"Grassroot Soccer is thrilled to be a grant recipient of the Red Ribbon Foundation," said Dr. Tommy Clark, Founder and CEO.  "With their investment, our programs will reach even more African youth with the knowledge, life skills, and support to live HIV-free."

"We are delighted to receive this generous grant for Camp Viva from The Red Ribbon Foundation.  The funding will enable us to accept more campers and provide an opportunity families affected by HIV/AIDS to escape their city environments and enjoy friendship, support and respite."

"We are grateful for the addition of $8,000 of funding for our Maitri Café,” said Matt Shelly, Senior Vice President of Health and Human Services at Greyston.  “Our cafe provides a very important service for the nearly 100 HIV+ individuals we serve through our housing and outpatient day program segments.  The tasty, ample diverse selection of food served there provides the foundation of health for our clients, many of whom have other health conditions, beyond HIV, that impact their immunity and overall well being"

According to Rhonda DeLetis, Director of Corporate and Foundation Relations, “St. Luke’s LifeWorks and the Red Ribbon Foundation have a long history of being partners in the fight against AIDS.  Initial funding assisted LifeWorks in opening the first AIDS residence in Connecticut.  Today, support from the Red Ribbon Foundation will allow people prepare for a more promising tomorrow in a home of their own through the Independence Fund.”

 “Funding from the Red Ribbon Foundation ensures that Sekolo can provide self-confidence building activities for kids living with HIV or affected by the virus in Namibia.  This grant lets 100+ children participate in a dance and soccer program which develops their sense of self-worth and increase their resilience to the affects of HIV in their communities.”  Elizabeth Robinson, Founder and CEO 

RRF grants are awareded for a two-year period.  The Foundation does not award grants spanning more than two consecutive years, unless the same project is funded over the course of multiple funding cycles.

The Foundation asks all grantees to provide interim reports to keep it abreast of attainment of project goals, as well as developments in the HIV/AIDS field.  For 2009 grantees, interim reports are due December 31, 2009, June 30, 2010, and December 31, 2010.  All reports are due within 30 days of period end date. Failure to provide RRF with reports in a timely manner will jeopardize future funding.

In addition to interim reports, all grantees must notify the Foundation in the event that:

• the grant cannot be used for its approved purpose; and/or
• the organization's tax exempt designation is suspended.

Last, RRF asks that grantees list RRF as a sponsor in all venues where sponsors are listed.

Click here for a copy of RRF's Grant Report Form.

RRF Grant Report Form

Street Wise is the mobile HIV-prevention outreach program of Children’s Village, bringing highly-targeted HIV prevention information directly to the streets where the most at-risk youth of Westchester County gather late at night. With warmth and food as a lure, the kids come to the van and receive condoms, prevention information, and on-site quick testing. This program reaches 3,000-5,000 youth annually.

Within the Pediatric and Youth HIV Program, the Connecticut Children’s Medical Center operates the Health Interactive Program--an innovative way to educate over 2000 students in Hartford and Windsor counties about the risks of becoming infected with HIV and other STDs.  This grant provides continuation of 2007 funding to work within the public schools to offer enhanced HIV/AIDS education, screening/testing and individual counseling.  The project identifies HIV+ youth and teaches them prevention skills, as well as raises awareness about HIV/AIDS in the general student population, in concert with the “Stop AIDS Mobile Theatre.”

PHANG, Preventing HIV/AIDS in the Next Generation, is a program of Friends House, a supportive housing program for 50 single men and women living with AIDS who were formerly homeless or marginally housed. PHANG prepares Friends House residents, through small group training and individual coaching, to lead AIDS prevention discussions and presentations in high school classrooms throughout NYC.  Since 2004, Friends House residents have spoken to over 25,000 students through PHANG.

Founded by professional soccer players in 2002, Grassroot Soccer trains African soccer stars, coaches, teachers, and peer educators in the world’s most HIV-affected countries to deliver an interactive HIV prevention program to youth, providing them with the knowledge, skills and support to remain HIV free.  RRF supports Football for an HIV Free Generation Initiative (F4), a PEPFAR project seeking to educate over 230,000 youth over the course of three years.  In addition, F4 seeks to reach in excess of 3 million people on a quarterly basis with prevention and stigma reduction messages using mass media messaging and a coordinated advocacy campaign with partners like Federation International de Football (FIFA), Nike, and De Beers.

mothers2mothers provides education and psychosocial mentoring to help HIV+ pregnant women access services to prevent mother-to-child transmission and adhere to treatment.  RRF funds the Kwamagwaza Hospital and Mthonjaneni Clinic in KwaZulu Natal, South Africa, by supporting HIV/AIDS education and counseling to pregnant women and new mothers.  An average of 600 patient contacts are made per month at these two clinics.  mothers2mothers serves South Africa's most populous province, that also has the highest birth rate and highest HIV sero-prevalence (more than 40% of pregnant women are infected).  Without treatment, 25% of infected mothers will pass the disease on to their newborns.

RRF supports Sunrise Kids, an after-school dance and soccer activity program for 180 children, ages 5-18, in Oneshila, the “forgotten backwater” of Oshakati which is a large and sprawling northern city in Namibia.  In Namibia, the national average of HIV infection is 17.8%, and the average rate in Oneshila is estimated between 17-27%.  Seventy percent (70%) of Namibia’s population is under the age of 30 and 43% is under the age of 15.  Serving 150 children two afternoons per week, Sunrise Kids “gives kids a safe place to be kids,” using positive sports and recreation activities to build confidence and self-esteem, helping youth avoid bad choices and eventual contraction of HIV.  The program costs $40 per year per child.

