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Friends For All Celebrates 40 Years with Bash

Friends For All headquarters (Photo: Courtesy Friends For All)

This Saturday, the nonprofit Friends For All will celebrate its 40th Birthday Bash at its headquarters. The family-friendly event will include free community resources, CEO panel with Q&A, activities, food from Memphis-based food trucks, and a birthday cake. 

“It’ll be an opportunity for us to not only show off our new building [completed in October 2023], but also show off the activities that we do inside this building,” says Friends For All CEO Diane Duke. That means cooking demonstrations with a registered dietitian, dance classes, art classes, and more. “We’ll have tours of the building, talking about what we do here, so kind of an open house, get to know us, celebrate 40 years.”

Friends For All started as Friends for Life in 1985 at the height of the AIDS epidemic in Memphis. “It was literally a group of friends who came together to help their friends and their family members die with dignity,” Duke says, “because it was a death sentence back then. Now, because of medical advances that we’ve had, it’s not a death sentence anymore, and people can live long, happy, and healthy lives and be HIV-positive.”

Even with all these advances, Friends For All’s work continues to be relevant as ever, especially since Memphis is second in the nation for new transmissions of HIV. For that reason, the nonprofit works “at the outlying factors that keep HIV high,” Duke says, “and that’s the social drivers of health: poverty, housing insecurity, food insecurity, and stigma.”

So now, Friends For All has evolved to offer early intervention services, medical case management, rental and mortgage assistance, emergency financial assistance, group and individual mental health counseling services, rapid HIV and STI testing and treatment services, digital health literacy courses, and food pantry, and food delivery, and nutrition services — all at a low or no cost. The nonprofit also has a full service mobile care unit and a dedicated outreach team, which was able to conduct more than 3,500 HIV tests throughout the region this past year.

“Friends For All’s now a one-stop shop to really help those outlying issues and keep people from contracting it, or if you have it, getting that viral load down,” Duke says. 

These days, though, as the Trump administration threatens cuts to funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which includes the HIV prevention budget, Friends For All’s future could be bleak. “Within the administration, we’re facing some real challenges that would devastate us and the community,” Duke says. “So we would see HIV rates soar, and we would again see people die. We don’t want that. We’re really hoping that the administration rethinks their stance on where it looks like they’re going on funding for this.”

But, with this weekend being a celebration, Duke doesn’t want to lose sight of the 40 years of progress Friends For All has made. “Joy is important,” she says. “So that we don’t lose hope. We are celebrating how far we’ve come, and we’re also making sure that we’re determined to continue and encourage people to speak to their elected officials to make sure that this funding continues.”

Reserve a spot for the Friends For All 40th Birthday Bash here.

Friends For All 40th Birthday Bash, Friends For All Headquarters, 1548 Poplar Avenue, Saturday, March 22, 10 a.m.-2 p.m., free.

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MSCS Students Gain Access to HIV, STI Testing, Treatment

Photo by Reproductive Health Supplies Coalition via Unsplash

A new partnership will allow Memphis Shelby County Schools (MSCS) to provide students and families with testing for HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STI), counseling, treatment, education, and more.

The Shelby County Health Department (SCHD) announced the partnership with MSCS last week. The health department said it wants to provide more resources for younger people who have been diagnosed with HIV and to be proactive in preventing the disease.

Shelby County has historically had one of the highest new infection rates for HIV in the nation. In May of 2024 The SCHD noted an “alarming increase in newly diagnosed cases of HIV in our community.” Officials said the highest increase affected people aged 14 to 45, and was not “spread evenly throughout the county.”

The spread of HIV among teens rose 50 percent from 2022-2023

“Preliminary data from the Tennessee Department of Health indicates the infection rate for people aged 15 to 19 in Shelby County increased by about 50 percent from 2022 to 2023,” the health department said in a statement. “Rates of new HIV cases among young people aged 15 to 24 years old in Shelby County are more than five times higher than the same age group in the United States overall.”

