Jewish People and AIDS
 

I work for a faith-based nonprofit organization which is competing for a grant to address capacity building among faith communities. Basically, we'd get money to train church leaders how to set up HIV/AIDS ministries.

I had hoped to include Jewish and Muslim faith communities in our grant proposal, but I just had a not-so-great interaction with a lady who works at a Jewish organization here.

I can get over the fact that this particular organization didn't have an HIV/AIDS outreach program....but she made it sound like Jews didn't get AIDS! LOL.... I mean, it wasn't as ridiculous as it sounds, but it was just sort of like "Well, if we ever find anyone who meets that criteria, we'll refer them to you."

So my question is two-fold....

1) Is there some sort of strong stigma about HIV/AIDS in Jewish communities?

2) How can I reach out to the most Jewish communities at one time? Whether we get this grant or not, I'd still like this org to be more inclusive.

My reply is too long, pm me.

Are you insinuating people of faith and deep religious conviction could contract a lustful disease like HIV/AIDs?? Didn't you know that all people of faith are free from those types of things:cool:

Only those kind of people, meaning nasty people, druggies, and gay people, get AIDS. The rest of the popluation is safe. <-- was overheard in my office.

/end sarcasm

How sad that people still think like this. :( :mad:

Well, actually . . . there might indeed be evidence that those of the Jewish faith acquire AIDS at a lower rate, but it's purely coincidental:

Circumcision lowers AIDS risk by 70%

I realize that DC and (especially) Baltimore have a much higher AIDS rate than the rest of the nation, and that a significant amount of this is due to drug use rather than (hetero) intercourse, but those aren't exactly items at the top of many conservative religious organizations' to-do list - I'm not sure it's anything more than one interaction with one group, to be honest.

I'm curious to know which movement of Judaism this organization was associated with?

Will PM you and cuteASAbug...

You and I had the same exact thought.

.....yeah, about that.... now, check YOUR pms... lol

That stood out to me as well.

And ANOTHER PM.....

I hope everyone understands why I'm not putting the name of the organization out there.

I've gotten a lot of good advice via PMs.

I definitely understand that not every faith community is going to care about the spread of HIV/AIDS in DC, and I definitely can see that it doesn't affect several communities directly in as high numbers as black protestant communities.

I guess my whole thing is that I don't want to ignore certain faith communities all together because you never know who on the inside might be waiting for this opportunity.

I got some good advice to go to various campus Hillel organizations and I will also be reaching out to AEPi chapters, should we get the grant -- I am using a loose definition of "faith community" which will also reach out strongly to campus-based organizations. That will include also Christian fraternities and sororities, orgs like Chi Alpha and the rest, and also Muslim groups.

I think I have a good understanding of the AIDS taboo among Muslims and will have a better chance at reaching black Muslims than the international Muslim community here.

Black Muslims as in African Americans who practice Islam, not necessarily the Nation of Islam, but I'd also count them as a faith community.

when you deal with Jewish communities, you should always reach the ones who themselves have a personal interest in this and may themselves be infected or have friends/loved ones who are. There is a big stigma there and talking to some community representative may fall on dead ears. Get some Jewish folks who are members of support groups for AIDS victims together and ask them if they have some ideas how to get support for your cause.

^^^ That's actually a good idea, too. I'll look into one of the bigger HIV clinics here and see what comes up.

While you're doing that, reach out to AEPhi chapters as well. One of our philanthropies is the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.