Laguna Shanti, if Troubled, Still Has Niche

We have read with great dismay two articles published July 30 (“AIDS Groups’ Rivalries Peril Laguna Shanti”) and July 31 (“AIDS Fund-Raisers Deny Politics In Financial Decisions”) regarding the plight of Laguna Shanti.

As members of the AIDS Coalition to Identify Orange County Needs (ACTION), we feel we must respond to these articles.

Let us first clarify the role that each of the mentioned organizations plays in Orange County’s HIV response. The AIDS Services Foundation (ASF), Laguna Shanti and the AIDS Response Program (ARP) provide very different types of services to the Orange County community.

The AIDS Services Foundation, while based in Irvine, provides services countywide--including to numerous clients in South County. ASF provides significant nursing case management and social services, while Laguna Shanti provides more support-type services, including a meals-on-wheels program, classes and massage services.

The AIDS Response Program, on the other hand, provides primarily risk-reduction education and prevention-oriented programs.

There is ample need, and room, in Orange County for the services provided by each of these organizations.

The article implies that Laguna Shanti was denied funding for 1992 because of political pressure placed on the AIDS Walk Orange County board of directors and because ASF and ARP were funded for 1992. This simply is not true.

Each year, AIDS Walk Orange County solicits proposals from Orange County nonprofit organizations providing HIV education, services or research.

AIDS Walk Orange County then assembles a team of Orange County HIV experts, who are not affiliated with any of the organizations applying for funding, to review the requests for funding and make recommendations based on current critical needs in Orange County.

For 1992, the review committee felt that Laguna Shanti’s proposal did not merit funding, based in part on the fact that they submitted an incomplete application.

It also is important to understand that just because an agency was funded in past years by AIDS Walk Orange County does not guarantee that it will be funded for another year.

The story further implies that it is because AIDS Walk Orange County chose not to fund Laguna Shanti this year that Laguna Shanti is in trouble.

However, by Laguna Shanti’s own admission, their difficulties have been in part the result of staff turnover and political fighting within Laguna Shanti. We believe it is, in part, because of these difficulties that the proposal submitted to AIDS Walk Orange County was not complete.

ACTION was founded in 1985 to serve as a vehicle for all people and agencies involved in HIV in Orange County to network and share resources and ideas. ACTION supports Laguna Shanti in its efforts to rebuild after difficult times and will offer whatever assistance it can to help them weather the storm.

PEARL JEMISON-SMITH, Chair

DAVID M. SOULELES, Coordinator, AIDS Coalition to Identify Orange County Needs