EASTSIDE : Education Grant for Latino AIDS Group
Cara a Cara Latino AIDS Project has been awarded a $600,000 grant to educate Latinos about the disease and direct HIV-positive people to sources of treatment and support.
Program Director Oscar Reconco said the group aims to reach women, homeless people, gay and bisexual men, and undocumented immigrants.
He said the center will hire five outreach workers to take to the streets to distribute free information packets, including condoms. The three-year grant from the federal Centers for Disease Control will allow Cara a Cara to expand its work in AIDS education and prevention by doing a better job of tracking people with HIV, Reconco said.
“Before, once a client got tested positive, they got lost in the system,” he said. “With case management, once he comes here to the clinic and tests positive, we’ll link him right away to HIV support groups and encourage him to get his T-cell count. We’ll try to be responsible for sending these people to the right clinic. “
In Los Angeles, 34% of the new AIDS cases are Latinos, Reconco said. Nationwide, Latinos make up 16%, or 35,000, of those affected by the disease, he said.
The grant is part of $10 million in federal money set aside to fight AIDS in ethnic communities.
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