In September, 2006, the National Library of Medicine announced funding awards for the 13th 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 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.

Seventeen projects were funded in 2006. Five of the projects were “Express Awards” which received funding up to $10,000; and the other twelve projects were funded at the “Standard Award” level of up to $50,000. Two projects based in the NN/LM PSR Region received “Standard” funding:

“Project Restore/Expanded Access,” AIDS Education Global Information System (AEGiS), San Juan Capistrano, CA
AIDS Education Global Information System (AEGiS) was established in the mid 1980’s to disseminate AIDS-related clinical information and late-breaking news to those in need and isolated by geographical location. AEGiS is presently serving over 900,000 users per month, and has archived over 1.1 million documents dealing with HIV/AIDS. The sources for this information include, but are not limited to, the National Library of Medicine, AIDS Service Organization publications, and Wire services (Agence Presse France, Associated Press, Inter Press Service, Reuters, BBC, Wall Street Journal, etc.). AEGiS sought funding from NLM to assist in providing HIV/AIDS information to patients, the affected community, researchers and caregivers. Funding will assist AEGiS in seeking pre- and post- Internet/CDROM era conference abstracts, related news reports, and AIDS Community-Based Organization related reports to be integrated into the main database and disseminated via the AEGiS website.

“Advancing HH: Online HIV/AIDS Information Access in San Francisco’s Castro District,” Internet Sexuality Information Services, Inc, Oakland, CA
Internet Sexuality Information Services (ISIS), a non-profit organization whose mission is to use technology for sexual health promotion and disease prevention, has joined together with Magnet, a gay men’s health center in the Castro, to implement the Advancing HH project. Advancing HH: Online HIV/AIDS Information Access in San Francisco’s Castro District is a project designed to improved HIV/AIDS information access for the community of men who have sex with men in San Francisco. Advancing HH will also be available to men around the world who look to San Francisco for cutting edge, up-to-date education about gay men’s health issues, especially HIV/AIDS information. Funding from NLM will provide ISIS the resources to increase the number and speed of computers and networks at the Magnet storefront and expand and update the health section of the MagnetSF.org website with detailed, up-to-date, and culturally relevant information about HIV/AIDS.

The entire list of 17 funded projects may be viewed at: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/news/aidsprojs06.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.

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!