Southern Impact HIV Fund will award up to $60,000 in grant support to Southern organizations to end the HIV epidemic.

With generous support from Gilead Sciences, ViiV Healthcare and an anonymous donor, we are pleased to announce our latest grant opportunity through the Southern HIV Impact Fund. The Southern HIV Impact Fund supports Southern organizations working across intersecting movements to enhance and coordinate HIV prevention, care and support services, and advocacy and movement-building across the South. The Southern HIV Impact Fund recognizes the historical inequities that Southern organizations face when it comes to implementing and growing when it comes to the global mission of ending the HIV epidemic.

“To rebuild a world and, more specifically, an HIV movement that centers Blackness and the understanding of how white privilege and racialized grantmaking practices slow the current to ending the epidemic is imperative. By SHIFting the narrative in all aspects of HIV programming, policies, laws and organizational operations, we're working to avoid another year or decade to go by where HIV disproportionately impacts Black folx/people of color, and their needs go unstained and under supported.” — Vanessa Lathan, senior program manager, Southern HIV Impact Fund

The grants aim to address these inequities by directing funds to and building the capacity of Southern organizations to:

•  Increase collaborative efforts across the South to end HIV and reduce health disparities.
•  Catalyze a demonstrable increase in leadership in the South that is more reflective of the regional HIV epidemic while also providing support to current leaders.
• Increase resources to the South, both through technical assistance and grantmaking.

For the 2023-2024 cycle, $1.2 million in funding is available through the Southern HIV Impact Fund. AIDS United anticipates awarding up to $60,000 in grants to Southern racial, social justice and community-based organizations that serve people living with HIV or the communities most impacted by HIV, federally qualified health centers, historically Black colleges and university and other minority-serving institutes, Black Greek lettered and civil and social service organizations, and Southern-based networks of people living with HIV. The Southern HIV Impact Fund will award 20-25 grants to organizations in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas for to support general operations expenditures and implementation of special projects. AIDS United staff will also provide two technical assistance webinars, one on Sept. 14, and another on Sept. 20. You can view the presentation here. The final deadline for applications is Oct. 2, 2023, at 6 p.m. EDT. View the full request for proposals, including eligibility requirements, application process and timeline.