In September 2008, the National Library of Medicine announced funding awards for the 15th round of AIDS Community Information Outreach Projects. Since the beginning of this program in 1994, NLM has continued its HIV/AIDS-related outreach efforts to community-based organizations, patient advocacy groups, faith-based organizations, state and local departments of health, and libraries, including public libraries. The program is designed to support local efforts for improving information access for HIV/AIDS patients and the affected community as well as their caregivers. Emphasis is on providing information or access in a way meaningful to the target community. Projects must involve one or more of the following information access categories: information retrieval, skills development, Internet access, resource development, and document access.

Twelve projects were funded in 2008. Three of the projects were “Express Awards” which received funding up to $10,000; and the other nine projects were funded at the “Standard Award” level of up to $60,000. Four projects based in the NN/LM PSR Region received “Standard Award” funding:

California State University, Long Beach Foundation c/o National Council of La Raza “Salud es Cultura: ¡Protégete! Project (Health is Culture: Protect Yourself!)”
Long Beach, CA

Maricopa Integrated Health System, “Maricopa Integrated Health System 2008 AIDS Community Information Outreach Project”
Phoenix, AZ

Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, “San Diego HIV/AIDS Health Information Literacy Service,”
San Diego, CA

The Wall Las Memorias, Inc., “The Wall Las Memorial Project-Pláticas (Community Discussion) Project,”
Los Angeles, CA

The entire list of funded projects may be viewed at: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/outreach/2008ACIOPawardees.html. To see an overview of this funding program and a list of projects funded in previous years, please refer to: http://sis.nlm.nih.gov/outreach/aids_cio_projects.html#a1.

These awards are issued annually. The request for proposals is announced every spring, with an application deadline following in June. If you are interested in pursuing this funding opportunity, now is not too early to begin consideration of project proposals and identifying potential collaborative partner organizations. If you have questions about the program or want to discuss potential project ideas, please let us know!