No Aid for AIDS

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“We are the last safety net for the most vulnerable populations—the field workers, the mentally ill, homeless people,” explained David Selberg this week. “If we’re not here to help them, there’s nobody to help them.”

What dire situation was Selberg describing? The executive director of Pacific Pride Foundation (PPF), Santa Barbara County’s gay and lesbian resource center and HIV/AIDS services center, was illustrating the impact that Governor Schwarzenegger’s recent line-item veto of AIDS funding will have on the county’s most susceptible people.

Gay Girl / Straight World

“It’s unacceptable that the fifth largest economy in the world is treating its most fragile, high-needs communities in such a horrible way,” Selberg said. “[The cuts] put us in a position of assisting the most critically ill or the highest at risk, which leaves other populations vulnerable.”

With a stroke of his pen, Governor Schwarzenegger slashed $52 million from critical AIDS services funding through the state’s Office of AIDS. And after the state legislature’s 10-percent cut earlier in July, that means California now is looking at $82 million less in AIDS funding. For those of you keeping track, that shoves us back to pre-1985 levels of funding, essentially the dark ages of HIV/AIDS awareness and treatment.

These are big numbers to get one’s head around, so to put some perspective on how that money trickles down to Santa Barbara County, I looked into the specifics of PPF’s work. When PPF first began creating programs for the HIV-positive population, there were 37 clients. Now, the multi-pronged organization works with almost 600 people who rely on PPF for access to basics like food pantries and housing assistance, as well as case management and counseling/recovery services. Moreover, PPF provides education and prevention services to people at the highest risk for contracting HIV; last year alone, more than 10,000 people benefited from these services. Clearly, in marking out one line on the budget, the governor severely altered the lives of thousands and thousands of people.

Santa Barbara, this is all happening in your backyard. No matter one’s political leanings, it cannot be denied that decimating the budget for HIV/AIDS services is not a wise move. For PPF—the largest HIV/AIDS services provider between Los Angeles and San Francisco—this means having to put clients onto a waiting list in order to get assistance from a case manager, something the 34-year-old nonprofit has never had to do before. And although Selberg said PPF has every intention of maintaining its North County offices in Santa Maria, he conceded that the details of making this happen still need to be figured out.

Just down the road, the Ventura County Rainbow Alliance, previously an HIV/AIDS service provider and gay and lesbian center, has eliminated its HIV/AIDS arm and will operate solely as a gay and lesbian center. Is PPF headed in that direction? Throughout my conversation with Selberg, he emphasized that the situation created by the budget cuts is incredibly uncertain, but none of his responses illustrated that point as succinctly as when he explained, “I’ve gotten a lot of people in the community asking, ‘Does this push you more in the direction of LGBT programming and away from HIV/AIDS?’ You know, I’ll probably be able to give you an honest, educated answer to that in a week or two.”

It’s easy to feel powerless in this situation. But we can’t wallow in that mindset for long—thousands of people are counting on PPF and organizations like it across the state to provide basic services. It’s up to you to contact your representatives and let them know that unilaterally eliminating AIDS funding is not an appropriate way to “solve” a budget crisis. And this year, perhaps more than ever, it’s important that you sign up for PPF’s AIDS Walk on October 3, since all of the funds raised will go directly toward vital HIV/AIDS programs.

As Selberg emphasized toward the end of our conversation, “Pacific Pride belongs to the community; it’s the community’s HIV/AIDS organization. Its success is dependent upon the community’s support.”

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