AID Atlanta Cuts Three Staff Positions

Atlanta's largest AIDS service organization, AID Atlanta, recently laid off three employees and shuffled two other positions to deal with financial problems created by a drop in corporate sponsorships and lower proceeds from the most recent AIDS walk, officials said. The move came on the heels of the agency's announcement that it would suspend services at its HIV health care clinic at the end of the month after losing Ryan White CARE Act funding because it failed to meet application guidelines. The two decisions are not related, said Tony Braswell, AID Atlanta's executive director.

Of the 94 employees at AID Atlanta, 72 positions are funded through grants, while 22 -- mostly in administration and one in development -- are funded through the agency's general operating budget, Braswell said. The Oct. 9 AIDS walk came close on the heels of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, when some potential participants remained leery of large events. "[Prior to Sept. 11], all the trends were up, such as team and walker registration," Braswell said. The 2001 walk raised about $1.1 million, down from $1.4 million the year before, although expenses remained steady at approximately $700,000, he said. AID Atlanta will likely get 62 percent of the net funds raised. This amount -- an estimated $230,000 -- is less than half what it received from the 2000 walk.

AID Atlanta's health care clinic received $628,268 in Ryan White funds last year and had requested $740,000 for this year. But the grant required the clinic's health care provider to be non-profit, according to Jeff Cheek, director of Ryan White program from Fulton County. AID Atlanta's provider has applied for that status but did not attain it in time for the grant deadline. Now an increase of about $2.5 million in available Ryan White funds will allow a second round of grants, for which AID Atlanta and other agencies can reapply. The second round of bidding for grants will likely be at the end of March or the beginning of April, with new contracts beginning in May or June, Cheek said.

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