Oklahoma Man to Head AIDS Care

AIDS Care, a nonprofit agency that offers support services to Ventura County residents with AIDS and HIV, has hired an Oklahoma man as its new executive director.

Clifton Justice, a theatrical director and fine arts administrator, will take charge of the agency Jan. 17 under a one-year contract, said Janiece Bulgin, president of AIDS Care’s board of directors.

Bulgin, who said Justice was chosen because of his fund-raising abilities and experience in developing community support for the groups he has headed, said she hoped Justice will stay with AIDS Care for a long time.

“We are hoping that this will be a long-term affair,” Bulgin said.

Justice will succeed Edie Brown, whose resignation became effective at the end of the year. Brown stepped down from the executive director’s post because of her perception that the agency, which last year had a $300,000 budget, needs a director who is more effective at fund raising, Bulgin said.

AIDS Care, which was founded in 1988, is an advocate for AIDS and HIV clients and provides education to the community. “AIDS Care is kind of a misnomer,” Bulgin said. “We’re not a hospital. We have caseworkers who provide client services, operate support groups and a food bank, refer people to confidential testing and to medical, legal and dental services.”

Justice, 38, recently moved to Southern California from Tulsa, Okla., where he founded and worked with arts-related nonprofit groups, including the Actors Theatre of Tulsa and the Fort Smith Symphony in Fort Smith, Ark. He said he raised $1 million during the past 10 years on behalf of the groups he has directed.

Justice said he has worked as an AIDS volunteer in the past and has had friends affected by the disease.

“AIDS Care is an organization I can get very excited about,” Justice said.