AIDS United, in partnership with Elton John AIDS Foundation, Levi Strauss Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and H. Van Ameringen Fund, is pleased to announce the opportunity for grant support through the Syringe Access Fund.
Through the Round Ten Grant Cycle, the Syringe Access Fund will award approximately $2 million in new grants, covering a two-year period by the start of 2018.
Since the HIV epidemic began, injection drug use has directly and indirectly accounted for approximately one-third of all AIDS cases in the United States and is responsible for most of the new cases of hepatitis C. Currently, 91 people in the United States die every day from an opioid overdose. Widespread increases in opioid use and lack of access to evidence-based treatment and public health services has contributed to injection-related HIV and hepatitis C outbreaks.
Since the early 1980s, Syringe Services Programs (SSPs) have been an important public health intervention to stop the spread of blood borne diseases. SSPs represent one of the most successful evidence-based approaches for reducing the spread of HIV and hepatitis C. They also provide a doorway for highly marginalized people to enter larger systems of health, drug treatment, and social services that may otherwise feel overwhelming and discriminatory toward people who use drugs.
The primary goal of the Syringe Access Fund is to provide core support for programs that demonstrate:
- An ability to provide high quality syringe access services to one or more identified population(s); and
- An ability to conduct local, statewide, or national-level policy advocacy initiatives that demonstrate concrete objectives and activities to expand access to sterile syringes.
Through the Syringe Access Fund, AIDS United will provide grants to support work in the following areas:
- Syringe Access Direct Services: Access to sterile syringes through syringe services programs; and
- Education/Mobilization: Policy/advocacy campaigns focused on improving public policy at local, state, and/or national levels.
Applicants are eligible to apply for funding up to $75,000 and must be able to utilize funds over a 2-year period beginning February 1, 2018, and ending January 31, 2020.
AIDS United is providing three methods of submission for this initiative – written application, phone/video conference call, or video submission:
- Written applications are due no later than 5 pm Eastern Time on November 10, 2017.
- Phone/video conference call application – appointments must be made no later than 5 pm Eastern Time on October 13, 2017.
- Video submissions are due no later than 5 pm Eastern Time on November 10, 2017.
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