Gilead Sciences’ COMPASS Initiative awarded a total of nearly $2.2 million in Transformative Grants to 30 U.S. organizations fighting HIV in the South. Grantees are listed below and in the video above.

 

Considered the epicenter of the HIV epidemic in the United States, the South accounts for 52% of new diagnoses, according to federal data cited by Gilead Sciences, which manufactures several blockbuster HIV medications.

 

This marks the fifth year of Transformative Grants from COMPASS—the name stands for “COMmitment to Partnership in Addressing HIV/AIDS in Southern States.” The grantees are chosen by the COMPASS Coordinating Centers: 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.

 

“Our Transformative Grant partners are not only providing lifesaving essential support to people impacted by HIV but are also building valuable community programs, addressing harmful stigma and partnering with faith-based organizations to truly change lives,” Kia Colbert, director of the COMPASS Coordinating Center at Emory University, said in the release.

 

“We have to work toward improving the overall physical, economic and social health of people impacted by HIV/AIDS,” Monica Johnson, the executive director of COMPASS Grantee H.E.R.O.E.S, said. “This Transformative Grant will help us continue to do just that."

 

The 2022 COMPASS grantees are listed below as they appear on GileadCOMPASS.com.

Organizational Capacity Building & Knowledge Sharing

  • Frontline Legal Services, Inc.
  • Counter Narrative Project
  • Seeds of Healing, Inc.
  • CrescentCare
  • Hope House Day Care Center, Inc.
  • ASHwell
  • Rural Women in Action, Inc.
  • AIDS Foundation Houston
  • Latino Commission on AIDS
  • Open Hand Atlanta
  • Out My Closet, Inc.
  • Florida Harm Reduction Collective, Inc.
  • The Reginald & Dionne Smith Foundation

Stigma Reduction & Culturally Appropriate Care

  • Gender Benders
  • H.Y.P.E to Empower
  • H.E.R.O.E.S
  • Borderland Rainbow Center
  • Arkansas Black Gay Men’s Forum
  • LILA Latinx LGBTQI
  • CH-PIER
  • Engaging Arkansas Communities
  • The Pride Center at Equality Park
  • Mississippi Center for Justice

Mental Health, Trauma-Informed Care, Substance Us, and Telehealth

  • Eagle Pass Safe
  • The TRUTH Pass
  • The Resource Group

Faith-Based Advocacy & Spiritually Integrated Capacity Building

  • Metropolitan Charities
  • Resource Center for Women & Ministry in the South, Inc.
  • Foundations for Living
  • Relationship Unleashed
  • Together for Hope

In related news, Gilead Sciences was recently named the No. 1 philanthropic funder of HIV-related programs, according to Funders Concerned About AIDS (FCAA). And pop stars Jon Batiste and Lil Nas X have raised money and awareness for COMPASS grantees and HIV groups in the South; for more details, read “Lil Nas X Visits Black HIV Groups, Raises $100K for Southern AIDS Efforts.”