Shelby County Health Department director and health officer Dr. Michelle Taylor said that the impact of HIV and STIs on young people is “significant” and is further complicated by stigma and “a lack of access to healthcare resources.”

“Rates of new HIV cases among young people aged 15 to 24 years old in Shelby County are more than five times higher than the same age group in the United States overall.”

Shelby County Health Department

Prior to this announcement the health department, United Way of Greater Nashville, and John Snow, Inc.(JSI) hosted the first Shelby County HIV summit in October at the FedEx Institute of Technology at the University of Memphis. The summit not only facilitated conversations on how to coordinate efforts about HIV awareness and prevention, but how to address rising rates in Shelby County, which Taylor said represents a renewed sense of commitment to teamwork.

Taylor said, during these conversations, people realized that the health department had not been in MSCS, the largest school district in the state, since before the pandemic.

“It was a renewed sense of urgency to say, ‘Hey, why aren’t we in the schools?’” Taylor said. “Or, if we’re in the schools, ‘Why is it limited?’”

As a result of these conversations, Taylor and her team provided a memorandum of understanding to increase the health department’s presence at schools.

“Memphis Shelby County Schools services 106,000 students and a lot of those students are adolescents, people we know we need to educate with comprehensive sex education and teach them how to best protect their health in every way,” Taylor said. “We’re super excited.”

According to Taylor, education plays a large role in diminishing stigma and engaging young people. She said this still stands as a barrier to addressing HIV.

“Here in the traditional South, in what we know as ‘The Bible Belt,’ a lot of times stigma can get in the way,” Taylor said. “Stigma and stigmatizing people who are living with HIV gets us nowhere. Especially when we know even if you’re living with HIV you can live a long, fruitful life.”

Taylor said that HIV prevention and treatment have come a long way, resulting in more care for those living with the disease, which can aid in conversations that seek to address stigma.

“This valuable partnership with MSCS will help us provide our young people with the information, screenings, and preventive care they need to protect themselves. I am grateful to the Shelby County Board of Education and Memphis-Shelby County Schools leadership for putting the health of students and families first in making this beneficial collaboration possible,” Taylor said.

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LeMoyne-Owen Partners with Black Aids Institute Through HBCU-Centered Consortium

Photo Credit: LeMoyne Owen via Facebook

Students at LeMoyne-Owen College will have the opportunity to increase dialogue in Memphis regarding HIV prevention and care, and to also contribute to the nationwide fight for equity and wellness.

The Black AIDS Institute (BAI) has partnered with the school for the launch of its Black HIV Epidemic (BHIVE) program. LeMoyne-Owen was chosen along with Jarvis Christian University, Voorhees University, and Johnson C. Smith University for the Historically Black College and University (HBCU)-centered consortium.

BHIVE is funded by the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA). Officials said the goal helps in their mission to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic by engaging with students at these universities through education and internship programs.

Grazell Howard, board chair at BAI said they have the challenge and the opportunity to “revolutionize how we prevent and care for persons living with HIV.” She noted that these people are “thriving and living,” but that they also face the same morbidities that Black people do.

“We can no longer just talk about HIV,” Howard said. “ We have to speak about HIV and Black wellness in ways that our entire Black community can hear them.”

Shelby County has historically had one of the highest new infection rates for HIV in the nation. The Shelby County Health Department posted a notice on its website in May saying it had noted an “alarming increase in newly diagnosed cases of HIV in our community. Officials said the highest increase affected people aged 14 to 45, and was not “spread evenly throughout the county.”

According to AIDSVu , Black people accounted for 84.1 percent of new diagnoses in Shelby County in 2021, while accounting for 49.8 percent of the population.

The Black community is sometimes thought of as “diseased-burdened,” said, Howard. The prevalence of such problems as infant mortality and maternal child health is not because Black people “are so sick,” she said, but rather because these communities have been historically and systemically neglected in diagnoses, treatment, and care. 

