New Happenings at AIDS Action Coalition
AIDS Action Coalition Social Worker Appointed to State Board
Huntsville, Ala. ---- The Governor of the State of Alabama has appointed an AIDS Action Coalition contract social worker to an examining board.
Governor Bob Riley has appointed Esophia J. Clayborn to represent the fifth congressional district on the Alabama Board of Social Work Examiners. The board regulates social work practice and licensure for the state, and Clayborn will serve a three-year term thru 2013.
An Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University psychology and graduate social work alumna, Clayborn has been employed in the Department of Social Work since 2008, serving as social work specialist, director of the Center for Social Work Development and Research, and adjunct professor. She has practiced social work for almost 20 years in Alabama, acquiring expertise in a variety of settings that include mental health, medical social work, geriatric social work, and private practice as a clinical social worker.
Clayborn is licensed at the highest level in Alabama, as a Private Independent Practitioner (PIP) of Clinical Social Work and Social Casework. She also serves as co-chair for the Huntsville/Tennessee Valley unit of the Alabama chapter of the National Association of Social Workers (NASW), an elected office. In 2005, she was selected as Social Worker of the Year by the Huntsville/Tennessee Valley Unit of NASW.
Located in North Alabama, the AAC Davis Clinic provides primary medical care and social support services for 600 individuals living with HIV/AIDS. The clinic employees a medical team of nurses, lab technicians and a nurse practitioner. Local infectious disease physicians and internal medicine physicians contract with the AAC to expand care patients receive.
The mission of the AIDS Action Coalition is to end the suffering of those living with HIV through education, prevention and direct service. For more information about AAC visit www.aidsactioncoalition.org.
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CDC Awards AIDS Action Coalition $2 Million Grant
HUNTSVILLE, AL – The AIDS Action Coalition of North Alabama today announced a $2 million grant award from the Center for Disease Control. This grant marks the first time an Alabama-based HIV/AIDS service organization is a recipient of direct funds from the CDC.
The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta awarded a 5-year, renewable grant in the amount of $400,000 annually. The funds will provide targeted education and prevention programs for the African American community.
“We’ve never had this amount of funding for HIV prevention and education in North Alabama,” said Mary Elizabeth Marr, executive director of the AAC. “This grant allows us to address issues in African American communities where rates of infection are at historic highs.”
African Americans account for one quarter of the Alabama population, yet comprise 64 percent of HIV cases reported statewide. With the CDC grant award, the agency will fund five new, full-time positions and four education programs. The agency aims to reduce incidents of HIV among black men, women and adolescents by increasing education and prevention programs.
“With this grant we can test and counsel a larger, at-risk population,” Marr commented. “Identifying infections earlier ultimately leads to a reduction in infection rates across populations.”
AAC will host an open house for the programs at the Davis Clinic on Friday, August 27 from 2 until 5 in the afternoon. The CDC funded programs seek to educate African American heterosexual couples, women and adolescents girls, as well as homosexual and bisexual men.
Located in Huntsville, the AAC Davis Clinic provides primary medical care and social support services for 600 individuals living with HIV/AIDS. The clinic employees a medical team of nurses, lab technicians and a nurse practitioner. Local infectious disease physicians and internal medicine physicians contract with the AAC to expand care patients receive.
The mission of the AIDS Action Coalition is to end the suffering of those living with HIV through education, prevention and direct service. For more information about AAC visit www.aidsactioncoalition.org.
