Consumer Digest - Making a Difference!

"Making a Difference " has been developed to help community members to become involved in local decision making that will determine what HIV services are available in their community. While this Consumer Digest may be helpful to many types of community members, its primary purpose is to support persons living with HIV disease to be effective participants on Ryan White planning bodies. Whether you already are involved in your planning body process or wish to learn more before Making the Commitment to get involved, Making a Difference can help you. The CARE Act (Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency) is the Federal law that provides money to cities, States, community-based organizations and other types of organizations to provide HIV services. The CARE Act specifically requires that HIV services planning bodies include persons living with HIV disease. These Title I planning councils and Title II planning bodies and consortia (collectively referred to as Ryan White planning bodies throughout this document) have a big impact on determining the types of HIV services - and which specific programs - are available in a community. In recent years, Congress has appropriated (or designated) funding in the range of $2 billion per year to support HIV health services through the CARE Act. Much of this money is distributed to States and local governments that rely on planning bodies to help them identify who is affected by the HIV epidemic, set priorities for the types of HIV services that are needed, and determine how best to allocate funding among multiple priorities. Persons living with HIV disease (PLWH) are critical to the success of these planning processes because they bring a perspective that is different from other members and know firsthand what services are needed. They also can help make sure that different groups of PLWH are included in the process and that their service needs are not overlooked. The Health Resources and Services Administration's (HRSA) HIV/AIDS Bureau (HAB) is the Federal agency responsible for administering the CARE Act. HAB produced this Consumer Digest with the assistance of PLWH members of planning bodies and PLWH trainers at national HIV/AIDS organizations. This document provides new information regarding the CARE Act Amendments of 2000 related to PLWH involvement, and draws upon other publications and materials useful to PLWH on (or considering serving on) a planning body. This digest is intended to provide you with information and tools to help you Make a Difference by serving your community as an active and informed member of a Ryan White planning body.