New management team in Norfolk, Va., attempts to fix problems with AIDS funding allocation

The Norfolk, Va., program that manages federal Ryan White Act AIDS funding to the region has come under fire in recent years for failing to spend up to $1 million given to the area to fight HIV, but a new program director and management council aim to fix allocation problems, reports The Virginian-Pilot. The Ryan White board failed to spend 20% of the region's 2003 Ryan White allocation, despite having 900 HIV-positive people in the area who were not able to access care or support services. The federal Health Resources and Services Administration sent a team of consultants to help Norfolk officials improve Ryan White funding allocation. Norfolk assistant city manager LaVerne Parker Diggs took over management of the Ryan White program in 2004 and led the efforts to reorganize the organization. Oversight duties for the program now go to a management council made up of volunteers, including HIV-positive people. A new director, Christine Carroll, the former manager of the Ryan White program in West Palm Beach, Fla., also was brought in to head the Norfolk program.