The HIV virus affects those in minority populations more than others, but advocates and community leaders say that the “problem has never been strictly medical.” In 2023, James E.K. Hildreth, president of Meharry Medical College, said a broader approach is required, specifically honing in on community leaders and organizations and the role they play in ending the virus. 

“To truly end the epidemic, we need community solutions that work in the context of those communities,” Hildreth said. “We also need to have communities work hand in hand — scientific community and healthcare providers.”

Howard said that being unapologetically Black and practicing activism every day has always been at the center of the work, but now they are adding revolutionizing treatment, prevention, and intergenerational care to their mission and message.

“We must be multi-generational in the message, and we must be true to ourselves,” Howard said. “We have to sterilize stigma within the race. What do I mean by that? We cannot have homophobia, transphobia, and xenophobia.”

Howard said BAI is “radically partnering” and that this is where engaging students at colleges like LeMoyne-Owen proves to be both important and intentional, because HBCUs have long been bases of the Black community. The partnership allows them to bring communication and curriculum that can engage the Black community culturally.

“Historically Black colleges are hubs and nuclei in Black communities, whether you’re a college degree person or not,” Hildreth said. “Long before you and I were born, people would come to that campus, because that’s where the Black brilliant minds were. That’s where we could go to speak and think and create.”

BHIVE offers an approach that Howard said is “unapologetically Black.” The curriculum seeks to dismantle stigma in the race with a six-module course with components to be completed online and with practicum and internship opportunities available in the community.

“The community is friends to a campus and campus is friends to a community,” Howard said. “That will be this kind of symbiotic relationship which can go beyond HIV. If we do well in HIV, we’re going straight to wellness. If we can tackle HIV in our community and bend the tide of the virus, we can bend the tide for everything else. If we have a lot of pastors and university presidents — as they have at the schools I have named — we will be better off, because those leaders are courageous enough to know an HBCU campus is the hub for everything that impacts a community.”

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Democrats Seek Answers After Surge in HIV/Syphilis in Shelby County

Photo: Deon Black on Unsplash

Amid a surge in HIV and syphilis cases in Shelby County, a group of Democratic lawmakers is pressing state health officials for answers.

Cases of HIV and syphilis in the Memphis region increased by 100 percent over the past five years, according to the Shelby County Department of Health, which has, thus far, not released total case numbers. Among young people aged 15 to 19, diagnosed cases increased 150 percent.

“This disturbing trend underscores the urgent need for effective public health strategies and resources to combat the spread of these infections,” read the letter, sent late last week.

The lawmakers are demanding an explanation from Tennessee Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Ralph Alvarado about a series of state policy changes that they believe are exacerbating the crisis, rather than addressing it.

Among the changes: a new parental rights law requiring parental consent for teens seeking healthcare services.

The Lookout reported last month that the Tennessee Department of Health quietly instructed public health clinics to turn away teens seeking access to routine healthcare without a parent, citing new legislation known as the Family Rights and Responsibilities Act.

Dept. of Health denying teens preventative healthcare, citing new parental consent law

It’s a significant shift in policy for teens accustomed to seeking out birth control, sexually transmitted disease testing, pregnancy tests, and routine healthcare in public health clinics — which serve as the only accessible source of healthcare for teens living in some rural Tennessee communities.

Advocates have warned that the way the Department of Health is interpreting the new law — by concluding it supersedes prior laws that allow teens to access birth control and sexually transmitted disease testing — will deter young people from visiting clinics entirely, exacerbating outbreaks of sexually transmitted disease.

The Department of Health has not yet publicly acknowledged the shift in policy for teens and did not respond to a renewed request for information from the Lookout on Tuesday.

“There hasn’t been anything concrete in writing,” said Rep. Aftyn Behn, a Nashville Democrat. “There hasn’t been any communication from the commissioner.”

Behn said she is concerned that the growing influence of a parental rights movement in Tennessee, which has ushered in a series of laws in recent years giving parents more legal control over teens, shares blame for the surge in HIV and syphilis cases among young people.

