Leonard, president of Links Inc., and Dr. David Holtgrave, Dean of the University at Albany School of Public Health, SUNY, have also been instrumental in assisting in the creation of the Index. The committee includes HIV service and advocacy organizations from across the country. The work of the Racial Justice Index will first assess how leadership in the HIV movement reflects the communities most impacted and will later aim to provide training and capacity building to root out white supremacy in HIV organizations’ work.

As a Black man living with HIV, I am very proud of our diverse coalition of organizations making this commitment to racial justice. Since the start of the HIV epidemic, AIDS United has played an active role to ensure that all who are living with and vulnerable to HIV receive the care they need. We are in a moment where the HIV sector — and the health care sector as a whole — must look inward and ask ourselves if our structures and decisions truly reflect the people and needs of those most impacted by the epidemic. The Public Policy Council has always pushed for responsiveness and inclusiveness across the HIV sector. This carries that work forward in these pressing times when health inequities are at our nation's forefront. We cannot end HIV without ending the systemic racism that is too often embedded in processes that result in the disparities in new infections and lack of access to care. I know it is time for change, and we are eager to put in the required work to end racist inequities and the imprint of systemic racism in our sector.
Jesse Milan Jr., President and CEO, AIDS United

For 21 years, the Black AIDS Institute has led the fight to end HIV from a uniquely and unapologetically Black lens. With Black Empowerment as a central value, our leadership and our staff represent the communities we serve. By partnering with AIDS United and drawing from the intersectional expertise of the 55 Public Policy Council organizations, the Racial Justice Index will catalyze the prioritization of Black leadership, resource allocation, and capacity building. If we are committed to ending HIV within our lifetimes, rectifying the stain of white supremacy in how we do our work must be of the utmost priority.
Raniyah Copeland, President and CEO, Black AIDS Institute, co-chair of AIDS United’s Racial Justice Index Committee

HIV, HCV and Substance Use Disorder rage through Black and poor rural communities across the United States, it is critical the organizations are equipped to address the needs or Black people in the rural and Southern communities. The Racial Index will provide a tool for organizations to better develop staff and meet the growing needs of Black and brown communities.
A. Toni Young, Founder and Executive Director, Community Education Group, co-chair of AIDS United’s Racial Justice Index Committee

We are proud of the AIDS United Public Policy Council for deepening our commitment to racial justice through the important and urgent work to create the racial justice index. This initiative will help us examine the HIV sector's commitment to racial equity and empower us all with the resources needed to end the HIV epidemic, starting with our own organizations.
AIDS United Public Policy Council Co-Chairs Bill Keeton, Vivent Health vice president and chief advocacy officer, and Dr. Tyler TerMeer, Cascade AIDS Project Chief Executive Officer

On National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, I join AIDS United’s Public Policy Council to celebrate the launch of the Racial Justice Index, an initiative designed for HIV service organizations to conduct internal reviews aimed at eliminating racist structures, policies, and hiring practices within them. The HIV/AIDS epidemic’s disproportionate impact on Black Americans is rooted in systemic racism and the Racial Justice Index provides a tool for HIV organizations to reassess their internal structures. The Racial Justice Index is a much needed mechanism to center racial equity at the core of the HIV sector’s commitment to ending the HIV epidemic.
Congresswoman Barbara Lee, Co-Chair of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus

I applaud AIDS United for launching the Racial Justice Index on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has had a devastating impact uponAfrican Americans and other communities of color. In order for AIDS service and advocacy organizations to effectively address these devastating disparities, they must accurately reflect the demographics of the people who need their services.
Congresswoman Maxine Waters

ABOUT AIDS UNITED

AIDS United’s mission is to end the HIV epidemic in the U.S. through strategic grant- making, capacity building and policy. AIDS United works to ensure access to life-saving HIV care and prevention services and to advance sound HIV-related policy for populations and communities most impacted by the U.S. epidemic. To date, AIDS United’s strategic grant-making initiatives have directly funded more than $104 million to local communities and have leveraged more than $117 million in additional investments for programs that include, but are not limited to, HIV prevention, access to care, capacity building, harm reduction and advocacy. Learn more at www.aidsunited.org

