About the Nonprofit
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For nearly 40 years Rainbow Health has been advocating for and serving those living with HIV, the LGBTQ+ community, and all folks facing barriers to equitable healthcare. In 2017, the longstanding organizations of the Minnesota AIDS Project, Rainbow Health Initiative, and Training to Serve recognized their common interests – health equity for the HIV-positive and LGBTQ+ communities – and the collective impact they could have by becoming one. Each organization brought a rich, community-based history to the joint effort:
• Minnesota AIDS Project, founded in 1983, was the largest AIDS Service Organization in the state
• Rainbow Health Initiative, founded in 2000, brought 17 years of experience advocating for equitable health access for the LGBTQ+ community
• Training to Serve provided trainings to senior care providers for nearly two decades, educating direct service staff and management on the unique needs of the aging LGBTQ+ community
Together, these organizations combined their resources and voices to become a by-the-community, for-the community agency dedicated to the health of HIV-positive and LGBTQ+ Minnesotans.
Mission/Vision
At Rainbow Health we are dedicated to working for equitable health care access and outcomes for people who experience injustice at the intersection of health status and identity. We center individuals and communities at risk of and living with HIV or facing barriers to equitable health care access and outcomes because of their identity as gender, sexual, and/or racial minorities.
The strategic actions we are taking to fulfil our mission include:
• Work to End HIV.
• Expand our training and systems change enterprise.
• Respond to the growing needs of older LGBTQ+ and HIV communities.
• Increase community engagement and empowerment.
• Explore targeted LGBTQ+ direct care services.
• Strengthen operational and financial stability.
GEOGRAPHIC AREA SERVED: Minnesota, with most clients living in the Twin Cities or Duluth.
PROGRAMS
Rainbow Health provides services to nearly 2,500 Minnesotans a year, with hundreds more touched through outreach and training efforts. Rainbow Health provides a range of holistic services all aimed at its goals to reach LGBTQ+ health equity and end HIV. These programs include the following:
• Direct Services: case management, direct financial assistance, housing, transportation, legal services, benefits counseling
• Chronic Illness and HIV Prevention: syringe exchange, HIV testing, educational outreach, smoking cessation
• Community Connections: 55+ programming, peer support groups, information line
• Advocacy: trainings, issues discussions, public policy, systems change through legal cases
• Behavioral Health Clinic: mental health and chemical assessments for LGBTQ+, HIV-positive, and historically marginalized communities. By meeting clients where they are at in a welcoming, affirming manner, Rainbow Health sees results like 99% of clients receiving non-emergency health care in the last six months, 95% of clients having health insurance, and 95% of clients living with HIV having suppressed HIV viral loads.