Our Mission

The mission of the California AIDS Clearinghouse (CAC) is to provide appropriate and culturally sensitive technical assistance, educational materials, and support services to Education & Prevention Programs (E&P), and Test Sites funded by the State of California, Department of Health Services, Office of AIDS and non-profit organizations in California. The Clearinghouse will take a leadership role in developing a direct partnership with E&P and HIV Testing Programs in order to create support services and educational materials that are culturally sensitive, language appropriate, and meet the educational needs of these programs. In addition, the Clearinghouse has the responsibility of promoting understanding, communication, and involvement among all members of the community, to improve the quality of HIV/AIDS educational materials.

Our link to the Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center

The Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center is committed to the idea and belief that HIV is preventable and that good HIV/AIDS information and educational materials can help an individual make an informed choice to stay healthy. Social norms can be changed and, along with a strong HIV/AIDS educational process, health risk behaviors can be changed, and educational materials are a part of this educational process. Below are some specific reasons why the Gay & Lesbian Center is committed to the California AIDS Clearinghouse project.

As a community highly impacted by, and living with, this disease, we understand the need for having culturally and socially appropriate information that addresses the needs of the community.

As a community based organization serving individuals who come to us expecting answers, we need information and materials support now, not in 4 to 6 weeks. Also, as HIV community health educators, we owe it to our community to stay informed, and to ensure that our organization's educational programs are meeting the community's needs.

In an ideal world, each and every community based organization would be able to have the time, expertise, and resources to write, design and produce their own educational support materials to extend their educational process. However, the reality is, most community based Health Educators do not have the access, resources, or time, and depend on existing materials that are available.

Having faced all of these barriers, the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center believes in, and is committed to, ensuring that:

1. CAC is accountable to provide culturally and socially appropriate materials that address the full continuum of HIV education (awareness, outreach, information/knowledge, prevention and behavior change); not just provide a collection of materials titles for the sake of having HIV/AIDS materials, and our materials review and development plan tries to meet this need.
2. CAC is responsive to meeting the needs of all communities (the intended target audience), and understands that within each community, there are differences; and that CAC has the responsibility to not only outreach contractors working within these populations but is obligated to ensure that all populations are invited to participate in shaping the Clearinghouse. Everyone is a partner in ending the spread of HIV, and our proposed "ethnic specific" Roundtables try to address this need.
3. CAC, to the best of its ability, using its knowledge, connections, and contacts must continue to reduce barriers (time, structures, prejudices, etc.) to support the community health educator in meeting the HIV educational needs of the community. The toll free number, direct access to CAC through the web and telephone technical assistance try to address these needs.
4. CAC is in a leadership position, and is responsible for setting the tone for working together, modeling good public health, and supporting the local communities through the Community Implementation Groups. Experienced CAC staff and the Advisory Council try to address these needs.

Five years ago, when the Gay & Lesbian Center originally applied for the California AIDS Clearinghouse, we committed to making a difference in the information and educational services for California HIV/AIDS health education programs who are working toward ending the HIV epidemic. We feel that we have begun to make the difference, but the California AIDS Clearinghouse still has much to do.

For more information, visit the L.A. Gay and Lesbian Center Web Site at www.lagaycenter.org

