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WHAT WE DO
Prior to the incorporation of LTLTF, its founders identified four massive barriers to coping with HIV/AIDS in the African American Community:
- Early on in the epidemic, the disease was so stigmatized as a "White Gay Man's" disease that African Americans now continue to deny that HIV/AIDS is our problem as well. Therefore, we have failed to make HIV awareness and prevention a priority for our community
- There is a lack of financial resources specifically dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS in the African American community.
- We have no cohesive, culturally competent, culturally sensitive direct services delivery infrastructure.
- African American leadership is not aware of the extent of the problem.
At the time, Let’s Talk believed-and still believes-that the combination of twenty-five years of denial, the lack of adequate resources, and the lack of infrastructure and leadership are what have created the environment for the disease to run rampant with in our community. As a result, the founders of Let’s Talk saw the need for a vehicle to address all of these issues individually and collectively. We realized that the community did not need another direct service provider, but an organization that would serve as a support system for African American service providers.
Let’s Talk works to end the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the African American community by:
- Strengthening the African American HIV/AIDS service community by providing executive level budget, finance, technology and skill development training
- Educating public policymakers about the disease’s impact
- Supporting legislation that delivers much needed funds to African American service providers
- Raising funds on behalf of Let’s Talk’s 80 member organizations
- Producing HIV/AIDS awareness events that target the African American community
