Gilead Sciences’ COMPASS Initiative awarded $3 million in funding to 34 organizations — including five in Florida — in efforts to address the HIV epidemic in the southern United States as part of its 2024 Transformative Grant awards. According to a press release from Gilead, this new investment represents the final round of funding for the COMPASS Initiative.
The COMPASS Initiative is the company’s 10-year commitment to pair up with local communities and support evidence-based solutions that assist those living with and impacted by HIV in the U.S. South.
The five Florida organizations to receive funding are McKenzie Project in Miami, 904 Health and Healthship Associates in Jacksonville, Christ the King Episcopal Church in Santa Rosa Beach and Inspiration and Change in Sanford.
Over a 15-month period, organizations plan on using the funding to help improve access to health care and more importantly quality of health care services for people living with HIV in the southern U.S.
Four COMPASS Coordinating Centers chose this year’s awardees. These centers are Emory University Rollins School of Public Health, Southern AIDS Coalition, University of Houston Graduate College of Social Work and Wake Forest University School of Divinity.
“Ending the HIV epidemic in the United States starts in the South, which is why COMPASS grant funding is so important for national prevention efforts,” said Kia Colbert, the director for COMPASS Coordinating Center at Emory University, in a statement.
Colbert continued, “As a COMPASS Coordinating Center, Emory University plays a critical role in providing capacity-building services to organizations on the frontlines of the HIV crisis. We’re looking forward to working with some of the South’s most impactful advocacy organizations to address this issue head-on.”
Back in 2021, Gilead Compass stated that the southern United States made up almost half of all HIV deaths and 51% of new HIV diagnoses in the U.S.
Communities of color are nearly 70% of all HIV diagnoses. Black Americans share the most severe burden of HIV out of all U.S. racial/ethnic groups.
To hopefully lessen these disparities, COMPASS has provided more than $100 million to nearly 500 organizations, all working to end the HIV epidemic in the region. Adding on top of these donations, COMPASS has connected nearly half a million individuals affected by HIV through its programs and services.
During the final years of the program, COMPASS will continue to provide ongoing training and technical assistance as grantees work to put their findings into action, and help organizations prepare to share best practices across the United States and the globe in 2027.
“I’m thrilled to welcome this new cohort of community partners as COMPASS continues to deliver essential support to those in need,” said Dr. Shanell L. McGoy, Director of Public Affairs for Corporate Giving at Gilead Sciences, in the release.
“Gilead has been in the fight against HIV for over 30 years and has an unwavering commitment to supporting on-the-ground advocacy efforts that reach populations in need, reduce health disparities and educate communities. As the COMPASS Initiative® nears its 10-year culmination, we will continue providing grantees with ongoing training and technical assistance as they prepare to share best practices with communities in the U.S. and around the world,” added McGoy.
“In order to truly end the HIV epidemic, we must first address the profound stigma that exacerbates the spread of HIV and creates additional barriers to care,” said Kevin D. Anderson, founding Chief Executive Officer for The T.R.U.T.H. Project.
“The T.R.U.T.H. Project works to dispel HIV stigma among LGBTQ+ communities of color and this funding will help us expand our programming to reach even more individuals in Texas,” said Anderson.
The full list of the 2024 COMPASS Transformative Grant organizations are below.
904 Health (Jacksonville, Florida)
A Vision 4 Hope (College Park, Georgia)
AIDS Alabama (Birmingham, Alabama)
Borderland Rainbow Center (El Paso, Texas)
Central Alabama Alliance, Resource, & Advocacy Center (Wetumpka, Alabama)
CH PIER (Greenville, Mississippi)
Christ the King Episcopal Church (Santa Rosa Beach, Florida)
Choose Healthy Life (South Carolina)
CryOut Teen Organization (Terry, Mississippi)
Equality Federation Institute (Little Rock, Arkansas)
FABRIC, Inc. (Cleveland, Mississippi)
Healthship Associates (Jacksonville, Florida)
HEROES (Columbia, Louisiana)
House of Productions (Atlanta, Georgia)
Inspiration and Change (Sanford, Florida)
McKenzie Project (Miami, Florida)
Mental & Emotional Resource Center, Inc. (Memphis, Tennessee)
Mississippi Center for Justice (Jackson, Mississippi)
NC AIDS Action Network (Raleigh, North Carolina)
Odyssey House (New Orleans, Louisiana)
Oklahoma Harm Reduction Alliance (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
Plan A Health (Louise, Mississippi)
Pride in the Pews (Port Arthur, Texas)
Relationship Unleashed (Memphis, Tennessee)
Saint Paul AME Church (Birmingham, Alabama)
The Center for HIV Law and Policy (Brooklyn, Louisiana)
The CW Williams Community Health Center (Charlotte, North Carolina)
The Normal Anomaly Initiative, Inc. (Houston, Texas)
The T.R.U.T.H. Project, Inc. (Houston, Texas)
THRIVE SS (Atlanta, GA)
Tilde Language Project (Durham, North Carolina)
Triad Health Project (Greensboro, North Carolina)
Vision Community Foundation (Atlanta, Georgia)
Whatsinthemirror? (Austin, Texas)
