The leader of public health initiatives at Chicago’s Puerto Rican Cultural Center is desperately trying to find a way to keep his HIV prevention programs afloat. But amid funding cuts and a backlash against diversity and equity efforts, he worries his Humboldt Park-based health programs could be wiped out by this summer unless new funding is secured. [Chicago Sun-Times] 

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“People will lose their jobs and that probably will include me, too,” he said.

It couldn’t come at a more challenging time.

HIV infections are on the rise in Chicago after about two decades of decline, growing 29% between 2022 and 2024. AIDS cases are also up slightly. In 2024, there were 818 new HIV cases — and nearly half were among Latinos, the population Jiménez focuses on. That increase is particularly significant, marking the first time the racial and ethnic group accounted for most of the new diagnoses, said John Peller, CEO of the AIDS Foundation Chicago.

Chicago health officials say some early clues behind the increase among Latinos include a change in migration patterns which possibly included people who hadn’t been tested or maintained care, along with ripple effects of the COVID-19 pandemic that could have interrupted HIV care.

The change comes amid two contradictory trends: Testing and treatment for HIV has advanced so much that it allows people with the virus who are treated to live relatively normal lives and, critically, not transmit the virus to anyone else. But those advancements are at risk as funding for treatment and prevention for communities most at risk are under attack.

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