 © Estate of Keith Haring
|  |  An Initiative Of Santa Fe Cares New and innovative approaches to HIV prevention in northern New Mexico is the focus of an initiative Santa Fe Cares has undertaken in memory of deceased board member Herman Rodriguez. It will be launched with $10,000 received in his memory and from the Joe Rice Estate. "In spite of our nation's best efforts to prevent the spread of the HIV virus, incidence rates continue to raise," observed Carolyn Tjoland, SFC Executive Director. "Much success has been made in the gay community, as they saw first hand the devastating effects of this disease. Target groups slower to respond to prevention efforts have been our youth, young adults, people of color and heterosexual women who often contact the virus unknowingly through sex with IV-users. Even seniors, thinking they are safe, are now finding themselves in one of the high-risk categories." The SFC board of directors is providing the $10,000 as seed money for the initiative. Other foundations and major donors will be approached in an attempt to make $50,000 available for new prevention projects by next summer's grant cycle. "We invite anyone with a desire to increase prevention efforts in our community to make a donation to this initiative," said Jeff Pine, SFC president. "You can make a difference--and together we can stops AIDS today!" |
