Minority AIDS Project (MAP) of Los Angeles was established in 1985 by Archbishop Carl Bean, D.Min, Jewel Thais-Williams, and members of the Unity Fellowship of Christ Church.[2] MAP is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that offers free of charge HIV/AIDS education, medical treatment, and support services to all people, regardless of age, gender, race, or other circumstances.[3] MAP is the first community-based HIV/AIDS organization established and managed by people of color in the United States.[4]
History
Black men and women are disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS in the United States.[5] In 1985, African American and Latino men and women accounted for three times as many HIV/AIDS cases as white men and women.[6] After reading about Carl Bean, a representative from the National Institute of Mental Health called Bean with an idea to start a group that would address the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the Black community.[7] Bean worked with “a core group of black women in L.A.” (including local business owner Jewel Thais-Williams), to establish the Minority AIDS Project (MAP) in 1985.[7] MAP is recognized as one of nation's first organization to serve AIDS patients in the Black community.[8]
Bean and members of the Unity Fellowship of Christ Church, including Gilberto “Gil” Gerald, who succeeded Bean as executive director of MAP in 1989, organized MAP to provide HIV/AIDS education, HIV testing, medical treatment, and social services for Los Angeles residents, particularly Blacks and Latinos in Central and South-Central Los Angeles.[4][6][8][9][10][11][12] MAP is the first community-based HIV/AIDS organization established and managed by people of color in the United States.[4][12][13] In collaboration with Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA), MAP and Carl Bean were instrumental in increasing funding for the federal Minority AIDS Initiative[14] from $156 million to more than $400 million in 2025.[15][16]
In 1987, KTTV produced for a 30-second PSA for MAP. “AIDS HOTLINE" aired on the Fox Network station in Los Angeles.[17]
In 1987, MAP defended court challenges and accusations of “promoting homosexual activity” to receive a AIDS education grant from the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to serve the county's Black and Latino communities.[18]
In July 1989, Bean and MAP were featured in a BLK (magazine) cover story.[23]
In 1992, MAP launched Youth Employment Services (YES), a four-year gang prevention program funded by the federal government and Ice Cube.[13] That same year, the Social and Public Art Resource Center sponsored and commissioned a community mural by artist Mary-Linn Hughes in collaboration with Tammy Moritz, Reginald Larue Zachary, and others, that appears on MAP's Jefferson Boulevard headquarters.[24]
In September 1992, the Los Angeles City Council approved a $594,000 loan to MAP for the Carl Bean AIDS Care Center, a 25-bed hospice in the West Adams District of Los Angeles.[25][26] The Bean Center served primarily Black and Latino AIDS patients; approximately of MAP's clients are Chicano or Latino.[25]
In 2005, MAP and the House of Rodeo co-hosted the “Love Is A Message Ball,” to celebrate the Ball culture and to raise money and awareness for HIV/AIDS services in Los Angeles.[27][28]
In February 2006, the Carl Bean AIDS Care Center ceased operations.[26][29] At the time, the center was the only AIDS hospice and 24-hour residential HIV/AIDS nursing care facility in Los Angeles.[26]
In 2011, artist and producer Ice Cube designed a set of limited edition prints that were inspired by his classic rap songs and albums and donated a portion of the prints’ proceeds to MAP.[30]
On World AIDS Day, December 1, 2022, the Foundation for The AIDS Monument (FAM) and MAP co-hosted STORIES Circle #6, a FAM produced series that allows participants to share their HIV/AIDS stories and to network with others in the HIV/AIDS community. Beatitude Bishop Zachary Jones, an early MAP volunteer and staff member, and then MAP CEO Russell Thornhill were the featured speakers.[31]
In June 2024, MAP hosted STORIES Circle #12, and announced plans for FAM's construction of the STORIES: The AIDS Monument in West Hollywood.[12][32][33]
Programs
The Minority AIDS Project (MAP) provides free of charge programs and services to all people, regardless of race.[4] More than 250,000 people have benefited from MAP's services.[13] The organization maintains an annual operating budget of greater than one million dollars.[8]
MAP's programs include Benefits Specialty Services; Bilingual Mental Health Services; access to a Community Food Pantry;[34] Community Service Program; Free HIV Home Test Kits; Health Education Activities; HIV Counseling and Rapid Testing; In-Home Registered Nurse Case Management;
PrEP (Pre-exposure prophylaxis for HIV prevention) and PEP (Post-exposure prophylaxis) Referrals and Resources; Linkage To Care (LTC) Case Management Services; MAP Anti-Violence Intervention Program; and a Mobile Medical Street Team (MMST), in partnership with Charles R. Drew University and Kedren Medical Community.[4]
MAP's case managers and volunteers help clients to obtain public benefits, individual and group counseling, job leads and employment, rental and mortgage assistance, financial support, and other social services.[35][8]
MAP has managed a home for AIDS patients, Dignity House.[8][10]
Funders
MAP has received financial support from the City of Los Angeles;[36][25] Los Angeles County;[37] State of California;[38][39][40] and government agencies.[8][13]
Rev. Elder Claude E. Bowen, chief operating officer, administration (1988-2005)[47][48]
Rev. Leslie Burke, RN, MPH, JD, M.Div. PHN, member, board of directors (1987-); RN case manager; executive director, Carl Bean AIDS Care Center (1992-?)[49][50]
Gilberto “Gil” Gerald, co-founder, and executive director (1989-1990)[11][51]
Rev. Gerald N. Green, co-executive director (2023-)[52][50]
Wilbert C. Jordan, MD, MPH, chief medical advisor, emeritus (1985-2023)[50][53]
Victor McKamie, street outreach worker (1989-); executive director and CEO (2004-2018)[13]
Roger Quinney, LCSW, PsyD, member, board of directors[50]
Rev. Benita Ramsey, MA, J.D., LL.M, chair, board of directors[50]
Riki Smith, CPA, chief financial officer (-2023); co-executive director (2023-)[52][50]
Bean, Carl, and David Ritz (2010). I Was Born This Way: A Gay Preacher's Journey through Gospel Music, Disco Stardom, and a Ministry in Christ. Simon & Schuster. ISBN978-1-4165-9282-2
Brier, Jennifer (2009). Infectious Ideas: U.S. Political Responses to the AIDS Crisis. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.
Duberman, Martin (2014). Hold Tight Gently: Michael Callen, Essex Hemphill, and the Battlefield of AIDS. New York: The New Press, 2014.
Gould, Deborah B (2009). Moving Politics: Emotion and ACT UP's Fight against AIDS. University Of Chicago Press.
Mumford, Kevin (2016). Not Straight, Not White: Black Gay Men from the March on Washington to the AIDS Crisis. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN978-1-4696-2684-0
Royles, Dan (2020). To Make the Wounded Whole: The African American Struggle against HIV/AIDS. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. ISBN978-1-4696-5950-3
Smith J, Simmons E, Mayer KH (2005). HIV/AIDS and the Black church: what are the barriers to prevention services? J Natl Med Assoc.; 97(12):1682–1685.
Treichler, Paula A. (1999). How to Have Theory in an Epidemic: Cultural Chronicles of AIDS. Durham: Duke University Press Books.
Woubshet, Dagmawi (2015). The Calendar of Loss: Race, Sexuality, and Mourning in the Early Era of AIDS. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
