-Benefits Body Positive-
(First & Third Tuesdays of the Month, 6PM-9PM, $10.)
Gay Professionals of all stripes socialize and network.
@XL
357 West 16th Street
(Bet. 8th & 9th Avenues)
(212)995-1400
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*Northeast AIDSRide*
(Orientation-Every Monday from January 7-June 3rd and every second Saturday from January-May. Ride takes place June 20th-23rd.)
A 350 mile bicycle ride from Bear Mountain, NY to Boston, Massachusetts to benefit AIDS service organizations that the ride passes through. Benefits will include drug availability, counseling, education, and meals to homebound.
Palotta TeamWork's holds orientation sessions for the upcoming ride, for first year riders and those considering participating. Session lasts for 1 1/2 hours. Short video, discussions of training for the event and fundraising.
(800)825-1000...for more information
www.bethepeople.com
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Concerns over AIDS Funding
By Inga Sorensen
New York Blade, January 25, 2002
In its Jan. 22 AIDS Issues Update, the New York City AIDS organization Housing Works sounded the alarm over Pataki's spending plan, saying the proposal "moves to eliminate several crucial AIDS service programs and to carry out multimillion dollar cuts to others � for the second year in a row."
According to Housing Works, Pataki has again proposed cutting $7.9 million in funding for 175 AIDS service providers around the state. Pataki's plan, it says, would eliminate two crucial AIDS programs: the treatment adherence program, which helps people living with AIDS and HIV comply with complicated medication schedules of up to 70 pills a day; and the permanency planning program, which helps HIV-positive parents plan for the care of their young children in the event of death or long-term hospitalization.
Housing Works is also angry that Pataki has proposed a $10 million cut in the Homeless Housing Assistance Program, which provides construction funding for supportive housing programs and is New York's largest source of new apartments for homeless people living with AIDS and HIV.
Additionally, it charges that Pataki's budget "fails to address the crisis of AIDS in communities of color, and would carry out multimillion dollar cuts to community-based AIDS service providers already reeling from similar cuts in last year�s 'bare-bones' budget."
"AIDS cases in New York are up by 58 percent and homelessness here is at an all-time high. Our state needs to do more to fight AIDS and house the homeless, not less," said Michael Kink, Housing Works' legislative counsel in Albany.
Ronald Johnson, associate executive director of Gay Men's Health Crisis, a New York City AIDS group, said, "Until funding levels meet the needs of our communities, we are headed toward letting the crisis control us. We implore Governor Pataki to utilize his 30-day amendment period and commit additional funding to restore previous cuts in HIV/AIDS programming and allocate new funds to fight the epidemic in communities of color."
INFO:
Gov. George Pataki
State Capitol
Albany, NY 12224
www.state.ny.us/governor/
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[This message was edited by Rose Royalle on 01-31-02 at 03:41 AM.]