ABOUT BLACK AIDS INSTITUTE

Founded in 1999, Black AIDS Institute (BAI) is the only uniquely and unapologetically Black think and do tank in America. Our mission is “to stop the AIDS epidemic in Black communities by engaging and mobilizing Black institutions and individuals to confront HIV.” Black Empowerment is our central theme and we are led by people who represent the issues we serve. We source our capacity building, mobilization, and advocacy efforts from Black leaders and communities across the country, and provide culturally respectful, high-quality, HIV prevention and care services for Black people in Los Angeles. Learn more at https://blackaids.org

ABOUT AIDS UNITED PUBLIC POLICY COUNCIL

AIDS United’s Public Policy Council is the nation’s largest and longest-running policy coalition of community-based HIV organizations. Supported by the AIDS United Policy Department,

Learn more at www.aidsunited.org

PRESS CONTACT for BLACK AIDS INSTITUTE:

Michelle Huff Elliott | Simone Smalls
Strategic Heights Media media@strategicheights.com 212-634-7176

PRESS CONTACT for AIDS UNITED

Warren Gill
AIDS United wgill@aidsunited.org

Dustin Vance 9/1/20 Dustin Vance 9/1/20

We’re Joining the Fight Against Big Tobacco

Cascade AIDS Project is proud to announce our endorsement of the vaping and tobacco tax on the ballot this November, and we hope you’ll join us in voting YES for a healthy future!

Protect Our Youth

People have been suffering from vaping-related illnesses while tobacco companies target our kids with candy-flavored vapes. Research shows that teens who vape are 3x more likely to start smoking. But Oregon doesn’t tax vapes one penny. That’s why we’re voting YES to protect our youth.

Lower Healthcare Costs + Save Lives

Tobacco is the #1 cause of preventable death in Oregon. That means we all pay the price—almost $1.5 billion per year in smoking-related health care costs. This measure will prevent nearly 12,000 premature deaths. That’s why a bipartisan committee wrote this measure to dedicate the dollars to tobacco prevention and cessation programs and the Oregon Health Plan.

Accountable + Clear

Dollars raised by the vaping and tobacco tax must go to the Oregon Health Plan and to fund smoking prevention programs and programs to help people quit for good. The new revenue cannot be used for anything else.

Cascade AIDS Project is proud to join the fight against Big Tobacco by endorsing the YES for a Health Future Campaign along with the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, nurses, doctors, local chambers of commerce, small businesses and community based organizations across the state.

Will you join us in voting YES this November?

Go to www.yesforahealthyfuture.org to learn more!

About Cascade AIDS Project

Founded in 1985 as a grassroots response to the AIDS crisis, Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) is now the oldest and largest HIV-services and LGBTQ+ health provider in Oregon and southwest Washington, with more than 100 employees working across four locations. Our organization seeks to prevents new HIV infections; support low-income people living with HIV; and provide safe, welcoming, and knowledgeable healthcare for the LGBTQ+ community. Through our vital health, housing, and other social services, we help ensure the well-being of more than 15,000 people each year. More information can be found at www.capnw.org

Dustin Vance 6/3/20 Dustin Vance 6/3/20

For People Living With HIV, A New Public Health Crisis In COVID-19

CAP CEO Tyler TerMeer had the pleasure of talking with OPB’s Crystal Ligori for a segment of OPB’s “All Things Considered”. To hear the entire conversation with Tyler and Crystal, use the audio player at the top of this page. We have also attached a copy of the article written by Crystal Ligori and Jenn Chavez below for your convenience. The original copy of this interview, including the audio conversation, can be found here.

