User:Hacarroll/sandbox/BlackAIDSInstitute

The Black AIDS Institute (The Institute), formerly known as the African American AIDS Policy Training Institute, is a non-profit charitable organization founded in 1999 by Phill Wilson to promote awareness and prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS. Their motto is "Our People, Our Problem, Our Solution.'

History
While white activists tended to target gay neighborhoods, Wilson decided to target the larger African-American community, since gay black men are "less likely to live in clusters and to seek gay services. In 1985, African-Americans accounted for a quarter of all new reported cases, and in 2001, they accounted for half. The reason for this being that black men are less likely to report that they have slept with another man. In a study done by the Centers for Disease Control in 2000, results show that only a quarter of black men who contracted HIV by having sex with another man considered themselves to be heterosexual, compared to 6% of white men. Wilson believes that AIDS is a black problem more than it is a gay problem. He has been cited as saying that he believes it is the black community's job to fight AIDS because "it is rarely possible for outsiders to come in and solve other peoples problems."

Purpose
The Institute has created a training program called the African American HIV University, that trains advocates that "work with churches, community centers, black businesses and the black media to influence policy, funding and research." This training is part of a two-year fellowship, that includes a 30-day training with the AIDS Treatment College, as well as four internships completed in different cities around the country.

Activities
One of the projects done by The Institute is the Black Treatment Advocates Network (BTAN). It was launched in 2010, in a partnership with Merck, and it seeks to educate people about the science of HIV, and the advances in medicine in the way of treatment, as well as prevention methods. As of 2013, BTAN had trained more than 1,000 advocates to provide support for victims of HIV/AIDS in 13 cities across the United States. These cities include Atlanta, GA, Baton Rouge, LA, Chicago, IL, Ft. Lauderdale, FL, Houston, TX, Jackson, MS, Los Angeles, CA, New Orleans, LA, Oakland, CA, Philadelphia, PA, San Francisco, CA, and Washington D.C.

Funding
The Institute is a non-profit organization, so it needs funding from outside sources to operate. On their website, the Institute has listed Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Ford Foundation, Gilead Sciences, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, the MAC AIDS Fund, the Magic Johnson Foundation, the Janssen Research and Development, LLC, and the Bristol-Myers Squibb as some of their top funders.