Test Positive Aware Network ( TPAN ) celebrated the grand opening if its new offices at 5050 N. Broadway with a celebration and open house for the community Dec. 3.
The organization moved into the new space, located in the former AON building, in October, and it now affords 25 percent more space than its previous location, as well as 25 percent less rent, according to Interim Executive Director Jeff Berry.
"We also were able to double our client service area," added Berry, who has been editor of the organization's magazine, Positively Aware. Berry has been associated with TPAN in one capacity or another since 1992. He replaced Bill Ferrand in the executive director role earlier this fall.
Berry said that the magazine afforded a unique advantage to TPAN that other organizations did not enjoya national publication that reaches about 100,000 people.
With the move, and the upcoming 25th anniversary of the magazine, the organization would be doing a lot of "looking back" but also "a lot of looking ahead, because there's a lot of hope with this organization."
The new offices are located on the third floor of the new building. There was some concern that not being in a storefront location, according to Julie Supple, dir. of client services, but since the move, walk-in numbers have been about the same.
Berry said that fundraising always remains a challenge. "There always seem to be more and more organizations going for smaller slices of the pie." But he added that last year was the biggest year ever for the Ride for AIDS, which he said raised about $750,000.
He credited the organization's standing to the fact that so many of its services and activities were peer-led. Many of the organization's staff and volunteers are HIV-positive themselves, so clients can be assured that their needs will be met with empathy and understanding.
In remarks at the open house, Sean Blay, a development associate and Ride for AIDS coordinator, described how the organization had helped him turn around his life even before he went to work there.
Blay became involved with the organization when he took part in the Ride for AIDS. Estranged from his family for being gay and HIV-positive, he "had to rely on friends for emotional support. So I signed up for this bike ride, and I didn't have a bike. I said there's no way I can raise $1,000, and they taught me how to raise $1,000. It was just amazing all the support I got at the time."
He lost his job, and turned to TPAN for further support when his unemployment compensation ran out; they were able to give him rental assistance and help him to secure employment. As of Sept. 1, he works for TPAN full-time.
"It's more that the rental assistance, it's more than the job," Blay said. "It's the sense of family. That's what helps them evolve and take them to the next level."
Joel Bosch, TPAN's incoming board chair, said, "The organization goes beyond support services and medical care. It really transforms people's lives. … We have a lot to do and a lot to grow. We're looking at growing our services in a number of ways."