SOC Announces Direct Care HIV/AIDS Grants
This June, as we celebrate Pride Month, Season of Concern has awarded four grants to local, direct care HIV/AIDS organizations, in solidarity with those for whom Season of Concern was originally founded. Funding for these grants comes from our annual participation in AIDS Run/Walk Chicago.
Groceryland—In Memory of Lori Cannon
The grocery center affectionately known as “Groceryland” is one of three grocery centers operated through Heartland Alliance Health’s Vital Bridges program. Vital Bridges, formerly known as Open Hand Chicago, was founded by Lori Cannon, Groceryland’s longtime food coordinator and champion for people living with HIV/AIDS. Today, the program provides food and medical nutrition therapy to nearly 700 individuals each year, improving the quality of life for people living with HIV/AIDS in the Chicago area. The grocery centers offer nutritious food, nutritional assessment and counseling from a registered dietitian, and connections to Heartland Alliance Health’s full continuum of care, including primary medical, dental, and behavioral health services, as well as case management support for benefits enrollment and other essential services. People have described the North Side grocery center as “wonderfully unclinical,” fun, nurturing, and welcoming to all.
Life Is Work is a trans-led organization that educates, empowers, and organizes TLGBQ+ people from diverse backgrounds to secure safety, wellness, and justice for all. Life Is Work envisions a world where all TLGBQ+ people from diverse backgrounds have the resources and support to thrive authentically in safe and stable environments.
Proactive Community Services (PCS) is a community-based nonprofit organization dedicated to improving health and social outcomes for disadvantaged minority adults, families, and youth throughout Southern Cook County, Illinois, and beyond. For more than 20 years, PCS has provided comprehensive services that address health disparities and social inequities through workforce development, housing stability, HIV prevention and care coordination, behavioral health support, chronic disease prevention, harm reduction, and integrated wellness initiatives. Our mission is to improve health and social inequalities by empowering individuals to take actions that increase the quality and years of healthy life and create health and social equity. PCS staff engage community members through outreach events, health education, resource navigation, and wellness initiatives. By meeting people where they are, PCS helps connect individuals and families to critical services that improve health outcomes, promote stability, and advance health equity throughout the communities we serve.
TaskForce Prevention and Community Services is a multi-service, grassroots organization committed to improving the sexual health and overall well-being of LGBTQ+ youth of color in Chicago by providing a safe space for fellowship, HIV/STI screening and education, and on-site referrals to medical, housing, and other social services. They are working towards a world without health disparities and committed to being a respectful, caring partner serving everyone affected by health disparities through comprehensive and integrated prevention, care, and treatment programs.
Please help us continue our work in the community—including our emergency financial grants to Chicagoland theatre artists—by making a gift before the end of our fiscal year on June 30th!