“The actual, tangible consequence of the movement is this public health crisis,” she said.

The Democrats are also seeking information on how Gov. Bill Lee’s decision to reject federal HIV funding is impacting the current Shelby County outbreaks.

The reality is this is 2024. Teens are having sex. What they don’t have is the information they need.

Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis

Last year Lee announced he would reject millions in funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for HIV prevention and treatment that previously went to Planned Parenthood clinics in Tennessee.

GOP lawmakers have, for years, fought to remove public funding from the clinics, which also provided abortion services until the state’s strict ban took effect in 2022.

Sen. London Lamar, a Memphis Democrat who signed onto the letter, cited another GOP backed measure as contributing to the current outbreak in Shelby County.

A so-called “Gateway Law” enacted by GOP lawmakers in 2012 requires abstinence-only sexual education in public schools.

“The reality is this is 2024. Teens are having sex. What they don’t have is the information they need,” she said.

Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and X.

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Housing Programs For Those Affected By HIV Receive City Funding

Photo by Tierra Mallorca on Unsplash

HIV infections continue to grow in Memphis, prompting a closer look at not only new diagnoses but the livelihood of those currently living with the virus. 

Shelby County has historically had one of the highest new infection rates for HIV. The Shelby County Health Department posted a notice on its website in May saying it had noted an “alarming increase in newly diagnosed cases of HIV in our community.) Officials said the highest increase affected people aged 14 to 45, and was not “spread evenly throughout the county.”

As the virus is no longer considered a “death sentence” by professionals, strides are being made to ensure that those living with HIV are able to have an enhanced quality of life in all areas, including housing.

The city’s Division of Housing and Community Development presented its Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) grants back in July to nonprofit organizations in Memphis. According to information from the department, this funding was granted via the HCD Strategic Community Investment Fund (SCIF).

Close to $5.5 million was awarded to these organizations for community-based projects and initiatives through June 30, 2025. These grant awards included the Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG), HOME-Funded Tenant-Based Rental Assistance (HOME-TBRA), Neighborhood Partnership Grant (NPG), and Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS/HIV (HOPWA)

HOPWA grants totaled $3,755,700 with organizations Friends For All receiving $1.7 million, Hope House Day Care Center Inc receiving close to $1.6 million, and Case Management Inc. receiving $449,400.

Lenox Warren, CEO of Hope House, said out of all their programs, housing has the most “immediate and huge” impact for families, and funding from the city will help increase the amount of people they’re able to help.

The organization opened in 1995 and started as a day care center for mothers living with HIV who needed childcare, Warren said.

“It has quickly evolved into so much more,” Warren said. “We’re now a full-service, wrap-around organization that includes a variety of services including our housing program.”

In addition to adding mental health, education,  prevention and outreach services Hope House has added housing aid in hopes of “breaking down barriers that come to living a healthy life with HIV” Warren said.

Warren noted that while HIV is classified as a “chronic disease” as opposed to a “death sentence,” it can be more difficult to manage while living in poverty.

“If you don’t know where you’re going to send your kids the next day, where y’all are going to sleep that night, or even how you’re going to eat so you can take your medications, that’s a really hard thing to figure out how to keep yourself healthy, while also surviving day-to-day.”

Yolanda Fant, housing supervisor for Hope House, said they are currently serving 74 clients, with six of those clients being added as a result of the city’s funding.

“It takes them from not being secure in where they’re going to be able to take care of their family, to knowing that they have secure housing,” Fant said. “That also helps them to take their medication and helps with viral suppression.”

Viral suppression refers to reducing the levels of the virus in the body so that it isn’t spreadable. Warren said their viral suppression rate among the people who use their services is 13 percent higher than the rate across the city.

Hope House’s goal is to help more people and to increase the city’s viral suppression rate, and said the funding from the city helps them meet their goal. Warren said they can’t do this work alone and there hasn’t been enough funding, so partnering with the City of Memphis has been “huge” for them.

