Day 4- March 23

Today, we visited the SF AIDS Foundation, an organization based in San Francisco that assists those currently living with HIV and AIDS, while also working to prevent new infections of HIV and AIDS. We were able to learn about one of their main programs, the HIV Prevention Project, through one of coordinators, Mimi. Mimi provided our group with a great background about the HIV Prevention Project, telling us about injection-drug users in the community and how they are working to lower transmissions of HIV/AIDS in San Francisco by providing a clean needle exchange program. Mimi actually showed us some of the materials that they pass out to prevent the spread of HIV, including different types of needles, tourniquets, clean water, vitamin C, and much more. We learned that the SF AIDS Foundation actually works in a number of different areas, going directly to different communities like the Haight and the Tenderloin to reach their clients, as their belief is that they can better extend their services to a greater amount of people in that manner. After her talk, she took our group to one of their actual needle-exchange centers where we learned more about the needle-exchange program, as well as saw firsthand how the needle exchange program works. Mimi and the other workers at the needle exchanged all espoused a "harm-reduction" philosophy- a mindset where they will meet at-risk people where they are, and try to keep them as safe as possible from the epidemic. Seeing the community and the needle exchange was a very eye-opening experience for most in our group, and we were able to better see the work that the SF AIDS Foundation is taking in their community.
After our tour of their nearby needle-exchange program, we were given talks by one of the directors of the SF AIDS Foundation, as well as one of the leaders of Black Brothers Esteem, a group that promotes sexual health and well-being of the African-American gay and bisexual community. We learned about the national HIV/AIDS hotline run by the SF AIDS Foundation and learned about the many different programs offered by the SF AIDS Foundation.
When we were finished with our visit to the Foundation, we had some free time to explore San Francisco until evening. Some members of our ASB group decided to explore Union Square, Chinatown, and the Castro. In our visit to the Castro, it was the first experience for some of the group to the area, and we were able to see the interesting dynamics existing in the Castro area. We visited "Under One Roof", a store in the Castro run by volunteers, in which all of the proceeds go back towards HIV and AIDS related organizations in San Francisco. It was great for us to be able to see a different factor in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and we noticed that "Under One Roof" supported many of the organizations that we had already visited and some of the ones that we were planning to visit later in the week.

Jonathan Hsieh