After chaotic dissolution of Pierce County AIDS organization, new nonprofit takes over

Eight months after the Washington Department of Health pulled funding from the Pierce County AIDS Foundation, the nonprofit has been dissolved and a new provider will be offering a variety of supportive services to residents living with HIV/AIDS in the South Sound.

Global nonprofit AIDS Healthcare Foundation was chosen by the DOH to provide case management and other prevention-focused services in Pierce County starting July 1. AHF currently operates in more than 46 countries and has a healthcare center in King County.

Representatives with AHF did not respond to multiple requests for comment from The News Tribune. According to a letter sent to PCAF clients obtained by The News Tribune, AHF will provide case-management services in addition to other services provided by PCAF or the DOH in the past, including medical case management, peer navigation, food vouchers, medical transportation, psycho-social support, housing, emergency financial assistance and Housing Opportunities for Persons With AIDS. In-person case management meetings can be scheduled beginning July 15, the letter said.

PCAF will work with the Tacoma Public Library and the Tacoma Historical Society to preserve artifacts, photos, community art and objects from its 37-year history.

The News Tribune previously reported on a flurry of scandals and controversies in 2023 that plagued PCAF, which had offices in Tacoma and Olympia and served over 3,000 clients.

In August some ex-PCAF employees said they believed they were fired for speaking out about a toxic workplace environment less than a week after PCAF reported issues receiving funding from DOH. DOH later terminated contracts with PCAF amid allegations of financial mismanagement and PCAF laid off its CEO and most of its staff after the Oasis Youth Center filed a lawsuit alleging PCAF misappropriated more than $200,000 in a breach of contract. PCAF’s CEO alleged anti-Black racism played a role in his termination.

PCAF Mission and Arts supervisor jill frey, who prefers her name in lowercase, confirmed June 27 that in early June the PCAF Board of Directors voted to dissolve the nonprofit. PCAF also sold its building at 3009 S. 40th St. to AHF, so clients will not have to change buildings, frey said.

frey said it will take time for AHF to gain trust in the community, but she remains hopeful that will happen.

“They, as any organization coming into Tacoma, coming into Pierce County, deserve an opportunity, deserve some room and some space to offer and deliver to the best of their abilities what they’re here for,” frey said. “My understanding is that they’re here for the clients, so I’d like to see them be successful.”

The PCAF Board will be dissolved at an undisclosed date, and any funds left over after vendors have been paid will be donated to community organizations, frey said. Remaining staff are working to transfer PCAF’s records and historical items and documents to the Northwest Collections Room at Tacoma Public Library and the Tacoma Historical Society.

Curator Elizabeth Korsmo with the Tacoma Historical Society laid out some of those objects on a table June 27, which included flags, buttons, T-shirts, business cards, stickers, zines and other memorabilia PCAF created over the years related to AIDS walks and other topics and events.

Photographs of clients and staff at parades and parties, in offices, at funerals and other events will be preserved and cataloged in the Northwest Collections Room, frey said. Those interested in researching LGBTQ+ history, the AIDS epidemic, PCAF and community organizing and fundraising will be able to look at these collections to do so, Korsmo said.

“This collection is an incredibly important primary source for tracking and understanding,” Korsmo said, who mentioned it was very difficult to research information about LGBTQ+ history in Tacoma for a 2022 exhibit ‘Finding Home’ because many sources haven’t been preserved. “Tacoma’s history isn’t only the wealthy bankers in the North End. It’s everyone. And so we want to make sure that we have a space to tell all the different stories that make up Tacoma, not just the ones that are easy, not just the ones that are recorded everywhere.”