NJ Ride Against Aids - Beneficiaries

South Jersey AIDS Alliance (SJAA) is a caring and compassionate human services agency dedicated to the fight against HIV/AIDS. Accordingly, SJAA is a fully incorporated, 501(c)3 non profit agency offering essential support services to People Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWH) and their families and prevention education and interventions to people at high risk for HIV in the three south easternmost counties of New Jersey: Atlantic, Cape May and Cumberland.

The agency was established in 1985 by a group of Atlantic City business people and private citizens who recognized and became concerned over the growing national HIV/AIDS epidemic. Thus, with few resources other than a desire to make a difference, these individuals founded an agency that would ultimately grow to be one of southern New Jersey's oldest and largest AIDS Service Organizations (ASO). Today, with 45 employees providing nearly twenty separate but integrated programs across a 1,300 square mile area encompassing three counties, SJAA stands as one of our state's leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

The agency currently serves around 2,500 people living with HIV/AIDS and/or at very high risk for HIV through a wide variety of care and treatment support services; prevention interventions and counseling and testing efforts each year.

SJAA operates three primary support centers (one each in Atlantic City, Vineland and Wildwood) an intensive case management drop-in-center in Atlantic City, a prevention services center in Bridgeton, a prison discharge planning center in Millville and satellite offices in three state prisons and one county jail.

Finally, SJAA is an agency that strongly values diversity. Thus the agency's staff includes individuals from varied races, cultural backgrounds, gender identifications, and life-styles. Bilingual, culturally sensitive staff members are available at every site.

The mission of The Eric Johnson House is to respond compassionately and responsibly to the HIV/AIDS crisis by providing supportive services, housing opportunities, prevention strategies and community education in New Jersey. The agency's work directly benefits the local community, through three core service areas:

Residential;
Community Case Management; and
Education and Prevention.

The primary program of The Eric Johnson House is the Transitional Housing Program for persons with HIV/AIDS who are homeless due to their HIV status. The Transitional Housing Program of The Eric Johnson House, located in Morristown, provides housing and supportive services to individuals from New Jersey for up to a maximum of twenty-four months and assists in locating permanent housing. In order to ensure continued health and housing stability for these participants once they leave the Transitional Housing Program, they maintain involvement with The Eric Johnson House through our Community Case Management Program. The Community Case Management Program includes weekly phone contact and monthly home visits by the Case Management staff for a minimum of six months. Community Case Management participants are able to continue accessing services from the Substance Abuse Counselor and the Mental Health Counselor. Additionally, all participants are invited back to The Eric Johnson House monthly for dinner, food basket distribution, and a peer support group facilitated by the Case Manager.

It is the goal of The Eric Johnson House to become New Jersey's premier AIDS Service Organization (ASO).

was designed for those people in need of housing, as well as supportive services, who are homeless as a result of, or adjunct to their HIV/AIDS status. The Eric Johnson House is a place for those who need a safe haven while trying to obtain the services and support necessary to regain control of their lives. The Eric Johnson House is neither a hospice nor a medical facility, but rather a housing program which provides the security and dignity necessary to enable residents to become empowered and thus able to make realistic decisions about their future.

The primary purpose of the Family-Centered Care Network is to provide comprehensive, culturally sensitive, coordinated care for women, children, youth, and families with HIV infection. The Network offers HIV specialty care, outreach, counseling and testing, medical management, access to clinical drug trials, follow-up services, and family case management.

The adult and family HIV program work closely together in order to provide coordinated and comprehensive services to HIV infected and affected families. Using a multidisciplinary approach, the family HIV program provides a variety of the following services: medical, social, nutritional, psychological, subspecialty (GI, ID, HEM/ONC, Pulmonary, etc), case management, and logistical. As of April 2009, the family program is following 17 infected children under 13, 27 young adults 13-22 years of age, 26 HIV exposed infants. Approximately 40 siblings or at risk children are screened every year. The adult program has an active caseload of 1164, 491 are women approximately 40% of the women are of childbearing age. The family HIV program has a family/women?s coordinator that follows these women including 8 pregnant HIV+ women.

The New Jersey Women and AIDS Network (NJWAN) was founded in May 1988 to independently express and voice the needs of women in the HIV/AIDS pandemic. The mission of New Jersey Women and AIDS Network is to reduce the spread of HIV infection in women, support the self-determination of women living with HIV/AIDS to better access quality care and treatment, educate service providers, and advocate for appropriate policies in the women and AIDS pandemic. Since its inception, NJWAN has been providing HIV education, prevention, advocacy, adherence and wellness programs to women who are infected or affected with HIV/AIDS. NJWAN annually serves approximately 2000 women living with HIV/AIDS and/or at risk for HIV. It does this through a wide array of programs such as:

Sister Connect and Sister Rise, where women learn how to manage their diagnosis and treatment regimen.
Sister's Village, NJWAN's health and wellness community which helps women develop a holistic sense of lifebalance and positive influence.
The Warmline NJWAN's telephone support service which is used by individuals to seek information, support services, case management and advice about how to live with HIV.