Talking OUT Loud

Heads to the Sky: The Living Affected Corporation Soars

by Cornelius Mabin, Jr., Chief Operating Officer

 

As Chief Operating Officer of The Living Affected Corporation, I am proud of the continuing efforts that our organization has been doing in exploring training modules ranging from HIV testing and counseling, being certified for the D-UP HIV diffusion and further achieving community involvement through our HELP Fair which served a dual purpose of both a recognition of Gay Men's HIV Awareness Day testing event but also building more bridges into marginalized communities disporportionately affected by HIV and AIDS

These modules will be apart of the foundation of the organizations emerging Black MSM group, Strilite, which will forge a course to further "message" within the Black community through social networks and friendship circles. The completion of these modules arrive at a critical time as more news has been released concerning a recent estimate by the Centers for Disease Control, that nearly half of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses in the United States are in the states of Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee–the same region that is leading the nation in persons living with, and dying from, AIDS. The report shows 259 cases of HIV were reported in Arkansas in 2011. It also shows that HIV/AIDS is ravaging the U.S. South and that the crisis is no longer a metropolitan problem, but a home grown reality as well.

Based on that information and our own research, LA Corp has been steadfast in the stance that Arkansas's patchwork system of care is unprepared for the rising number of possible incidences, has refuted Governors Bebee position that "passing condoms in social venues such as bars" wasn't the best use of the taxpayer's dollars and have further issues with lack of energy being forwarded to social determinants such as "housing, employment, food, treatment and education," which are essential to the care continuum. Its LA Corp's position that dealing with individuals from an "holistic" approach is vital in the fight to deal with the disease from all angles and certainly from a community level intervention such as the D-Up program.

With the completion of these modules, this positions LA Corp with staffing that will be empowered with personal "one on one" in- home testing opportunities, expanding circulating harm reduction kits as well as positions individuals directly within friendship circles who have been educated and trained on the transmissions of HIV and AIDS. As apart of the core elements of the program, each newly trained facilitator will seek and identify opinion leaders within the at risk population, raise their awareness of how negative social and cultural factors impact Black MSM and teach the opinion leaders the elements of effective behavior change resulting in more condom usage. Furthermore our Peer Leadership Certification workshop further addressed our approach to creating "home grown" interventions that seek to penetrate deeper into the community.  Each of these innovative approaches  had not been done in the state of Arkansas during the course of the disease and no other agency has directly pursued this target population with culturally appropriate material.

As a sub-grantee of the Arkansas Department of Health,The Living Affected Corporation has been striving to offer as many prevention outlets possible including participating in outreach opportunities and most notably collaborations such as providing leadership in crafting the state's Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Plan that will serve as the official community jurisdictional piece regarding the impact of federal dollars extended to Arkansas for HIV and AIDS. The purpose of this multi-year plan is to assist grantees in the development of a comprehensive and responsive system of care that addresses needs and challenges as they change over time. The Comprehensive Plan is a "living document" that serves as a road map for grantees and should be continually updated as needed. The comprehensive plan should also reflect the community’s vision and values regarding how best to deliver HIV/AIDS services, particularly in the light of the cutbacks in federal, State and local resources. The Living Affected Corporation has lead the investigative team in researching and identifying caveats that will significantly address the President's National HIV/ AIDS Strategy which has three primary goals:

