California AIDS group faces funding shortfall

The Desert AIDS Project, which services HIV-positive people in California's Riverside and San Bernadino counties, is expecting an additional federal funding cut in fiscal 2006 on top of the nearly 5% cut the agency received in 2005, the Press Enterprise reports. "We're looking at a lot of changes in the next few years that are out of our control," Allen Reese, who became the agency's new CEO last week, told the publication. "But we will strive to provide the very best service for our clients that we possibly can, as far into the future as we possibly can." Reese says the agency will attempt to make up for the federal funding shortfall by turning to the community for help. DAP serves about 2,000 clients and has an annual operating budget of about $10 million. With less federal funding coming in, the agency may focus on its medical care services and curtail its social service programs such as emergency housing, transportation, and substance abuse counseling and treatment.