AIDS Survival Project to close doors, even as cases rise

When Susan Cornutt got the bad news almost 16 years ago that she was HIV-positive, she searched for an agency to help her.

“I came to the AIDS Survival Project in 1992 because they had the only support for women living with HIV,” Cornutt said.

Soon that lifeline will be shut down. Life for the HIV-positive in Atlanta has gotten better in many ways since then, but for ASP, a nonprofit, time is running out.

A false perception that AIDS is disappearing, combined with more services and agencies competing for grants is squeezing ASP out.

“Most of the funding is going to medical care, substance abuse, to [counseling] agencies with licensed professionals,” not to peer counseling and lobbying, which have been ASP’s hallmarks, said Melanie Sovine, its executive director.

Public perception also is changing. Tracy Elliott, the executive director of AID Atlanta, another service agency, said many people believe that HIV/AIDS is under control, which is not the case.

Funding is even tougher to find, especially for advocacy groups like ASP, because of this mistaken perception.

“We don’t see AIDS as a problem in our society anymore,” Elliott said.

In fact, new cases in Georgia have gone up 24 percent since 2004, and 32,000 Georgians are known to have HIV/AIDS, according to the Georgia Division of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Sovine said the number of service groups competing for funding also has grown since the early 1990s.

Medical treatment and drug assistance for HIV/AIDS patients is a priority for government grants. The money is targeted for medical treatment such as that provided by the Ryan White Program, as the number of people testing positive has grown.

ASP leaders said the agency board took a hard look at increasing difficulties in raising money and decided to close ASP’s doors in an orderly way rather than face financial starvation. ASP’s budget this year was $1 million.

Another agency, Our Common Welfare, which provided for drug rehabilitation, testing and housing assistance, went out of business earlier this year because of financial difficulties and the loss of an employment lawsuit.

The demise of ASP means an end to its testing program and training for those with HIV/AIDS to counsel their peers, educate the public and lobby politicians.

ASP’s 15 staffers and 80 volunteers will close the doors Dec. 31, though the testing program will operate until June 2009.

“The thing that makes me sad about the agency not being here is that HIV-positive people are their own best advocates and can be self-empowered,” Cornutt said.

Self-empowerment is an important personal boost when so much else connected to HIV makes you feel helpless, lost and worthless, she said.

“Many service organizations provide a service, but they don’t give you your power back,” she said.

One of the organizations that has managed to remain financially vibrant is AID Atlanta. AID Atlanta has a budget of $7.6 million this year. Elliot said he hears from his development officers how tough fund-raising is now. The small donor is pinched economically, and stock volatility is making big donors and foundations take a second look at their giving.

AID Atlanta has managed to grow by focusing its mission on practical help for those with the condition, counseling and prevention work, he said.

Money from the annual AIDS Walk Atlanta, a multiagency-sponsored event, which hopes to raise more than $1 million this year, is split among nine AIDS service organizations, including AID Atlanta.

ASP is working to transfer some of its signature work, such as Thrive Weekend, two days of education and networking for those with AIDS/HIV, to other agencies, including AIDS Alliance of Northwest Georgia in Cartersville.

Others parts of their work will disappear unless others pick up where ASP left off.

“The biggest loss is the voice ASP had in the fight,” Elliott said. “That has been their greatest contribution.”