Ten nonprofit community-based organizations in the South were awarded funding from Janssen Therapeutics to help HIV-positive African Americans access health services and remain connected to them.

According to a Janssen press release, the company had sent out a specific request for applications (RFA) seeking community groups that could help lower HIV-related disparities and increase access to care in the South and in rural areas. These 10 awards are the result of that RFA.

People in the South, particularly African Americans, share a disproportionate burden of the HIV epidemic. For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), of all black men who have sex with men who were diagnosed with HIV in 2014, more than 60 percent were living in the South. Similarly, of all women diagnosed with HIV in the South, 69 percent were African American.

“Community-based organizations play a critical role in providing wrap-around services, health care navigation assistance, and education to people living with HIV,” said Richard Nettles, vice president of medical affairs at Janssen Therapeutics, in the press release. “At Janssen Therapeutics, we’re committed to addressing HIV-related health care disparities that burden disadvantaged communities, particularly in the South, where a confluence of structural factors contribute to significant gaps in HIV care.”

In the past decade, Janssen Therapeutics has awarded more than $3.9 million to community-based organizations through RFAs. Janssen Therapeutics, Division of Janssen Products, LP is part of Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson.

The recipients of this year’s awards are:

  • AIDS Action Coalition of Huntsville (Huntsville, AL)

  • AIDS Service Center of Austin (Austin, TX)

  • AIDS Services Coalition (Hattiesburg, MS)

  • Brotherhood, Inc. (New Orleans, LA)

  • Community Health Interventions (Fayetteville, NC)

  • Comprehensive AIDS Resource Encounter, Inc. (Jesup, GA)

  • Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network, Inc. (Jacksonville, FL)

  • The Open Door, Inc. (Pittsburgh, PA)

  • Rain, Inc. (Charlotte, NC)

  • The Women’s Collective (Washington, DC)