YouthAIDS, an education and prevention program of Population Services International, uses media, pop culture, music, theatre and sports to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS and reach 600 million young people in more than 60 countries with life-saving messages, products, services and care.  RRF supports the Centres Dushishoze in Rwanda.  Meaning “think about it,” the Centres Dushishoze are designed to make young people feel at ease and express themselves freely about their sexual health. Centers provide reproductive health services, voluntary counseling and testing, family planning services and treatment of sexually transmitted infections to sexually active youth ages 15-24.

AIDS Alliance of Greenwich provides comprehensive HIV/AIDS services including information, prevention education, and special services to people in Greenwich living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. The Red Ribbon Foundation grant funds support groups, massage therapy and emergency needs.

Project FIRST is a program to provide housing and supportive services to HIV+ men and women recently released from prison. These services are designed to help individuals return to their communities, find a permanent home, and receive care as needed to remain healthy. Additional services include assistance with daily living skills, accessing benefits, advocacy, socialization and referrals to educational and vocational training. Since 2003, this program has had a 10% recidivism rate, in comparison to the national average of over 40%.

Camp Viva, run by Family Services of Westchester, serves HIV-affected children, families, individuals, and care-partners who live in Westchester County through a week-long rural sleep-away summer camp and year-round follow-up and support program. Both services are designed to provide respite, education, friendship and holistic care.

The Stamford Cares Program (now operated as a program of Family Centers) offers medical case management, mental health services, and housing coordination to over 300 people with HIV/AIDS and their families to live longer and more satisfying lives.  RRF funds crucial case management to persons in need of assistance.

Life Skills Education, the HIV education and prevention program at Global Camps, is the single most effective and important component of this residential summer camp experience serving 1800 HIV-affected children in South Africa each year. Through the Life Skills Education program, these tragically disenfranchised youth learn essential information on how to live healthier lives so that they may live beyond their teen years. The hope this inspires opens the door to pursuing opportunities never previously thought possible for these young people.

RRF funds will subsidize operating support for the Maitri Café, part of Greyston’s Maitri Adult Day Program for people living with HIV/AIDS that has been in operation for 11 years. In a single month, Maitri Café sees at least 120 unduplicated members three times per week for meals. These meals help keep participants healthy and sustain medical and therapeutic regimens.

The Food and Nutrition Program is a comprehensive nutritional service designed to meet the unique dietary needs of the HIV-positive clients of Harlem United. The food program operates five evenings per week, 52 weeks per year, serving dinner to approximately 60-70 individuals daily. The meals, staffed by Harlem United primary care and mental health professionals, provide an introduction to the integrated system of care available to clients of the Community AIDS Center, many of whom have an HIV-positive diagnosis complicated by poverty, mental illness and substance abuse..

Nyumbani is Kenya’s first and largest facility for HIV+ abandoned children.   It provides a loving and warm safe-haven for 95 resident children living in a village-style program, providing high-quality clinical, nursing and counseling services, and housing in a setting of honest inclusion.  RRF supports operating costs at the Children’s Home (also known as the orphanage) as well as the Village that serves the elderly and displaced children. Nearly 800 children and grandparents are served through these two initiatives.  In all of its programs, Nyumbani provides housing, medical and spiritual care, counseling, nutrition, education and income generation.

The People Living with AIDS Project of St. Luke's Church provides hot, nutritious full-course dinners for 60-70 ambulatory PLWAs (persons living with AIDS) every Saturday evening, when all other service providers in lower Manhattan are closed.  Counselors and chaplains are on hand to provide assistance with accessing other services, and with emotional and spiritual support.  There are more PLWA in Greenwich Village than in 20 states and the Virgin Islands, and the Church’s zip code is in the top 20% of NYC zip codes for number of adults reporting behavior associated with contracting HIV.

The Bread and Roses initiative provides support to assist individuals and families affected by HIV/AIDS in stabilization and transition to independent living.  Sizeable federal and state funding cuts will result in the elimination of a wide range of services for those affected by the disease, making RRF funds even more crucial.  RRF supports the Independence Fund, a key Bread and Roses initiative, that assists people moving from its transitional AIDS residences into homes of their own.

RRF supports the Family Therapy program, which provides individual and family counseling sessions to HIV infected/AIDS diagnosed women of color and their children in the Bronx.  Statistics from 2006 show that the Bronx had the second largest number of women among all persons living with HIV/AIDS in NYC’s five boroughs.  Women now account for an estimated 37.4% of new HIV infections nationally. The program’s goal is to provide the mothers with the parenting skills they need to improve family functioning, and to reduce rates of HIV infection in the Bronx.  Hot meals are provided daily to all participants and Metrocards are also provided so that all can access the program and on-site primary medical care.

amfAR, the American Foundation for AIDS Research, joins the worldwide scientific community in the fervent belief that scientific research holds our best and only hope for the development of lasting solutions to the HIV/AIDS epidemic---better and more accessible treatments that can be implemented worldwide, along with preventive vaccines and microbicides to halt the further spread of HIV.

RRF funds the Mathilde Krim Fellows in Basic Biomedical Research Program.  This program supports emerging scholars’ HIV research and facilitates the transition to a productive and independent long term career in the HIV/AIDS biomedical research field. A Krim Fellowship provides support for two years of postdoctoral research with the possibility of additional funding during the first year of a tenure track position at a nonprofit research institution.

October 30, 2009 Obama Administration Lifts the HIV Travel Ban

A new strain of HIV is found in apes. See the story in the New York Times.