Warren said they are always seeking funding from other sources as there is always a need for these services. They’ve historically had “hundreds” of people on their waitlist for their housing program, with Fant saying she turns “at least three people away” a day. Warren reiterated that they plan to expand these services with the help of their HOPWA grant.

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Researchers and Community Leaders Seek Equity-Driven Approach to End HIV

(Credit: Testalize.me on Unsplash)

While strides are being made to end the HIV epidemic, it is still considered a “worsening public health crisis in the United States.” It has also proven to disproportionately affect Black Americans.

Darwin Thompson, director of public affairs at Gilead Sciences, said there is also a disproportionate impact in the southern United States. Information released by Gilead Sciences and Meharry Medical College said “southern states accounted for 51 percent of new HIV diagnoses in 2020.” 

“To add onto these troubling statistics, Black Americans make up 42 percent of new HIV diagnoses. A higher proportion than any other racial or ethnic group,” said Thompson.

In Tennessee, Thompson said Black Americans accounted for 58 percent of new HIV diagnoses. He also said there has been a “sharp increase” in legislative attacks against the LGBTQ+ community and other groups that are more affected by HIV.

Thompson said while HIV is no longer considered a “death sentence,” a new “equity-driven” approach is required to address the social and cultural issues that contribute to the spread of the disease. “Many people who live in the southern U.S. face a multitude of serious societal and systemic challenges that fuel the epidemic including the burden of poverty, stigma, prejudice, low health literacy, and lack of insurance and access to care,” said Thompson.

In hopes of collaborating with community-based organizations, Gilead launched its COMPASS initiative in 2017 for “HIV advocacy focused on evidence-based policies.” One of the partners of the COMPASS initiative is Relationships Unleashed, a nonprofit organization based in Memphis. 

Gwendolyn Clemons,  executive director of Relationships Unleashed, said the mission of the organization is personal to her, as she lost her sister, who died a year after being diagnosed with HIV. “The lack of education and understanding of HIV in the Black community, along with stigma associated with it, both exist in our community,” Clemons said. 

Clemons said Shelby County has one of the highest new infection rates for HIV. In March, the Flyer reported that Shelby County ranked number three in “incidence rates of new HIV infections in the United States,” and the disease disproportionately affected those in minority populations.

“One area in particular that we found problematic in Memphis, was the continuous rise of new HIV diagnosis in Black, same-gender loving men, and Black cisgender women,” said Clemons. “The city that we love so much has continuously been ranked in the top 10 of diagnoses for years.”

James E.K. Hildreth, president of Meharry Medical College, said the problem of HIV has never been “strictly medical.” He said that a broader approach is required, specifically honing in on community leaders and organizations and the role they play in ending the virus.

“To truly end the epidemic, we need community solutions that work in the context of those communities,” said Hildreth. “We also need to have communities work hand in hand — scientific community and healthcare providers.”

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Community Outreach Coordinator Stresses Importance of Collaboration In Reducing New HIV Infections to Zero

Photo Credit: Connect To Protect


A collaborative effort is required to reduce Shelby County’s new HIV infection rates to zero by 2030, said representatives from End HIV 901. “The Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan For America (EHE)” consists of four strategies that touch on the areas of diagnosis, treatment, prevention, and response, and is a “whole-of-society” initiative coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services identified Shelby County as a “priority county” in 2020 in its effort to end the HIV epidemic by 2030.

Elizabeth Propst, community outreach coordinator of EHE and the department of infectious diseases at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. explained that not only is this a “living document,” but it is a community document as well.  The Flyer spoke with Propst about how the plan was developed, stakeholder engagement, and implementation of the vision.

Memphis Flyer: How was the EHE plan developed?

