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Please complete our online petition to the Alameda County Board of Supervisors!

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Letter:	Please allocate $500,000 of permanent funding for people living with HIV/AIDS and designate this funding for Oakland's Vital Life Services organization! The Alameda County Board of Supervisors is the only hope to enable this critical organization to continue providing direct supportive services to hundreds of low-income HIV-positive citizens! We need Alameda County to allocate 3% of the Measure A funds that two-thirds of the voters of this County supported to provide health services for our communities in Alameda County. Please allocate $500,000 in permanent funding to enable Vital Life Services to continue to provide: - Ambulatory Medical Care - Client Advocacy - Food - Transportation - Emergency Assistance - Day Center Services Over the holidays we learned that the national federal funding that has supported Vital Life Services (formerly The Center for AIDS Services) for the past twenty years has been reduced by 60% - 70%. This will have a devastating impact on the hundreds of low-income, HIV-positive clients of this agency. We must find a permanent source of funding to replace this federal funding and to avoid closing our doors by April 1, 2007. Federal legislation supported by the current administration has turned funding for direct supportive services for HIV/AIDS (Ryan White funding) on its head. Direct supportive services in this district has historically been allocated so that 2/3 of Ryan White funding goes to direct supportive services and 1/3 goes to medical services annually. Beginning March 1, 2007, the allocation will be 3/4 to medical services and 1/4 to direct supportive services. This sudden, 60% - 70% drop in financial support can be measured in terms of suffering. Ryan White funding and a small amount of County funding amounted to $477,000 (55%) of Vital Life Services' total funding. Vital Life Services raised the balance of about $330,000 needed to operate annually. The public funding that Vital Life Services received over the past few years has been cut more than 30% and does not represent what is needed to address the needs of people living with HIV/AIDs. Vital Life Services' core services, provided Monday-Friday 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m., include: - Two hot nutritious meals - Van transportation for infirm clients to and from Vital Life Service’s site and various medical and social service appointments - Mental health therapy for loss, fear, help with drug abuse ·case management assistance with benefits and services - Education and prevention programs - Acupuncture and herbal therapies to help with side-effects of medications and disease impacts - Nutrition counseling - Facilities for homeless clients including shower, laundry, and phone - Exercise facilities - Emergency assistance with housing, food, transportation and utilties Vital Life Services is a community forum, collaborating with other agencies such as housing groups and the law center to provide additional services at on site for their clients.*
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