Rhode Island Cuts Funding To AIDS Group

On a street corner in Providence’s Hope neighborhood, there’s this squat white house. From the outside, it looks like any old house. Blends in with the rest of the block.

But walk inside, and you find an assisted living facility run by AIDS Care Ocean State. They call it the Sunrise House. Ten people live here, all diagnosed with HIV or AIDS. Residents can access medical care, exercise classes and social events.

But after cuts in state funding, the nonprofit is scaling back some of its programming here. And some staff have been laid off. Darlene Grassia runs Sunrise House. She’s currently covering two full-time jobs herself. Director and nurse. I asked her how she reacted to news that the state was cutting a million dollars in funding.

"I was like, 'How do they make these decisions? What is it based on? Do the people who make these decisions?' " Grassia said. "It's hard to understand how people can think it's OK to cut funding for something so important."

Read more: https://thepublicsradio.org/article/rhode-island-cuts-funding-to-aids-groups