Elizabeth Propst: The Connect To Protect, also known as C2P, is a community coalition here in Memphis. The manager and director at the time, Dr. [Aditya] Gaur, saw potential, and it started with that. I believe that broke down from the national announcement declaring that this is a particular topic that needs to be addressed, because new infections are occurring each day and they’re significantly increasing even with knowing how the community has advanced with education. Connect To Protect was the identified coalition to create this plan in 2019, and it carried into 2020. Stakeholders from across the community came together and identified hard-hit areas that impact Memphis in particular, and when it comes to HIV infections. The plan was solidified in December 2020.

What are some things that are specific to Memphis when it comes to implementing this vision?

The biggest vision is being in the Bible belt. The HIV community is very stigmatized. A lot of misconceptions out there, really starting with what barriers we can bridge with focusing on the faith-based community as well the stigma piece.

Even outside of the faith-based community, when it comes to stigma, the education piece isn’t there. So that brings you into education with youth and adolescents. It’s kind of a trickle effect, where it does continuously impact different areas. And then you go into medical professionals who are involved with patients in the HIV community. Looking at the appearance, if patients are taking their medication or not. If they’re not taking medication, what’s going on with that?

Do you think there has been any growth and progress in dispelling myths about transmission? What are some areas that still need growth ?

I definitely think that the community has made some progress, but there’s a lot more work to do, and honestly that comes from being out in the community and getting into spaces and areas where people who don’t know what they need to know, when it comes to HIV. That’s just being out and attending health fairs or just different spaces of different community events that may be going on.

Earlier in the year, I spoke with someone from The Haven, and we talked a lot about how people in underserved communities are a little hesitant to get tested and receive information. How do you all approach education about HIV and awareness campaigns within those underserved communities?

I can’t speak for everybody, but for me specifically, the more that I observe the different settings that I sit in, the more you definitely want to cater to that specific setting. For example, I have two events that I am doing this weekend, and one of them is with a church affiliate, and the other one is with a youth affiliate. The conversations that I have with individuals at the church event may change depending on the population and the nature of the people who are in attendance. Honestly just learning your crowd, and as well as kind of knowing what is most appropriate and what is most effective to catching an individual’s eye.

Was there anything that we didn’t cover that you wanted to give insight into that you think our readers may benefit from?

As far as the community action plan for End HIV 901, the community advisory board is comprised of different stakeholders in the community and different advocates who are essentially nominated as community champions if you will to oversee this community action plan, so this is a community document. The document will be three-years old at the end of the year, but being that we are an ever-evolving community, this document needs to be continuously reviewed. Therefore, that is something that the community advisory board does oversee – a part of this work. Especially within the start of this year, they’ve had an influx of presentations coming in from our EHE community partners who are out there doing the frontline work. You had mentioned The Haven, that’s definitely one of those community partners that we do work with. We are nearing the end to where we are going to be digging our heels deep in the ground and moving forward to update this plan.

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Study Shows Memphis Has Highest Reported STD Rate

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A study compiled by Innerbody.com shows Memphis has the highest reported STD rate of any city in the United States. Memphis’ rates have overtaken those of Jackson, Mississippi, which had previously been reported as number one.

The report also showed that cities located in the South have reported the highest numbers out of the 100 cities ranked.

The information was compiled from data by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The report showed Memphis reported 1,460 STD cases per 100,000 people, with a total of five HIV cases, 4,772 gonorrhea cases, 9,681 chlamydia cases, and 605 syphilis cases.

While the data showed the numbers have worsened over the year, “the STD burden is not equal within our cities. … While we witness increases in STD infection across many groups, the STD burden continued to hit minority racial and ethnic groups the hardest,” the report said.

This report comes months after the state of Tennessee announced it would be cutting funding for programs “that are not affiliated with metro health departments as of May 31st.”

Krista Wright Thayer serves as the director of outreach and prevention for The Haven, a resource located at 622 Minor Road that “strives to promote the physical, mental and social well-being of everyone impacted by — or potentially impacted by — HIV, stigma or lack of support.”

Thayer said, speaking for an organization that will be affected by these funds being cut, the people Governor Bill Lee hopes to prioritize are “percentage-wise, not nearly at high risk for HIV infection” as marginalized communities. 