Staff Patrik N. Manning – Director. Patrik has a wide range of experiences and knowledge gained during his nearly a decade of tenure with The LA Gay & Lesbian Center. Early on, in the Health Education and Prevention Department, he was a key member in developing the Man2Man Project; an innovative HIV outreach and prevention program targeting the hard-to-reach high-risk group of men who have sex with men. Due to his exceptional work he advanced to become the Coordinator for the STD Testing and Treatment Clinic in the Sexual Health Program. A department restructure qualified him to become the Supervisor for the entire Sexual Health Program. There he coordinated the HIV Testing Program as well as the STD Testing and Treatment Clinic and implemented a vital CDC Project. Patrik then joined the California AIDS Clearinghouse (CAC) and worked as the Project Manager. With his beginnings in Finance, years of management experience and his leadership abilities he was chosen as the Director of the department. He effectively leads the implementation of this essential statewide project which provides appropriate and culturally sensitive technical assistance, education materials, and support services to HIV Prevention Programs. E-Mail Patrik at pmanning@lagaycenter.org Roy Lester – Manager. Roy joined CAC in July 2008. He comes with over 10 years of management experience that will assist him in providing CAC with a clear program vision and overall direction. With a background in customer service he aims to increase CAC’s visibility and materials distribution statewide. E-Mail Roy at rlester@lagaycenter.org Melody Pritchard – Fulfillment Services Coordinator. Melody coordinates the logistics for all educational materials provided by CAC, including inventory control of educational materials and in-house printing supplies, both at the Clearinghouse and at the warehouse; invoicing and invoices systems maintenance; assist in the purchasing of educational materials and supplies; and are responsible for the coordination of fulfillment and shipping of all educational materials orders. Melody brings with her 12 years of experience in warehousing and transportation as both a coordinator and supervisor working for an HMO. Melody has been a member of the Clearinghouse Fulfillment area for the past 11 years. E-Mail Melody at mpritchard@lagaycenter.org Jordan Blaza – Program Coordinator. Jordan brings a diverse background in HIV/AIDS work from community outreach to materials development and technical assistance training. She is a notable speaker and advocate for transgender persons nearly seven years. She has presented at the 2002 International AIDS conference in Barcelona, Spain as well as The U.S. Conference on AIDS from 1998 to present. She received the 2002 Price Fellowship for HIV Prevention Leadership from the CDC Foundation and created a program design for a Transgender Center for Excellence. Jordan was a member of the Advisory Council prior to joining the CAC as an employee in November of 2004.  E-Mail Jordan at jblaza@lagaycenter.org Pierre Chambers – Health Information Coordinator. Pierre Started working as an HIV counselor in 1988.  Pierre was one of 8 counselors picked to help organize the first testing site in New Jersey at St. Michael’s hospital.  During that 8 year stay Pierre has been a presenter on panel discussions about HIV and AIDS. He Has worked with some of the leading doctors in the field, speaking on panels regarding sexual diversity in the hospital setting, HIV and AIDS in the gay community, and worked with the leading drug abuse centers to help develop work shop to speak with the IVDU’s community and get them counseled and tested.  Pierre moved to LA in 1996 and started working at AIDS HealthCare Foundation as an assistance manger at the WEHO Lounge in West Hollywood in 1998, where AHF did oral HIV testing.   Pierre started working as a coordinator and counselor at AHF in 1999 and continued through 2001.  Pierre then found a position as an Outreach Specialist with the Man2Man team a pilot program at the L. A. Gay & Lesbian Center.   In 2003 Pierre started working with the POW! Mobile Unit as a HIV counselor and phlebotomist and moved to the position of Coordinator of the program.  Pierre’s knowledge of HIV and AIDS spans some 20 year from HIV Counseling, Outreach, and Mobile Testing to Coordinator of the program.  Pierre is a trained HIV Counselor and a certified Phlebotomist.  Pierre’s other interest include singing jazz, writing poetry and collecting demitasse cups. E-Mail Pierre at pchambers@lagaycenter.org   Dale Murakami – Web Information Coordinator. Dale Joined CAC in September 2004. He has been working in the HIV/AIDS field since 1997 at Asian Pacific AIDS Intervention Team. He has also been involved in LGBT issues in the Asian community. Here at CAC he works with the team to produce the website. E–Mail Dale at dmurakami@lagaycenter.org

Advisory Council

CAC Advisory Council are professionals and community individuals who have extensive knowledge and experience in HIV education and prevention, social marketing, and other public health service issues that are related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that exist in California.CAC Advisory Council members will be responsible for:

• Reading and becoming familiar with CAC’s mission
• Reading and becoming familiar with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention materials review requirements
• Attending CAC advisory council meetings, teleconferences, and on-line chats
• Reviewing and providing recommendations on educational materials
• Recommending new health education and other related information and materials for review
• Committing to serve on the Council for three years
• Successfully completing the CAC online materials development training.

Click here for a convenient online application form that you can fill out and email or fax to Jordan Blaza. (see fax and email at bottom of form.) The California AIDS Clearinghouse personnel and Advisory Council Members know and understand that to effect change in public health, HIV/AIDS education requires a multi-faceted approach. The California AIDS Clearinghouse recognizes that none of us is autonomous, but that we are an integral part of the greater whole. This requires each of us to respect and utilize a process whenever considering actions and directions. The need for open communication in public health education is essential. CAC is committed to actively listening to the needs of the community so that it can provide culturally appropriate technical support in the areas of HIV/AIDS client materials and information through data acquisition and distribution; and to support communication among California HIV/AIDS service providers/programs through training's, meetings, conferences, and online.

The California AIDS Clearinghouse, working with Community Members (through focus groups, field tests, professional reviews), Advisory Council Members and the DHS, Office of AIDS, reviews all information and materials, as outlined by the CDC, and for:

California Materials Review Process In addition, information and materials should help the client: