ALLIANCE OF AIDS SERVICES-CAROLINA

Vision:
Alliance envisions a community free of HIV transmission – where everyone is empowered and thriving.

Mission:
Alliance improves the health of communities impacted by HIV/AIDS through compassionate and non-judgmental prevention, support services, and connection to care.

Alliance of AIDS Services - Carolina, "The Alliance," is a mission-driven, 501(c)(3), nonprofit organization located in Raleigh, NC. The Alliance was founded in 1999 as a strategic collaboration between the AIDS Service Agency of North Carolina (ASANC), AIDS Service Agency of Orange County (ASAOC), and Triangle AIDS Interfaith Network (TRAIN). The merger of these three nonprofits combined each of their unique talents, expertise, and resources and formed a stronger, more-effective, community-based organization serving People Living With HIV (PLWH). Now, more than 30 years later, The Alliance remains committed to their mission to improve the health of communities impacted by HIV/AIDS through compassionate and non-judgmental prevention, support services, and connection to care.

Core Services. The Alliance provides three core services (Prevention, Care and Support) throughout their service deliver area, including six NC Counties: Chatham, Durham, Johnston, Lee, Orange, and Wake.

Prevention Services include HIV/STI testing, community outreach, and health education workshops. We distribute safer-sex supplies throughout the community and partner with key organizations such as the Raleigh LGBT Center, to host large testing and outreach events.

Care Services include case-management (CM) that connect our HIV+ clients to medical, mental health and other healthcare providers. CM works to reduce barriers to client care such as assistance with transportation, navigating healthcare systems and building self-advocacy skills.

Support Services include our well-established food pantry, educational workshops, and leadership development for PLWH. We also provide referrals to community resources such as food, housing, job-training, and social programming.

Housing Services include financial assistance and help finding affordable housing.

The Alliance has more than 30 years of experience providing compassionate and non judgmental prevention, care, and support services to the greater Triangle Region.

Prevention: Testing and Outreach
Alliance of AIDS Services- Carolina (Alliance) provides HIV prevention services to six of Region 6’s 11 counties. Located in Raleigh, the capital of NC and the largest city in Wake County, our office is embedded in a community with a prevalence of 982 cases of HIV/AIDS per 100,000 population and is easily accessible by car and city buses (AIDSVu : Raleigh (Wake County). We provide free and confidential Integrated Targeted Testing Services (ITTS) for rapid and traditional HIV testing as well as syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia and hepatitis C testing. Our compassionate, non-judgmental approach enables us to test at our location and in non-traditional environments such as public parks, street corners, homelessness shelters, jails, migrant farmer camps, nightclubs, and institutions of higher education. Moreover, the Alliance provides testing at several substance use rehabilitation centers and methadone clinics. In 2019, the Alliance completed 8,570 HIV/STI tests (3,060 HIV, 2573 syphilis, 778 gonorrhea/chlamydia and 1,381 hepatitis C). We distributed more than 100,000 condoms and dental dams and provided health educators for more than 25 community events and workshops.

CLEAR: Choosing Life: Empowerment! Action! Results!
The Alliance’s CLEAR program provides one-on-one counseling to individuals living with HIV to empower and support them as they strive towards the healthiest life possible. This intervention assists individuals with problems related to basic needs, stigma, disclosure, psychosocial supports, etc. During 2019, each of our 40 clients completed 5 visits, for a total of 200 sessions and 3 support groups (3) met monthly in Raleigh and Durham. Two stand out achievements from 2019 include the completion of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention sponsored CLEAR training by two of our CLEAR graduates and the expansion of our program to Johnston and Chatham Counties.

Pantry
The Alliance’s pantry serves HIV+ individuals and HIV- individuals experiencing poverty, food insecurity, homelessness, substance use and interpersonal violence, and therefore, at a higher risk for contracting HIV. The pantry offers a variety of items including non-perishable goods, fresh produce, milk, eggs and meats. We stock TEFAP, for those who qualify and we offer limited home delivery services for those who are homebound. The pantry also provides personal hygiene items, baby necessities, and household cleaning supplies. In 2019, the Alliance’s pantry was visited 6,445 times by individuals and 2,130 households in 2019. Of those visits, 2,661 clients and 765 households were unduplicated. Of our unduplicated clients, 681were living below the poverty line, 241 were HIV+, and 99 lived with a HIV+ individual, and 30 were experiencing homelessness. One hundred school-age children received new backpacks and school supplies at the beginning of the school year, and 90 families received holiday food baskets.