For many of Southern Nevada’s 12,000-plus residents living with HIV/AIDS, the nonprofits Aid for AIDS Nevada and Golden Rainbow have offered support in numerous ways since the 1980s, from medical care and financial assistance to prevention education and mental health support.
Now, their services will be streamlined under the management of the LGBTQ+ Center of Las Vegas, which announced in July its acquisition of the two HIV/AIDS organizations.
Besides centralizing services, the development seeks to expand offerings. The resulting infrastructure will stabilize the new operation and make it easier to obtain funding. The strategy is not unfamiliar to organizations that have faced increasing challenges over the past decade.
"I think you're seeing this across the nonprofit sector right now," John Waldron, CEO of the Center, said. "A lot of organizations are exploring options for consolidating their efforts, taking advantage of economies of scale, and seeing where we can do things more as one strategic unit, rather than all of us pursuing individual funders and individual grants, and serving clients where our missions overlap."
The development began just before the pandemic, with Antioco Carrillo, former executive director of AFAN, and Gary Costa, former executive director of Golden Rainbow, having discussions with Waldron. COVID-19 made fundraising even more difficult for nonprofits, and so AFAN and Golden Rainbow looked to The Center in the hope they might find sustainability.
"The challenge was always the fact that we live under constant threat," Carrillo said. "You know, one day [you're told], 'It's OK, it's safe. You can continue to apply. You can continue to look at this. This funding is going to exist.' The next day, it seems to change, and there's always ... messages about how unstable the funding is right now. The truth is that we didn't want to take any chances because we don't know what it looks like in the future. You know, we're at war, and we have all kinds of challenges internally here.
"We wanted to make sure that the legacy of those brave men and women that did what they could at the beginning, 42 years ago, was remembered."
Carrillo will now serve as the chief housing and integrated health officer for The Center. His team includes all the employees from AFAN and Golden Rainbow. Housing will be prioritized as integration evolves. From there, clients will see services expand, all located under The Center's roof.
"Typically, when a client comes into the office and they are referred somewhere else for additional services, they get disheartened about it," Carrillo said. "They don't even want to follow up sometimes. So the beauty of this idea is that they're going to be able to access services within the same location."
The Center will continue to uphold its mission of serving both LGBTQ+ individuals and the community at large, which includes healthcare, food distribution through Three Square, and a mobile shower trailer for the unhoused.
The announcement has been met with enthusiasm across the board, said Waldron.
"We've had so many people across Southern Nevada that have reached out and talked about how much they support this idea, and how much they want to see more of this. And that includes foundations and funders, supporters, [and] community members. They want to see evidence of us working together because it's really the only way that we're going to be able to combat some of the challenges that our community faces, [and that's] if we do it as one, and we demonstrate resilience. We can do that much better if we're all aligned."
Guests: John Waldron, CEO, The LGBTQ+ Center of Las Vegas; Antioco Carrillo, Chief Housing and Integrated Health Officer
