Services

Each year, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation welcomes hundreds of people living with HIV/AIDS through our doors. The reception area of our Client Services Department (located at One Sixth Street at Market) offers every client a respectful, comfortable space--it is quiet and clean, and it includes a library of educational resources about HIV/AIDS and available resources as well as complementary phones and bathrooms for client use. English and Spanish speaking staff members are available to answer questions.

The department provides one-stop registration for clients to access services through our HIV Services Partnership, which includes the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, the UCSF AIDS Health Project, and Shanti Project. Highly skilled client advocates perform a comprehensive intake assessment for each new client in order to determine his or her needs, provide information and resources, and create a care plan. Our goal is to connect clients to a network of care delivery--including primary care physicians, access to medications, substance use programs, mental health support, and other supportive services--to help them negotiate the complex set of issues related to HIV and improve their health.

We also provide the following direct client services:

• Financial benefits counseling: Counselors help individuals understand and link into the complex private and public benefits systems, including the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP), General Assistance, Food Stamps, Medi-Cal, CARE/HIPP, Medicare, Social Security, and Medi-Care.
• Rental subsidy program: This program provides rental assistance to over 350 individuals. Through the work of our client advocates and the clients themselves, over 95% of these individuals remain stably housed. Participants in the program must be referred from the San Francisco Department of Public Health's Housing Waitlist and/or through Centers of Excellence.
• The Stonewall Project: The Stonewall Project is a harm reduction counseling and treatment program for men who have sex with men (queer, gay, bisexual, transgender, questioning, or no label) who have questions about speed, want information about speed and want help dealing with speed.
• Magnet: Magnet, developed by community leaders and activists, provides sexually transmitted infection services, including HIV testing and screening to the Castro, the neighborhood which continues to have the greatest concentration of new HIV infections in San Francisco. Magnet also provides a space in the Castro for gay men to network and socialize.

For more information on our client advocacy services or to schedule an intake appointment, please call 415-487-8000.

Additional services for clients

In addition to the services provided through the Client Services Department, several other programs also provide services to people living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS. These programs include:

• Black Brothers Esteem (BBE) promotes the sexual health and well-being of African American gay and same-gender loving men through a weekly drop-in group, workshops, leadership-building retreats, and other community-building activities. BBE addresses not only issues of HIV, but also the challenges of poverty, substance use, homophobia, and racism.
• El Grupo is one of the longest running bilingual support groups for Latinos living with HIV in the nation. Open to all HIV-positive Latino/as and their families, it provides a safe forum to share information on managing HIV and reducing isolation and stigma.
• The HIV Prevention Project, the AIDS Foundation's needle exchange program, provides over 2.3 million syringes annually, helping thousands of exchangers and their partners avoid HIV infection and Hepatitis C. Staff and volunteers, nurse practitioners, and drug treatment counselors provide free, anonymous exchange and other critical services at locations throughout San Francisco.
• The Speed Project works with gay and bisexual men who use crystal methamphetamine to assist them in understanding the connections between their substance use and their sexual health and well-being. This is done through education, peer support, and alternative social activities.