AIDS Agency to Target Minority Communities

As the number of AIDS cases among minorities nationwide appears to be rising at a faster rate than among Anglos, Los Angeles County’s largest AIDS service organization has announced a plan to address the “changing face” of the epidemic.

AIDS Project Los Angeles will become “much more aggressive” in its recruiting of Latino and black staff members and will target an increasing number of programs to minority communities, project chief John C. Wolfe said Thursday.

“This organization was started by gay white males, and that’s who the agency first attended to . . .,” Wolfe said, “(but) we are responding more and more to people other than gay white males.”

Wolfe said the project’s new business plan, released Thursday, calls for closer working relationships with local minority AIDS agencies.

“Many people choose to use our services in conjunction with utilizing other minority AIDS agencies in the community,” he said. “They may use our food bank, but go to someone else for counseling. We are working out referral mechanisms to be sure a client can maximize all available options.”

Spanish-Speaking Staff

George Sonsel, the agency’s director of client services, said the project also plans to expand its Spanish-speaking staff at each of its four treatment sites.

According to Wolfe, the number of black AIDS victims who sought care at the agency increased by 80% in the last year. The number of Latinos increased by 89%.

“Those are the highest increases in terms of any population group that we experienced within the past year,” Wolfe said.

By contrast, the number of Anglo clients increased by about 54%, he said.

The project official said his agency has already begun an outreach to minorities, noting that about a third of the staff is black or Latino.

Last year, the agency subcontracted about 40% of its education and training dollars to minority groups in the Los Angeles community, he said.

But Wolfe cautioned that recent state AIDS budget reductions may imperil the organization’s plans. In early July, Gov. George Deukmejian cut the state Legislature’s proposed AIDS budget by about $28 million--a cut that many AIDS service agencies have criticized.

The cuts will “have a severe impact on our ability to deliver services,” Wolfe said. “And it’s no secret that the federal government certainly has not been forthcoming with money.”

According to the state Department of Health Services’ Office of AIDS statistics, the number of cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome among minority populations has increased 23% faster than among Anglos in the last year. Statistics show that 1,491 blacks, 1,647 Latinos, and 11,026 Anglos have been diagnosed with the fatal disease in California.