Read the full article by Ruth Finch at Sacramento News & Review
Sacramento nonprofit Sunburst Projects started off as a summer camp for children living with HIV and AIDS called Camp Sunburst in 1988 and has since expanded to provide medical case management, social and mental health services and education and prevention services to affected families and individuals of all ages in Sacramento, Placer and El Dorado counties.
Executive Director Jake Bradley-Rowe joined Sunburst Projects in 2020, and has helped expand the organization’s scope. Already a challenging field for many health care advocates to navigate, the Trump administration has complicated matters. In May, the Trump administration released a budget request that included a reduction of $74 million in federal funding for the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program — the largest funding source for Sunburst Projects. While Congress has yet to approve a budget for the current fiscal year, in July the Senate ultimately rejected the administration’s proposed cuts for the previous fiscal year that kept HIV prevention and treatment funding at its current levels.
Solving Sacramento spoke with Bradley-Rowe about how the organization is navigating funding insecurity while continuing to provide a variety of support programs for those affected by HIV/AIDS.