BCA Appoints Interim Executive Director
BCA’s History
BCA’s Board of Directors
Community Report
Employment Opportunities
Recent Funders
BCA’s History
The Black Coalition on AIDS, Inc. (BCA) was founded in 1986 by a group of Black men and women — straight and gay, old and young — witnessing the devastating impact of HIV/AIDS in their community. They banded together to address the fact that there were no agencies available to provide culturally sensitive services to Blacks infected with, or affected by, HIV/AIDS. Thus, the initial mission of the group was to create a community-based, coalition-building organization to ensure Black people would receive appropriate services and be adequately represented in policy decisions.Out of these grass roots organizing efforts, BCA went on to provide education and advocacy services primarily to Blacks living in the City of San Francisco. The volunteers who comprised the initial "staff" of BCA solicited grants to secure funding for AIDS outreach and educational programs. In 1987, the San Francisco Department of Public Health (SFDPH) AIDS Office funded the 3 Street Project, a needle exchange, AIDS prevention and education program. The Bayview/Hunters Point Foundation served as our fiscal sponsor.
BCA then began to aggressively address the service and advocacy needs for some of San Francisco's most difficult to reach populations — intravenous drug users (IDUs) and low income Blacks with limited access to services. BCA hosted HIV-related conferences and community forums in response to the steadily growing number of Blacks living with HIV. In response to the demand for services to clients, BCA created its most successful volunteer program — Rafiki Services. The program provided training and developed a network of volunteers to assist people of color with AIDS. Rafiki Services was also highly successful at generating a heightened awareness of AIDS in the Black community.
To meet the needs of more and more Blacks infected with, and affected by, HIV/AIDS, BCA began offering Case Management (1991), Needle Exchange and Street Outreach (1994), Youth Services (1994), AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) Enrollment (1997), Transgender Services (1998), Treatment Education (1998) and HIV Testing (1999). Other programs, such as New Village, a health education and risk reduction program, were incorporated into the coalition to insure the continuation of critically needed services.
Additionally, as more and more HIV-infected individuals became homeless (or became HIV-infected while homeless), the need for supportive housing became a critical issue and service direction for BCA. In 1991, BCA received its first contract from the SFDPH to provide HIV/AIDS services in Bayview-Hunters Point in a fourteen-bed facility. Three years later, the Rafiki Housing Program was awarded a Support for Programs of National Significance (SPNS) grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In 1996, BCA received a Housing Opportunity for People with AIDS (HOPWA) grant from the San Francisco Redevelopment Agency to build transitional housing. With this help, and excellent community support, BCA was able to open a beautiful eleven-bed transitional housing facility in July of 1998 in the Western Addition, christened the Brandy Moore House after an early BCA director and housing advocate.
In 1999, BCA established an HIV Ministry and was able to accomplish a goal many in the community had dreamed of for years: getting the Black churches more actively involved in fighting HIV/AIDS. The HIV Ministry built on BCA's annual "pass the plate" campaign done the Sunday after Thanksgiving wherein local churches encouraged their congregations to become educated about HIV and then collected a "special offering" to support BCA's work. A campaign targeting older Black women at risk for HIV was developed to utilize this new relationship between the agency and local churches. "In the Spirit of Health" incorporated positive imagery of older Black women, enfolded the need for HIV testing within the general rubric of health issues these women faced, and developed materials such as church fans, bible markers, etc. designed to reach this audience. The campaign was hailed by all involved and has received recognition and emulation from throughout California.
BCA’S Board of Directors
Donyale John, President
Judith A. Young, Vice President
Jimmy R. Terrell, Secretary
Deborah McClain, Treasurer
Ayanna N. Anderson
Aisha Brown
Manuela Dabbs-Kelley
Darolyn Davis
Charles L. Huff
Claudius Johnson
Orin Johnson
Deborah McClain
Damon Scott, J.D.
Francine O. Shakir, Ed.D.
Doris Ward
To download the BCA 2007 Community Report, click here
To obtain print versions of the Report, email to:
developmentdirector@bcoa.orgFor information about BCA Programs, click here
For information about employment at BCA, click here
Recent Funders
AIDS Walk SF Community Partner Program
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
California Healthcare Foundation
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Evelyn & Walter Haas, Jr. Fund
Northern California Grantmakers
San Francisco Department of Public Health
Silva Watson Moonwalk Fund
van Löben Sels/RembeRock Foundation