Washington, D.C. – Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva today congratulated the Southern Arizona AIDS Foundation (SAAF) on a $50,000 grant from the Department of Health and Human Services. The funds supplement SAAF’s Reaching Adolescents Prevention Project, whose primary purpose is to provide substance abuse and HIV prevention services to youth, including young adults of color, and their families.

The $50,000 grant is a supplement to standard RAPP funding, which is scheduled to be provided from 2010 to 2015 by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. The program provides behavioral counseling to Southern Arizonans at risk of drug abuse or spreading HIV infection. The supplement will be used to fund additional health testing services, according to SAAF information.

The Foundation successfully applied for the supplemental testing funds last year and will pursue them again in the next funding cycle if available, according to Luis Ortega, the Foundation’s head of prevention services.

“SAAF has been providing crucial services for many years in Southern Arizona, and I thank them for so diligently pursuing the funds they need to help our community,” Grijalva said. “Reducing youth HIV and drug abuse is one of the smartest and least appreciated investments we can make, and this grant will have social and economic benefits far beyond its size for years to come.”

For more information contact Luis Ortega at (520) 628-7223.