APICHA - Gift of Caring

Our Space Beginning 2007 New Year

APICHA’s Mission is to combat HIV/AIDS stigma and related discrimination, to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS pandemic in Asian & Pacific Islander communities, and to provide care and treatment for A&PIs living with HIV/AIDS and their families.

APICHA aspires to be one of the premiere education, service and training organizations in the nation. Considered a pioneer of and advocate for culturally and linguistically competent and customized HIV/AIDS services, APICHA now serves persons living with HIV/AIDS and the A&PI communities at large through the following services –

HIV medical care
Case management, support services and emergency assistance
HIV counseling and testing
STD screening and treatment
Mental health assessment
Referrals to dental and other specialty care
Food pantry and nutritional counseling
Workshops for youth, men who have sex with men, and women
Community organizing
Coalition building
Training and technical assistance
Policy analysis and research

Building a Legacy, Against All Odds

Out of a struggle for equality in AIDS care in 1989 was born APICHA, an agency that has transformed that passion into a legacy of community service for Asians and Pacific Islanders (A&PI).

APICHA fights HIV/AIDS in New York City through its continuum of services, from prevention education to care and treatment for persons living with HIV/AIDS.

A&PIs come from many countries, encompassing more than 49 ethnicities and over 100 languages.

APICHA –

Is the only community-based organization in the nation that operates an A&PI-focused HIV primary care clinic.

Has expertise in A&PI cultures and sensitivity to sexual identity and immigrant concerns.

Maintains a professional multilingual staff – with language competency in at least 15 A&PI languages - that delivers our client-centered, holistic care.

Respects clients’ confidentiality as mandated by law.

Brings counseling and testing and prevention messages to bathhouses, bars, massage parlors, schools, churches, temples, mosques, health fairs, and other community events.

Engages A&PI men and women of all ages, immigrants and U.S.-born, to bring safe sex messages to A&PI neighborhoods such as Chinatown, Flushing, Sunset Park, Jackson Heights, and Parkchester.

Fights HIV stigma and homophobia through advertisements in NYC’s subways and media outlets that target A&PI communities.

Offers services free of charge or at affordable cost.

Provides HIV positive clients with bilingual case managers to obtain housing, legal, and other social services and helps them navigate the city’s health care system.

Invests in the future of our society by training peer leaders and volunteers in HIV prevention, empowerment, domestic violence, cultural competency, confidentiality regulations. Over 1,000 peers and volunteers have been trained over the last 10 years, many of whom have joined APICHA’s and other health care agencies’ staff.

Partners with major research institutions like the New York Academy of Medicine and the National Institutes of Health, to study community attitudes on HIV, service gaps, and other community health issues.

Participates in HIV planning bodies and advocates for the needs of our communities

Why Our Programs must exist?

New York City is the epicenter of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the nation.
Of the total 94,595 people living with HIV/AIDS in NYC in 2004, 1,067 were identified as A&PIs.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) have stated that A&PI cases have been undercounted for many reasons, including low testing rates and misclassification of A&PIs.

Consider these alarming facts:

As of the end of 2004, an estimated 7,317 A&PIs in the U.S. and a reported 1,168 A&PIs in NYC had been diagnosed with full-blown AIDS.

Of A&PIs newly diagnosed as HIV positive in 2004, 29% had a concurrent diagnosis of full-blown AIDS, indicating they had delays in accessing appropriate medical care. Over 40% do not access care within three months of diagnosis.

Of all racial groups, A&PIs are the only groups continuing to show statistically significant increases in the annual rate of new HIV/AIDS diagnoses, according to the most recent national analyses published by the CDC.

Among A&PIs, men who have sex with men are the most affected by the disease.

Heterosexual A&PI men and women are increasingly affected. 100% of newly diagnosed A&PI women in NYC reported they got infected through sex with men.

