HIV

Take the Test! Take Control!  This is the key message of this year’s National HIV Testing Day, set for June 27.  The day is dedicated to encouraging people to find out their HIV status and helping those who are positive access treatment and reduce the risk of transmitting the virus to others.

In Louisiana, the Department of Health and Hospitals – Office of Public Health’s HIV/AIDS Program and its partners from around the state will work toward promoting the benefits of getting tested early and decreasing the stigma associated with testing in communities at risk.

Test sites throughout the state will be offering extended testing hours on National HIV Testing Day.  A list of activities in each region of the state is attached.  Testing is at no-cost and open to everyone.

Louisiana ranks as fifth highest in the nation in AIDS case rates, with over 16,282 people living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2008.  In 2007, Baton Rouge ranked third out of 98 metropolitan areas in AIDS case rates; New Orleans ranked second.  Another 5,000 Louisiana residents are estimated to be living with HIV but are unaware of it. 

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than one million people in the U..S. are now living with HIV, and approximately 25 percent are unaware of their HIV infection. 

“The decision to take the test is the first step in taking responsibility for your health and the health of others with whom you may be intimately involved,” said Beth Scalco, director of the Office of Public Health HIV/AIDS program.  “The CDC recommends routine HIV screening of adults, adolescents and pregnant women.”

National HIV Testing Day is organized by the National Association of People with AIDS, in partnership with the CDC and other national and local entities across the country.

For more information on National HIV Testing Day events or locations for HIV screening, contact the Louisiana Statewide HIV/AIDS Infoline at 1-800-99AIDS9 (or 1-800-992-4379).

The Louisiana Department of Health and Hospitals strives to protect and promote health statewide and to ensure access to medical, preventive and rehabilitative services for all state citizens. To learn more about DHH, visit http://www.dhh.louisiana.gov

Grant Money

Monday, July 13 is the deadline to apply for $61,000 in grants through the Exxon Mobil Fund for St. Bernard Parish and Algiers.

The Exxon Mobil Fund provides the following types of funding in St. Bernard Parish and Algiers:

Grants that support new, creative or beneficial programs
Capital fund grants for new construction or major renovations
Seed money grants to help start a new organization which responds to an important opportunity in the community
Bridge grants to sustain organizations experiencing unusual financial hardship

Of the total amount, $54,900 is available for nonprofit organizations in St. Bernard Parish and $6,100 is available for Algiers, part of New Orleans. The maximum amount awarded for each grant will be $10,000 in St. Bernard Parish and $4,000 in Algiers.

Funding decisions will be made in August. The Exxon Mobil Fund is administered through the Greater New Orleans Foundation.

For more information, go to http://gnof.org or call 504-598-4663.

Founded in 1983, the Greater New Orleans Foundation is one of the leading philanthropic organizations in the greater New Orleans area, managing more than $190 million in assets. Since its inception, it has granted over $100 million to nonprofit organizations addressing the diverse and ever-changing needs of our community. Through GNOF, individuals, families, corporations and other foundations are fulfilling their charitable goals.

Biz Camp

BizCamp will showcase the goods of its entrepreneurship students during the BizCamp Market Place that will take place on June 25, 2009. The BizCamp Market Place will begin with the STROMILE SWIFT BIZ CAMP MARKET PLACE AUTOGRAPH SIGNING AT 12 NOON, at the Louisiana Boardwalk in Bossier City, under the Texas Street Bridge between Osh Kosh B'Gosh and K-B Toys. The public is invited to support the students by shopping and purchasing their goods. For more information concerning BizCamp and the BizCamp Market Place, contact the Inner City Entrepreneur (ICE) Institute at 318.425.4234.

The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), Inc., an international nonprofit organization with a mission to introduce low-income and at-risk young people to the world of business and entrepreneurship, was founded in 1987 and is based in New York City. BizCamp is NFTE’s stellar entrepreneurship training program. Harvard University considers BizCamp a Mini-MBA Course for youth. 

The local BizCamp is an initiative of the Inner City Entrepreneur (ICE) Institute in collaboration with Southern University at Shreveport and Caddo Parish Schools that provides inner city middle and high school students the opportunity to begin learning how to become business leaders and employers. The students of BizCamp will complete the training portion of their program and immediately open their BizCamp Market Place. The BizCamp Market Place will allow them to practice the skills they have learned during camp as well as market their goods and services.

LRA—First Responders

The state of Louisiana has approved $2.7 million in emergency communications equipment for first responders in Washington and Tangipahoa parishes, allowing the parish governments to access federal Community Development Block Grant funds needed to implement the project.

The funding comes from the Long Term Community Recovery Program, a $700 million pool of federal disaster-recovery money set aside by the Louisiana Recovery Authority and Office of Community Development to help local governments rebuild and implement long-term recovery plans.

Washington Parish will receive $1.3 million for the purchase of 563 new 700 megahertz radios and $778,948 for construction of a new radio tower; Tangipahoa Parish will receive $625,000 for the purchase of 338 new 700 MHz radios. The equipment will allow interoperable communications between first responders both locally and across the state.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Washington and Tangipahoa parishes lost communications for up to several weeks. As a result, all facets of emergency response, including law enforcement, firefighting, emergency medical services, and search and rescue missions, were severely compromised.

Prior to the storm, Louisiana planned to build a statewide, interoperable 700 MHz radio system for first responders. The transition was fast-tracked after Katrina, when the state obtained funding to construct the 700 MHz system in storm-affected areas of south Louisiana. Both Washington and Tangipahoa parishes have decided to utilize the new statewide system instead of investing additional dollars into obsolete communications systems that failed during the hurricane.

In addition to equipping the first responders with 700 MHz interoperable radios, the CDBG funding also will be used to build a 400-foot radio tower in Washington Parish that can communicate statewide, even when phone lines are down.

LRA Executive Director Paul Rainwater said, "We worked hard to make this an eligible project because the purchase of interoperable communications equipment will address a critical failure that occurred during Hurricane Katrina. The inability of first responders to communicate either inside the parish or with outside agencies severely hampered the disaster response. The use of disaster recovery funds to upgrade these parishes to the new 700 MHz system represents a big step forward in protecting the public safety during emergencies."

Tangipahoa Parish President Gordon Burgess said, "We feel very fortunate that we are receiving $625,000 for the purchase of 338 new 700 MHz radios. This equipment will be used by our first responders throughout the parish. It will be extremely helpful and we thank the governor and the LRA for allowing this to happen."

Washington Parish President Richard N. Thomas, Jr. said, "Washington Parish is thankful for this assistance from the Louisiana Recovery Authority in the purchase of emergency communications equipment for our first responders. Without a doubt, our first responders would not have had this capability for many years without these federal Community Development Block Grant funds."

The state's LTCR program supports implementation of local governments' long-term recovery plans in the most heavily impacted communities in the state. In 2008, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development approved LRA's request to reallocate $500 million in CDBG dollars to the program, bringing to $700 million the total amount of long-term recovery funding available to the parishes. Funds are distributed among the parishes through the LRA/Office of Community Development according to a formula based on estimated housing and infrastructure damages inflicted by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In total, the LRA has allocated $2,386,683 of CDBG funding to Washington Parish for LTCR projects and $2,176,093 to Tangipahoa Parish.

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