Services for HIV-Infected and Affected Children and Families Expand with Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grant

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Services for HIV-infected and affected children and families in the Portland metropolitan region will soon expand with a $150,000 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. Cascade AIDS Project (CAP) received the three-year grant for its pioneering Kids’ Connection program. “As the face of HIV and AIDS in the Northwest continues to change, our services must also change,” stated Thomas Bruner, CAP executive director. “Kids’ Connection recognizes that HIV is a family issue, and understands that children and families with HIV face unique challenges.”

Kids’ Connection works to ensure the health and well-being of HIV-infected and affected children and families, and to engage mainstream child and family service providers in HIV education and service delivery. Established in 2002 with funding from the Meyer Memorial Trust and Collins Foundation, and expanded in 2003 with funding from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Kids’ Connection now serves some 200 children annually.  Gates Foundation funding will allow Kids’ Connection to provide educational support groups for HIV affected children, teens with HIV and parents with HIV. Groups will help participants learn to talk openly about HIV in their family, and help parents plan for the long-term care of their children. Some 2,300 children in the Portland metropolitan area have either a parent or primary caregiver with HIV, and another 100 children in Oregon have been reported as having HIV.

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CAP works to prevent HIV in youth and adults, support men, women and children with HIV and their families, and advocate for a strong community response to the epidemic. Oregon’s leading HIV organization, CAP annually educates 23,000 people about HIV prevention, supports 1,650 individuals and families with HIV, and advocates on the national, state and local levels. CAP operates with 570 volunteers, 52 staff and a $4.4 million budget.