The board of directors for the Bi-National AIDS Advocacy Project (PROCABI) voted to terminate operations last month due to a lack of funding from the state and federal levels. PROCABI has served the border HIV/AIDS Latino community for the last 10 years.

According to Robin Slade, administrator and founder of PROCABI, the organization had been involved with the University of California’s Universitywide AIDS Research Project (UARP), but funding from the state was cut, discontinuing a study they were involved in, contributing to the demise of PROCABI.

According to Slade, PROCABI’s involvement in the California-Mexico Epidemiological Surveillance Pilot (CMESP) was cut short. It was supposed to last until March of 2005, but PROCABI’s funding was cut by about $14,000, so their participation in the study ended in November of 2004. Another portion of the study was conducted in Mexico as well, Slade added.

Slade has received multiple rejection letters from organizations PROCABI has requested funds from including the Village Training Institute denying a request for a $20,000 grant. The Bravo Foundation, the Northern California Grantmakers, Franciscan Charities and Alliance Healthcare also have sent denial letters.

In 2001 the California Wellness Foundation gave PROCABI a $200,000 grant and the California Endowment donated $300,000 to support their HIV advocacy and prevention programs over the last three years. Slade said they could not call on these organizations again for grants.

PROCABI has written over a half million in grant proposals this past year but continues to get rejected for funding since many of these organizations have suffered budget cuts themselves, Slade explained.

Despite these setbacks, Slade has seen things change dramatically in terms of meeting the needs of the border and Latino community over the past decade.

“When I started giving out condoms on the streets of Tijuana 10 years ago, people were dying, like five or six a day,” said Slade. “Today there is probably one or two who die a month, even though the infections are still high in Tijuana.”

PROCABI in Tijuana, a sister organization that operates independently in Tijuana, has disbanded and is no longer operational. HIV/AIDS services in Tijuana will now operate under the name of AFABI AC (Bi-national Family Association). Slade said it would work in collaboration with AIDS Healthcare Foundation based in Los Angeles, and that AFABI staff is not associated with those who managed PROCABI in Tijuana.

Slade claimed there was a reason for AFABI not using the name PROCABI. “They just wanted to get away from the name of PROCABI. We’ve had some conflict from them over several things,” said Slade. “Reporting is the main one because they would never report to us on the income that we sent to them.”

In 2004, Slade said they sent close to $70,000 to the PROCABI Tijuana office, although most of that money originated from the state of California and was reported back to the state. He also said the Tijuana office borrowed over $5,000 for use on other studies and has not paid it back yet.

“There’s a big need in Tijuana. It’s more of a political organization. It’s connected with public health over there now. I don’t know, we just have very little to do with them,” said Slade.

Another problem, Slade explained, may originate from cultural differences. “The history goes way back. It’s about control, politics, other problems. I think some of the Latino community just has a problem with a white guy founding a Latino organization and having such a wonderful 10 years of service with the community, which saved hundreds of lives.”

The Gay & Lesbian Times could not reach a person who was associated with PROCABI in Tijuana for comment.

PROCABI San Diego is considering the possibility of a merger with other organizations after they file for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection by Jan. 15. Slade said they have about $50,000 in debt currently, but are a financially-sound organization. The debt incurred as expected funding fell through. An independent audit of their 2003-2004 financials is available to the public upon request. An audit has been done for the past five years, according to Slade.

“Financially we are excellent. We have a good accountant and an auditor. So every penny is accounted for,” he said.

“It’s not because of mismanagement of funds that we are closing. It’s simply because there is no funding available for a small organization like us,” he added.

PROCABI is referring their clients to other larger, cut adequately funded organizations and agencies.

Maritza Haddock, who was the case manager at PROCABI, will continue to perform case management services for existing clients at Bienestar (619) 295-2192. North Park Family Health Center (619) 515-2355 and Cara a Cara (619) 515-2424 are also available for overall support as well as HIV and AIDS services.

The San Diego PROCABI office will remain open throughout January for referrals only. l