Thayer said many believe the disease predominantly affects African-Americans because of behavior, but that it’s primarily due to poverty levels. “Those who are in high poverty areas don’t have access to care as much; they also can’t prioritize care as much as they would like to, because if you don’t know where your next meal is coming from, you’re not going to prioritize HIV prevention.”

Thayer said people who know about underserved communities know they have lack of access to care, meaning they are the people who need to be prioritized.

“Those are the ones where you have to bring the care to them, and that’s the work we do. That’s our outreach work,” Thayer said. “I can’t for the life of me understand why the governor would want to prioritize mother-to-baby HIV infections, when that’s not really a thing anymore with the advanced medicines that we have.”

According to HIVInfo, “the use of HIV medicines and other strategies have helped lower the rate of perinatal transmission of HIV to 1 percent or less in the United States and Europe.” 

Thayer said the governor wants to prioritize first responders and EMT workers, despite HIV infections “being very very low” as a result of post exposure prophylaxis (PEP.)

While there are efforts being made that will affect the way people are able to access HIV prevention services and testing, Thayer explained there are also stigmas that stand in the way of this.

One of the best ways, according to the CDC, to prevent the spread of HIV is by being on PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), Thayer said. “When I talk to some clients, some of them don’t want to be associated with taking a medicine every day. A lot of people think that people who are on PrEP are promiscuous, and they don’t want to be seen as just having a lot of casual sex, because that’s stigmatizing.”

Thayer said The Haven has money and grants they will be using sparingly, to not only host events, but to provide HIV testing and reduce stigma.

“We really have to work on how we see people living with HIV,” she said. “It’s easier to treat than diabetes, and the way our culture sees people living with HIV is not in a bright light.”

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State Lawmakers Look for Motive In HIV Funding Shift

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by Sam Stockard, Tennessee Lookout

Two Memphis lawmakers are raising concerns about the state’s decision to cut federal HIV funding from nonprofit agencies and direct it through metro health departments, saying such a move could endanger lives.

State Rep. Antonio Parkinson is asking the Tennessee Department of Health why it is cutting HIV funds received through multi-million dollar grants from the Centers for Disease Control. He contends the Department of Health shouldn’t “play politics” with the money because HIV prevention and treatment is needed statewide.

The Memphis Democrat sent a letter this week to the department requesting an official explanation for the end to HIV funds by June 1.

“I want to know why and how that decision came down,” Parkinson says.

The Associated Press reported documents show the state planned to cut HIV funding from Planned Parenthood and to stop a partnership with the organization for HIV testing even before the state made the decision to end the funding for nonprofits. Planned Parenthood has been a target for anti-abortion lawmakers and top state officials for years.

It’s irresponsible to deprive trusted organizations in our community (of) giving non-controversial lifesaving treatment, testing and prevention for HIV.

– Sen. London Lamar, D-Memphis

Dr. Ralph Alvarado, a former Kentucky state senator and 2019 Republican candidate for lieutenant governor there, was appointed commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health by Gov. Bill Lee shortly before the funds were cut. Alvarado is set to address the Senate Health and Welfare Committee Wednesday at 1:30 p.m.

Dr. Amy Gordon Bono, a primary care physician, said Tuesday she hopes Alvarado will explain the decision. She pointed out Davidson County organizations such as Nashville Cares and Nashville Health have been providing HIV services for years where the “most vulnerable populations live.”

“Does Dr. Alvarado really think that our Metro Health Department has the infrastructure and staffing in place to provide these same services?” Bobo says. “And, more critically, will those who need these services be able to access them if they are not conveniently located in their communities?”

More than 20,000 Tennesseans live with HIV, and 14% with the disease don’t realize it, according to reports. 

Even though funds are supposed to go to the state’s six largest health departments, Gov. Lee said last week the state will continue to use some nonprofit agencies for HIV services. He admitted the details haven’t been worked out.

