Collection Summary
Information for Researchers
Administrative Information
Organizational History
Scope and Content of Collection
Collection Summary
Collection Title: GAPA Community HIV Project (CGHP) papers
Date (inclusive): 1989-1995
Collection Number: MSS 95-02
Creators :
Gay Asian Pacific Alliance
Gay Asian Pacific HIV Project
Extent:
Number of containers: 2 cartons, 2 boxes
Linear feet: 3.5
Repository: The UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management, Archives and Special Collections
University of California, San Francisco
530 Parnassus Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94143-0840
Phone: (415) 476-8112
Fax: (415) 476-4653
Email: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/collres/archives/contactform.html
URL: http://www.library.ucsf.edu/collres/archives/
Abstract: This collection contains materials related to the GAPA Community HIV Project (GCHP) which grew out of the Gay Asian Pacific
Alliance (GAPA) HIV/AIDS Committee. It includes, minutes, correspondence, grant and program materials, administrative,
organizational, social service and educational files, and photographs.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English and Japanese
Physical Location: For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the library's online catalog:
http://www.library.ucsf.edu/ .
Information for Researchers
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Copyright has not been assigned to the UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management. All requests for permission to publish
or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Manager of Archives and Special Collections. Permission for
publication is given on behalf of the UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management as the owner of the physical items
and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
Copyright restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials.
Preferred Citation
[Identification of item], GAPA Community HIV Project (CGHP) Papers, MSS 95-02, The UCSF Library and Center for Knowledge Management,
Archives and Special Collections, University of California, San Francisco.
Alternate Forms Available
There are no alternate forms of this collection.
Related Collections
MSS 98-49 AIDS Community Based Organizations Records
MSS 94-59 National Task Force on AIDS Prevention Records
MSS 95-03 AIDS History Project Ephemera Collection
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.
AIDS (Disease)--Asia
AIDS (Disease)--California--San Francisco
Asian Americans--California--San Francisco Bay Area
Asian Americans--Social life and customs
Pacific Islander Americans
Asian American gays
Asian AIDS Project
Gay Asian Pacific Alliance
GAPA Community HIV Project
Administrative Information
Acquisition Information
The GAPA HIV Project (GCHP) Papers were given to the University in two separate accessions. The largest was donated by Steve
Lew (Executive Director) in 1996. An additional donation of the papers of GCHP board member Jaime Geaga was made by Willie
Walker; the second deed of gift was signed in 2000.
System of Arrangement
Arranged to the folder level.
Processing Information
Processed by Julia Bazar in September 2005
Organizational History
GAPA Community HIV Project (GCHP) is a non-profit, community-based organization whose mission is to stop the transmission
of HIV and to support people living with HIV. GCHP was organized in 1989 by members of the HIV/AIDS Committee of the Gay
Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA), a social, political, and support organization of gay and bisexual men of Asian and Pacific
Islander heritage. GCHP goals include providing education and prevention services to the public, and practical and emotional
support of people living with HIV, their partners, their families, and their friends. Providing services in Cambodian, Cantonese,
Mandarin, Tagalog, Vietnamese, and French, as well as English, the GCHP was the first organization in the country to provide
a spectrum of culturally appropriate direct services for Asians and Pacific Islanders living with AIDS and HIV, while acknowledging
the diversity within that community.
The Asian/Pacific AIDS Coalition started the Asian and Pacific Islander AIDS Direct Services Program in 1988 with twelve volunteers
who were trained by AIDS service providers and Asian health providers through an intensive 40 hour training using models developed
by Shanti Project, Visiting Nurses and Hospice, and other emotional support service providers. This training was molded into
an effective culturally appropriate model, presented by Asian and Pacific Islander trainers twice a year. The program was
created to fill gaps in existing services and works in coordination with other agencies. This training has been providing
significant numbers of trained volunteers, who provide direct emotional and practical support to clients. In 1989/1990 this
Direct Services Program was transferred to the GCHP with funding for a half-time Program Coordinator, Steve Lew (the former
chair of GAPA's HIV/AIDS Committee), who later became GCHP's Executive Director.
In 1992 the San Francisco AIDS Office ranked GCHP fourth out of 124 AIDS service contracts monitored by the agency. In 1993,
over 1200 men and their partners utilized GCHP programs to help them with issues related to the risk of HIV infection. Also
in 1993 they received funding from the Centers for Disease Control to launch a national technical assistance and training
program for gay Asian and Pacific Islander community organizations' HIV prevention efforts. As of 1994 their Direct Support
Services provided, annually, case management, HIV treatment counseling, and emotional/practical support to over 140 Asian
and Pacific Islander men, women and children with HIV in San Francisco. In 1995 the name was changed from GCHP to the Living
Well Project, the name of their very successful network of more than 80 HIV positive Asians and Pacific Islanders, which had
been producing a monthly newsletter and providing monthly support activities and networking. Information on the activities
of the GCHP also appeared regularly in the
Lavender Godzilla, GAPA's newsletter. This included advertisements for services and support groups, as well as announcements of fundraisers
and housing requests.
The Asian American Health Forum (AAHF), a national organization dedicated to sound health policy development targeting Asian
and Pacific Islanders, served as GCHP's fiscal agent before their incorporation; later on GCHP served as a fiscal agent for
other small organizations.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection contains administrative, programmatic, and other information on the structure and activities of the GAPA Community
HIV Project, which spun off from the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA)'s Aids Committee in 1989. Materials include: minutes,
bylaws, correspondence, reports, grant and financial documents, scripts, speeches, administrative files, newsletters, public
relations and media documents, photographs, negatives, and more.
The strong points of the collection include board of directors' minutes from GCHP's founding until 1995; other founding and
organizational restructuring materials, including materials on a proposed merger with the Asian AIDS Project (AAP) in the
early 1990s; grant and program files covering both educational and social service projects. Most materials are in English,
though two files contain Japanese language materials and a few other items are in other or multiple Asian languages.
The two accessions that make up this collection each had their own simple arrangement, either chronologically by board meeting
or alphabetically by subject heading. To integrate these two parts and to assist researchers a Series/Subseries order was
imposed upon the collection. Some materials were separated from the other materials during the original processing. These
materials have become Series 5: Information Files. A series of photographs, apparently from a disbound album, have also been
placed at the end of this series.
The series are:
- Series 1: Board of Directors;
- Series 2: Executive Director;
- Series 3: Education;
- Series 4: Social Services;
- Series 5: Information Files and Photographs.