AIDS agencies to merge into statewide operation

Four of Colorado’s five regional organizations focused on the HIV/AIDS epidemic have merged to form one statewide agency to deliver services to people with the disease, as well as conduct education and prevention programs. While the regional programs will retain their names and focus, certain administrative functions – such as fundraising – will be handled by one office based in Denver.

Joining forces are Southern Colorado AIDS Project, Northern Colorado AIDS Project, Western Colorado AIDS Project and the Denver-based Colorado AIDS Project. The new statewide entity will be known as the Colorado AIDS Project and the Denver office will be renamed the Denver Colorado AIDS Project.

The merger was finalized Aug. 9 and takes effect Oct. 13. Denver CAP’s Ruth Pederson will serve as interim director until a permanent CEO is found for the statewide group.
Boulder County AIDS Project opted out of the merger and will operate as it has on its own.

Jeff Basinger, Executive Director of NCAP, hailed the merger as an opportunity to expand services to people living with HIV/AIDS. The conversation about joining together, he said, had been going on for four years.

“There’s been a lot of thoughtful due diligence throughout the process and the cooperation has been incredible,” he said. “It’s about greater efficiencies to meet the evolving needs of people with HIV.”

Basinger continued, “We’re not doing this because we see things as falling apart but to enhance access to resources not available to small organizations.” Citing uncertain government funding and the poor economy, he said, “We can’t increase services to meet increasing demand with flat funding.”

Clients may not notice any changes to the organizations they’ve come to depend on. “All individual agencies will keep their DBAs (business names) and stay uniquely local for services with a lot of autonomy in local decision making,” he said.

The new central office will handle development, human resources, accounting, technology and other administrative functions.

Looming federal healthcare reform and anticipated changes in the Ryan White HIV Care Act, a primary funder of local HIV/AIDS services, make changes necessary by service providers, said Basinger.

Boulder County AIDS Project chose to opt out of the merger, said Ana Hopperstad, head of BCAP.

“While pieces of the merger make sense and funders have pushed for efficiencies of scale, Boulder has had its own history,” said Hopperstad. “We have a lot of community support and very progressive thinking in local government here. So, when we talked to stakeholders, we saw that the losses would be greater than the gains (in merging).”

While the merger has its supporters, some longtime activists in the HIV/AIDS epidemic also expressed reservations about the move to a statewide organization. “My concern is that clients don’t get lost in the merger,” said Barry Glass, who heads the HIV Legal Rights Network at the Legal Center for People with Disabilities and Older People.

“There are different needs in different parts of the state,” Glass said. “Until I see otherwise, I’m not ready to pass judgment on whether or not this is a good idea.”

What will change?

• Administrative functions, like fundraising, will be handled by the Denver office.

• Denver office will be renamed the Denver Colorado AIDS Project.

•  Enhance access to resources.

What will stay the same?

• The client services will stay local.
• Boulder County AIDS Project opted out of the merger; continues to operate on its own.
• Individual agencies will keep their  DBAs and  stay uniquely local.

Contact the 4 branches:

Northern Colorado AIDS Project

970-484-4469 (Fort Collins)
970-580-4498 (Greeley)

Southern Colorado AIDS Project
http://s-cap.org
719-578-9092 (Colorado Springs)
719-924-8925 (Pueblo)

Western Colorado AIDS Project
http://westcap.info
970-243-2437 (Grand Junction)

Denver Colorado AIDS Project
http://coloradoaidsproject.org
303-837-0166 (Denver)