1) reducing the number of people who become infected with HIV,
2) increasing access to care and optimizing health outcomes for people living with HIV, and
3) reducing HIV-related health disparities.
The NHAS states that more must be done to ensure that new prevention methods are identified and that prevention resources are more strategically deployed. Further, the NHAS recognizes the importance of getting people with HIV into care early after infection to protect their health and reduce the potential of transmitting the virus to others. HIV disproportionately affects people who have less access to prevention and treatment services and, as a result, often have poorer health outcomes. Therefore, the NHAS advocates for the adoption of community-level approaches to reduce HIV infection in high-risk communities and reduce stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV. Through the D-Up intervention, LA Corp has embraced the concept of community level interventions that will be an effective tool to move our communities toward the international goal of zero infections as pronounced in December 2011 by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Meanwhile Arkansas's policy makers must re-examine their commitment to this health dilemma and address many measures that could have an overall impact on HIV and AIDS in Arkansas. For instance the 2008 HIV/AIDS Task Force recommendations that sought 3 Million dollars over two years to establish counseling services and 15 HIV testing sites in black, Hispanic and other high-risk communities around the state. The report proposed an annual budget of $150,000 to hire two staff members to manage the services and to pay for overhead costs, such as office space, supplies and travel reimbursement. The task force said then that the testing and counseling sites would cost $975,000 annually. They also budgeted $225,000 annually for an HIV/AIDS awareness campaign.

Yet despite the report being widely circulated to Governor Bebee and both House and Senate leadership there was no action taken then or now four years later. Subsequently to that report, another comprehensive report was prepared by the Harvard Law and Policy Clinic of Harvard Law School, entitled the SHARP report ( State Health Access Research Project) which again provided lawmakers a complete analysis of the successes, challenges and opportunities for improving health care access in Arkansas. Especially noting insufficient prevention resources being funded and the necessity of additional state funding being budgeted. Even though the report received wide distribution, as of 2012 only meager increments of change have occurred thus bringing us today with Arkansas being among 7 out of 10 states with the highest HIV/AIDS death rates are in the South.

Even more disturbing of the states statistics is also the continuing lack of a plan to thwart the fact that at least 4,617 individuals are still not in care nor does the appear to be sufficient leadership in forming a strategy to providing a pathway to link this population to services. As cited in the SHARP report and LA Corp concurs that incidences such as this should be apart of the improved "communication and coordination among surveillance, epidemiology, and client services program staff, as well as better sharing data. Simply put, there must be better teamwork within ADH."

Since the report was published improvements have been marginal at best but encouraging, however, the importance of serious day-to-day collection, monitoring and movement of data under the HIV/STD Hepatitis C section should be prioritize similar to at least seventy seven percent of other agencies nationwide. Its imperative that community based organizations such as LA Corp have reliable and accurate data it needs to design programs, evaluate quality and meet grant requirements, helping fulfilling our mission more efficiently and effectively. We challenge the Arkansas Department of Health to discern cumbersome rules, policies and regulations that often obstruct agencies while not allowing a system that is agile and capable of rapid respond times to problems that often preclude planning and follow through. It is our belief that such structuring will help improve effectiveness, coordination, and accountability, allowing us as an organization to maximize our use of limited resources.

Internally the organization is also drilling down on its organizational structure by beginning assessing its future through strategic development exercises via Mr. Damon Jackson, of the Damon Jackson Group which specializes in organizational management and development. Through this work, LA Corp has begun the process to retool, re-think and reposition it's strategies and time lines including a impending 5 year plan. Central to this growth has been redeploying its new mission and vision statements that clarify the groups forward momentum, relevance to the community and destination of becoming the premiere consumer driven organization in a Wellness Institute sphere. Currently we are seeking new board members to answer structural challenges and assist the organization in its mission to be a dynamic force with both innovative and future direct services. We have placed financial compliance and transparency at the top of our " to do" list of internal mechanism that propel the organization which included securing new credentialed financial experts to handle record keeping and filings.

Since assuming the responsibilities of position, I've come to believe that as an organization we have been undeterred from some stark realities that have faced the organization. Nevertheless, The Living Affected Corporation since its inception has persevered in providing prevention, education, advocacy in an effort to support the groups new bold and concise vision statement of "We are the statewide organization that is informed and connected to change the social construct of the community we serve by providing basic human rights." Furthermore we reaffirmed our commitment of refocusing our mission statement which now reads: "Transforming communities through holistic health by providing education and advocacy." To these means we move forward in our pursuit of building human capital while answering the call to help change the world around us. If you would like to join us in making a difference, you can donate through our website at www.livingaffected.org or call us 501.379.8203