State and Territorial Minority HIV/AIDS Demonstration Grant Program

The State and Territorial Minority HIV/AIDS Demonstration Grant Program is administered by the Office of Minority Health (OMH) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The OMH was created in December 1985 with a mission to improve the health of racial and ethnic minority populations through the development of health policies and programs to address the health disparities and gaps. Consistent with its mission, the role of OMH is to serve as the focal point within the Department for leadership, policy development and coordination, service demonstrations, information exchange, coalition and partnership building, and related efforts to address the health needs of racial and ethnic minorities.

The State and Territorial Minority HIV/AIDS Demonstration Grant Program was developed in 1999 as part of the Congressional Black Caucus Minority HIV/AIDS Initiative to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic in minority communities. This program is intended to demonstrate that the involvement of State and Territorial Offices of Minority Health in coordinating a statewide response to the HIV/AIDS crisis in minority communities can have a greater impact on the communities' understanding of the disease, and the coordination of prevention and treatment services for minority populations, than agencies and/or organizations working independently. Specifically, the purposes of the State and Territorial Minority HIV/AIDS Demonstration Grant Program are to: 1) assist in the identification of needs within the state/territory for HIV/AIDS prevention and services among minority populations by collecting, analyzing, and/or tracking existing data on surveillance and existing providers of HIV services for minority communities; 2) facilitate the linkage of minority community-based organizations with other state and local recipients of federal funds for HIV/AIDS to develop a greater resource capacity and interventions in the identified areas of need; and 3) assist in coordinating federal resources coming into high need minority communities including identifying the different programs and facilitating access to federal technical assistance available to minority community-based organizations.

The 16 projects described in this fact sheet are funded for the three-year project period 9/30/02 through 9/29/05. The grants are administered by state or territorial Offices of Minority Health. Each project offers activities unique to strengthening its state or territorial efforts to address the HIV/AIDS health issue within minority communities. Examples of various project approaches being utilized to address the program purposes include: using a Geographic Information System to plot HIV/AIDS and risk prevalence; conducting a needs assessment to identify gaps in service or prevention programs for minority communities; providing training to enhance organizational infrastructure including the capability to competitively compete for HIV/AIDS resources; and establishing community-based minority-serving organization linkages via the Internet to increase the capability for information exchange.

For additional information, please contact the Division of Program Operations, Office of Minority Health. October 2003

List of State and Territorial Minority HIV/AIDS Demonstration Grant Program's 2003 Grantees