Gov. Bill Lee swears in Dr. Ralph Alvarado, pictured with his wife and Lee, as commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Health on Jan. 17. (Photo: tn.gov)

“The purpose of this is to make sure that we spend the dollars in the way that best serves Tennesseans and that best mitigates and prevents HIV spread in the community, particularly focusing on human trafficking victims, on the transmission to first responders, on transmissions from mothers to their babies,” Lee said.

However, state Sen. London Lamar says in order to be a “pro-life state,” Tennessee should ensure the funds are reaching people who need them. 

“It’s irresponsible to deprive trusted organizations in our community (of) giving non-controversial lifesaving treatment, testing and prevention for HIV,” Lamar says.

Planned Parenthood is already prohibited from providing abortion treatment under the state’s new law, and now the state is “attacking” the organization to stop it from providing other types of health care, Lamar points out.

Restricting those services for nonprofit organizations puts people at risk of spreading HIV, in part because of a lack of trust for health departments and poor access to them, Lamar points out. 

Parkinson says he doesn’t know whether the funding withdrawal is designed to punish specific organizations. 

“I hope that it’s not political like that. I hope and pray it’s not, because we don’t need to put politics over the lives and health of the people of Tennessee,” Parkinson says.



Tennessee Lookout is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Tennessee Lookout maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Holly McCall for questions: info@tennesseelookout.com. Follow Tennessee Lookout on Facebook and Twitter.

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Tennessee Leaders React to HIV Funding Being Cut

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Tennessee leaders are responding to the recent news regarding HIV funding being cut in the state of Tennessee.

On January 19th, The Commercial Appeal reported that the state of Tennessee “is cutting funding for HIV prevention, detection, and treatment programs that are not affiliated with metro health departments as of May 31st.”

According to The Commercial Appeal, an email was obtained from the United Way of Greater Nashville which “told partner organizations there would be a change in the state’s HIV prevention program.”

A January 17th letter from Pamela Talley, medical director of the HIV/STD/viral hepatitis section of the Tennessee Department Health, stated that Tennessee has “provided HIV surveillance, testing, and prevention services through a CDC pass-through grant from the federal government.”

The letter also said that the state of Tennessee has determined “it is in the best interest of Tennesseans for the state to assume direct financial and managerial responsibility for these services.”

In the past, the CDC had awarded $10.10 million to health departments and organizations in Tennessee for HIV prevention and “care activities.” The CDC also projected in 2020 that Tennesseans living with HIV would face an average lifetime cost of $510,000.

AIDSVu, an online mapping tool by Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, reported that as of 2020, there were 6,283 people living with HIV in Shelby County, and 235 people were newly diagnosed. In Memphis, there were 6,589 people living with HIV, with 233 people being newly diagnosed.

In a statement released by the Tennessee Senate Democratic Caucus, House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. John Ray Clemmons of Nashville said, “The decision is the latest instance of the governor turning his back on vulnerable Tennesseans.

“The Lee administration’s unilateral decision to cut funding to HIV prevention, detection, and treatment programs is only the latest example of his alarming lack of concern for Tennesseans’ health and well-being,” Clemmons said. “It is difficult for those of us who have personally experienced a loved one suffering and ultimately dying from this horrible virus to view this decision as anything less than a heartless act and offensive — it’s beyond the pale.”

Clemmons also stated that “multiple programs that serve communities across this state will be directly impacted by this callous decision, leaving them scrambling for funding to provide much-needed healthcare services.”

In the same statement, state Senator London Lamar (D-Memphis) said, “The administration’s irresponsible decision to reject federal funding for community-based HIV/AIDS prevention endangers the lives of Tennesseans. Our state has made steady progress against this incurable disease thanks to these exact public health efforts.”

Lamar also tweeted, “There is NOTHING ‘pro-life’ that has come out of Tennessee lately. Complete abortion bans. Foster care system worst in country. DCS. Rape kits. Now HIV funding cut. When I think it can’t get worse, the state proves me otherwise. People are not safe here.”