ACRIA News

• ACRIA Welcomes Mark J. Montgomery to Our Board
• ACRIA's CAB Presents Its First Community Hero Award
• Research Activities
• HIV Treatment Education Technical Assistance Program: Capacity Building for New York City Community-Based Organizations
• ACRIA is Looking for New COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD members

ACRIA Welcomes Mark J. Montgomery to Our Board

Mark J. Montgomery was elected to ACRIA's Board of Directors at the May 19, 2004 meeting. Mr. Montgomery comes to this position with a longstanding involvement in New York City and Washington D.C.'s nonprofit community and in medical research in particular. Mr. Montgomery also brings a valuable financial background to the agency, with over 20 years' experience as a securities analyst and portfolio manager. He currently serves as Managing Director of Montgomery Brothers, Cappiello, LLC, a private investment firm based in Washington. We look forward to having someone of Mr. Montgomery's experience and interests on our board to help ensure that our programs continue to meet the changing needs of the HIV community nationwide and that the agency remains financially stable during extremely challenging economic times for AIDS charities.

ACRIA's CAB Presents Its First Community Hero Award

ACRIA's Community Advisory Board (CAB) presented its first Community Hero Award on April 12, 2004 to Congressman Charles B. Rangel at a ceremony in East Harlem. The CAB chose Congressman Rangel for this honor because of his longstanding commitment to the health and quality of life of people living with HIV/AIDS across the country and, particularly, racial/ethnic minorities who bear the greatest burden of new infections.

Congressman Rangel is a founding member of the Congressional Black Caucus which, in 1998, caused the creation of the Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) in response to a crisis of infections within minority communities. Since then, this initiative has directed significant federal grants in the fight against AIDS to populations that had previously been sorely underserved by AIDS funding. ACRIA is just one of many nonprofits nationwide to receive MAI support for implementing critical programs that help minorities to more effectively access and benefit from a host of vital services, including programs that provide information about life saving treatment options. Most of these programs would not exist had it not been for Congressman Rangel's recognition of the emerging health crisis within African American and Latino communities. In accepting the CAB's Community Hero Award, the Congressman spoke eloquently about the continuing need of the federal government and private donors to do everything they can in the fight against HIV, with particular emphasis on helping those who are the poorest in our society.

ACRIA's CAB would like to thank New York City Councilmember Phil Reed's office for helping us present the Community Hero Award to Congressman Rangel.

Research Activities

The ACRIA research department has had its first article on HIV over 50 accepted to a peer-reviewed journal, Aging and Mental Health. "The Aging HIV/AIDS Population: Fragile Social Networks" was authored by Andrew Shippy and Stephen Karpiak. A second article -- "The Aging HIV/AIDS Population: Why Are Informal Networks Unable to Provide Adequate Support?" -- has been submitted to the journal Research on Aging.

Brady Berman and Allison Applebaum from New York University's Department of Psychology, who worked as interns on ACRIA research projects, have both been accepted to highly competitive clinical Ph.D. programs beginning next year. Brady and Allison will be completing manuscripts detailing the work they did at ACRIA, which included the assessment of cognitive function and depression in people with HIV over the age of fifty.

On April 25, 2004, Associate Director for Research Stephen Karpiak, Ph.D. addressed the Dominican Medical Association of New York on issues confronting the growing aging HIV/AIDS population. To date, the research staff has given 14 presentations on their HIV/50 research findings to New York City-based AIDS service organizations.

Free HIV Treatment Education Technical Assistance Program: Capacity Building for New York City Community-Based Organizations ACRIA is offering a new capacity building program for community-based organizations that provide services to people with HIV in New York City. The goal of the program is to help non-medical service providers incorporate accurate, comprehensive, and up-to-date HIV treatment education and counseling into their agencies' work. This two-part program includes: A four-day HIV treatment information and skills-building training held October 4-7, 2004; and Ongoing follow-up support and technical assistance for each participating agency Participation in October's training is limited to 25 people. For information about the program and how to apply, go to: www.acria.org/treatment/nycta.html.

ACRIA is Looking for New COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD members

ACRIA's Community Advisory Board (CAB) fosters partnership between the education staff and the local community impacted by HIV/AIDS. Involving community members in the development of our education programs ensures that community values and cultural differences are respected in ACRIA's educational work.

Community Advisory Board members meet every other month, review program materials, and help us identify education needs.

For more information about the CAB or if you are interested in volunteering at ACRIA, please call Mark Milano at (212) 924-3934, ext. 123.