With the spread of coronavirus in the Pacific Northwest, many health care and social services have shifted more toward telemedicine and virtual support in order to maintain social distancing.
That includes the Cascade AIDS Project, which has been providing HIV services and advocacy in the Pacific Northwest since the 1980s. Since the pandemic began, the organization has largely shifted away from providing in-person services in favor of giving support by phone, email and telehealth.
Tyler TerMeer, the group’s chief executive officer, told OPB’s “All Things Considered” that its work is geared toward creating access to services for people who need them, no matter what’s happening in the world around them.
In addition to HIV and sexually transmitted infection screening and support services, CAP also provides social services for people living with HIV, including rent assistance, help addressing food insecurity, and making sure unhoused people with HIV stay connected. Those have become even more important amid the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic. On the health care front, the organization has worked on making sure home HIV test kits and safer-sex supplies are available to community members, despite the in-person separation. They’ve also begun to provide COVID-19 testing.
“[We recognized] that people who we currently serve and members of the broader LGBTQ+ community and beyond would need access to COVID-19 testing,” TerMeer said, “and that we could offer that to the people that we serve but do it in a culturally affirming way.”
TerMeer acknowledged that transitioning to a telehealth model was difficult. “When I made the decision that we were going to this new model, it is in some ways such a far step away from who we are under our mission of an organization,” TerMeer said. “We built Cascade AIDS Project on the ability to provide in-person, compassionate, trauma-informed, client-centered care.”
TerMeer said while group leaders recognize that going virtual is not ideal, the services they provide are vital, and thus need to continue by any means available.
The mental health impacts of the pandemic on people living with HIV, as well as the LGBTQ community, is another concern. TerMeer acknowledged that people in those communities, global pandemic aside, have a long history of trauma and isolation.
“This time of being back in a period of isolation where they can’t have that social connection is very difficult for some of them. They are perhaps on their own, and their only outlet for social connection had been coming to see us for our social service programs, or for our social support program where they met with their peers,” TerMeer said.
Post-traumatic stress has been triggered by current events, especially for some long-term HIV survivors or members of the LGBTQ community who served as caretakers during the early years of the HIV epidemic.
“They’re reliving a very difficult chapter of their life where people were sick and dying around them,” TerMeer said.
The recent death of AIDS activist and Act Up founder Larry Kramer has brought that era of the HIV epidemic back into the national spotlight, in the context of current events. But as TerMeer and his colleagues have heard from some members of CAP’s “Aging Well” support group, the recent comparisons of the coronavirus pandemic and the HIV epidemic are not helpful. In fact, many would highlight the stark differences between the two.
During those early days of the epidemic, “you didn’t see a front-page New York Times article that talked about the 100,000 deaths in the community. That happened years into the epidemic of HIV, and was page 18 news,” TerMeer said.
Long-term HIV survivors are sometimes put off by the comparison, he said, because society didn’t respond to and care about the LGBTQ community in the same way back then, as people living through the epidemic faced stigma, discrimination and fear.
“It was really LGBTQ people and their friends and their family that had to start a revolution, that started a movement that allowed us to get us to where we’re at today in the HIV movement. It wasn’t a societal shift, a societal shutdown that got us to this point,” TerMeer said.
In all of the Cascade AIDS Project’s current priorities — addressing trauma and PTSD, providing essential healthcare and financial assistance, maintaining social connections — TerMeer added that racial equity is kept front and center. From discussions about data collection and contact tracing to considering how face coverings have in the past put some people of color at risk of being profiled, TerMeer said CAP is putting a racial justice framework on all its conversations about COVID-19.
“There should be nothing about us, without us,” TerMeer said. “That’s how the HIV movement was built, and that’s how public health crises should be addressed,” TerMeer said.

About Cascade AIDS Project

About OPB

OPB is the state’s most far-reaching and accessible media resource, providing free access to programming for children and adults designed to give voice to community, connect Oregon and its neighbors and illuminate a wider world. Every week, over 1.5 million people tune in to or log on to OPB’s Television, Radio and Internet delivered services. As the hub of operations for the state’s Emergency Broadcast and Amber Alert services, OPB serves as the backbone for the distribution of critical information to broadcasters and homes throughout Oregon. Oregon Public Broadcasting is a statewide network that includes OPB Television, an affiliate of the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS), and OPB Radio, presenting local news coverage and the programs of National Public Radio (NPR), Public Radio International (PRI) and American Public Media (APM). The OPB Web site is opb.org.