CHICAGO HOUSE Selected for National Grant to Support Care and Treatment of Transgender Community
It was announced that local
non-profit leader in AIDS services, Chicago House, was selected as one of eight
national grant sites to study the link between HIV and retention in care of
transgender women of color. The study, which will be housed in Chicago
House’s all new TransLife Center (TLC), will allow $300,000 per year for
the next five years from the Health Resources and Services Administration
(HRSA) as a Special Program of National Significance.
The TLC programming will serve as a
collaborative comprehensive and multi-strategy approach to identifying HIV-positive
transgender women of color who are out of care, while engaging them
successfully in accessible, quality HIV primary care.
In leveraging
the resources and expertise of five project partners – AIDS Foundation of
Chicago, Center On Halsted, Lurie Children’s Hospital, Heartland Health
Outreach, and South Side Help Center – Chicago House will identify
transgender women of color living with HIV, create a broad network of
culturally competent healthcare providers, and deliver an array of services that
help marginalized transgender women overcome barriers to care.
“The TransLife Center Programming will incorporate
three tiers of support to the habitually overlooked “T” in the LGBT
community,” commented Chicago House CEO, Stan
Sloan. “TransHousing
will provide a safe and understanding home to transgender men and women,
through the rebirth of our original 24-hour-care building in Edgewater and
multiple scattered site units throughout the city. TransWorks, an offshoot of our highly
successful employment program, will work with trans men and women to identify
their unique employment placement needs and prepare them for the workplace
through resume writing, interview skills, and connections to culturally
competent job opportunities.” Sloan continued, “The final
element, TransHealth, will
connect trans men and women to non judgmental health care addressing their
unique needs through Dr. Rob Garafolo of Lurie Children’s Hospital.”
HRSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services, is the primary Federal agency for improving access to health care
services for people who are uninsured, isolated or medically vulnerable.
“Chicago House remains committed to providing the best
in services to the homeless and HIV affected, and the integral TransHealth funding from HRSA further validates
the needs that we have identified within the transgender community,”
Sloan said. “The growth in reaching out to this population
represents the same trailblazing growth our founders had in mind 27 years ago,
and it is a wonderful next incarnation for our former hospice site. The
transgender community has been so strategic and receptive in helping us develop
the programs, and we are excited to begin this next step of Chicago
House’s history.”
About Chicago
House
The first organization of it’s kind in the Midwest, since 1985 Chicago
House has provided permanent housing and supportive services to men,
women and children living with HIV and AIDS. Their programs have since
expanded to include community case management, substance abuse counseling, HIV
prevention, medical adherence and the Midwest’s
first employment training and placement program specific to people with
HIV. Chicago House also
offers free, anonymous rapid HIV testing. For more information, visit www.chicagohouse.org.