Where country of birth is known, 72% of cumulative A&PI AIDS cases in NYC and 60% of A&PI cases in the U.S. have been among foreign-born A&PIs.

A Gateway to Greater Services and Transformation

APICHA is committed to bringing the best services to our communities and to catalyzing transformations to stop the spread of the disease.

Our space promotes healing by maintaining a serene environment suffused in natural sunlight and A&PI aesthetic traditions.

Beginning New Year 2007, our home will be at 400 Broadway at the corner of Walker Street, a corridor intersecting the districts of SoHo, Tribeca, and Chinatown. Just a block south of Canal Street, it is accessible by public transportation.

Our brand of care will continue; the delivery more efficient. We will also continue to host international guests.

We will also continue to host international guests. APICHA has served as a beacon to many leaders around the world in search of effective HIV/AIDS service model they can apply in their respective countries. The former First Lady of Malaysia, Datin Seri Hasma, came to visit in 2001. We have also recently received representatives from the health departments and non-governmental organizations of the People’s Republic of China, Taiwan, Japan, and Thailand.

APICHA Must Raise $1.6 Million

The Gift of Caring is a 3-year initiative to raise funds needed to transition our agency into the new space.

Beginning in 2001, we nurtured our services at 150 Lafayette St. Our dream had been to continue to grow the programs in that space until 2010. Real estate market realities intervened, however. Halfway through our 10-year lease, new owners took over the building. They decided to convert the building into luxury condominium apartments, just like several other buildings in the area.

Buy-out settlement from the landlord has given us a headstart in renovating our new space and preparing for the move. We need to raise an additional $1.6 million to complete the project and fully resettle APICHA into the new space.

Please consider joining our Gift of Caring campaign and make a significant donation to help preserve a community health legacy, against all odds.

A Challenge from an Anonymous Donor

Our campaign has received a great startup, thanks to a long-time friend who has pledged anonymously to give a $100,000 challenge grant to the campaign. To meet this challenge, APICHA aims to triple the grant by raising $300,000. Gifts received by August 31, 2007 will help us reach this goal.

Thank you for being part of the Gift of Caring campaign.

Log on to www.apicha.org to donate online.

From the Ground Up
Building APICHA Program by Program

1987 AIDS surveillance data classified A&PIs and Native Americans as “Other”. APICHA conceived.

1989 APICHA founded by 6 Japanese American women and young A&PI community activists. In partnership with Native American activists, APICHA advocated for A&PIs HIV/AIDS surveillance data collection by CDC.

1990 Prevention education started with first grant from the Aaron Diamond Foundation; one-room office at 11 John St. acquired; first 3 employees hired.

1992 APICHA incorporated; received first government grant from the U.S. Conference of Mayors, subsequently received contracts from the NYC DOH and NYS AIDS Institute, Bureau of Community-Based Services.

1995 Moved to 275 Seventh Ave. in Chelsea District.

1996 Won a 5-year grant to provide bilingual case management and peer advocacy through the “Bridges Project”, funded through the Special Projects of National Significance (SPNS) Program of the Health Resources and Services Administration.

1999 Launched the first social marketing campaign for HIV awareness targeting A&PIs with funds from the federal and state Office of Minority Health.

2000 Broke ground in HIV testing and counseling by piloting the program in a community-based setting, with support from CDC.

2001 Expanded client services to include culturally appropriate food & nutritional services and acupuncture; launched program focused on young A&PI men who have sex with men; built facility at 150 Lafayette St. to house the expanded continuum of services using the one-stop shop model; APICHA evolved into a community center.

2003 Opened HIV Primary Care Clinic with Article 28 operating license from the New York State Department of Health

2005 Added STD screening and treatment to HIV primary clinic services.

APICHA - ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER COALITION on HIV/AIDS, Inc.
400 Broadway, New York, NY 10013
Phone 1.212.334.7940 Fax 1.212.334.7956 Infoline 1.866.APICHAS
E-mail apicha@apicha.org