AACC helps colleges improve AIDS awareness.

AACC helps colleges improve AIDS awareness. Dr. Lily Siu had given up on hosting HIV/AIDS conferences. Siu, dean of liberal arts at Danville Area Community College "DACC" redirects here. "DACC" may also refer to the Danish American Chamber of Commerce.Danville Area Community College is a public two-year community college located in Danville, Illinois. inDanville, Ill., had been hosting them for more than 20 years and haswatched attendance slowly dwindle dwin��dle?v. dwin��dled, dwin��dling, dwin��dlesv.intr.To become gradually less until little remains.v.tr.To cause to dwindle. See Synonyms at decrease. . When she began hosting theconferences in the 1980s and early 1990s, hundreds came to hear speakersdiscuss the virus. But about two years ago, when only about 20 peopleshowed up, she decided it was time to throw in the towel. The conferences are time-consuming and costly. As budgets becametighter, it became increasingly difficult to get money from the schoolfor a conference, she said. Also, raising interest on the topic in aconservative, rural area like Danville was often an uphill battle. "It was dying," she said. "When you have a topiclike HIV HIV(Human Immunodeficiency Virus), either of two closely related retroviruses that invade T-helper lymphocytes and are responsible for AIDS. There are two types of HIV: HIV-1 and HIV-2. HIV-1 is responsible for the vast majority of AIDS in the United States. , the people who work with you die off." So she gave up on the conference. That is, until she came acrossthe "Bridges to Healthy Communities 2005," a 10-month grantgiven out by the American Association of Community Colleges. With the$3,000 Siu received from the AACC, she was able to develop acomprehensive educational and informational HIV/AIDS program that cutacross the curriculum and reached into the community. In addition to anHIV/AIDS prevention fair, it featured a play and a literary magazine onthe disease. Siu's school was one of five institutions awarded mini-grantsfrom the AACC in the 2004-2005 grant cycle. The College of DuPage This article or section recently underwent a major revision or rewrite and needs further review. You can help!Coordinates: The College of DuPage, or inGlen Ellyn, Ill; Owens Community College Owens State Community College is a comprehensive community college with campuses in Toledo and Findlay, Ohio, United States.[2] Owens was founded in 1965 in Toledo, was chartered in 1967, and opened its Findlay campus in 1983. in Toledo, Ohio; Rose StateCollege in Midwest City, Oklahoma Some of the information in this article may not be verified by . It should be checked for inaccuracies and modified to cite reliable sources.Midwest City is a city in Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, United States. ; and San Antonio College in SanAntonio also received grants. According to some involved with giving andreceiving the grants, schools would not have been able to host similarhealth-based programs without the grants. "When it comes to 'can we fund extra things?'That's a tough sell," Siu said. The AACC grants, which are funded by the U.S. Centers for DiseaseControl and Prevention Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC), agency of the U.S. Public Health Service since 1973, with headquarters in Atlanta; it was established in 1946 as the Communicable Disease Center. , are intended to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS bypresenting information in a variety of contexts. "Most community colleges that apply for the mini-grants reallydon't have the resources to put together programs on HIV/AIDS," said Quintin Doromal, manager of AACC's health andwellness program. Through San Antonio College's program, students enrolled inthe human sexuality course partnered with three major community agenciesto train to be "safer sex experts." The students also heldfive events on campus and passed out hygiene and "safer sex"kits to high-risk people such as drug users and prostitutes, said Dr.Pamela Hill, psychology professor and project director at the school. According to Hill, several students were initially apprehensiveabout interacting with drug abusers and prostitutes, but they becameimore comfortable as the course continued. Hill said she was able toreinforce theories learned in class through hands-on work. "What better way to do that than to send them out into thecommunity and show them what is really going on?" she said. Danville student Stephanie Garrett got involved with herschool's program by writing and acting in a play titled, "OneNight No Escape," about two people who acquired HIV. She said shealready knew a little about HIV/AIDS but not about all the ways ofcontracting it or its effects. Garrett now talks to middle schoolstudents about the disease and attends conferences on the subject. "It's been such an amazing experience and such an amazingcause," she said. In addition to the play and the HIV prevention fair, Danville hasexplored other ways of increasing public knowledge of HIV/AIDS. Creativewriting students at Danville developed biographies of HIV-infectedpeople in the community, speech students, developed speeches for radio,psychology students did research and human development students passedout information at tattoo parlors. According to Siu, the program was designed to go across thecurriculum. "That way we have maximum impact, she said.