U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (D-NJ-09) announced today that the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded $2,297,203 to the City of Paterson under the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program. The grant will serve hundreds of individuals in Paterson, Passaic County, and Bergen Counties living with HIV/AIDS, helping to provide services including: medical, dental, mental health, case management, transportation, housing assistance, food, and legal services.

"This funding will help people in Paterson and across North Jersey who are living with HIV/AIDS. New Jersey has the fifth-largest population of residents living with HIV/AIDS in the country,” Pascrell said. “This essential funding ensures that people living with HIV/AIDS have the health care and other services they need to continue to work, go to school, and be healthy, productive members of their communities.”

Pascrell served as chairman of the Paterson-Passaic-Bergen HIV Planning Council during the early years of the Ryan White Program when he was mayor of Paterson. The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program works with cities, states, and local community-based organizations to provide HIV-related services to more than a half a million people each year. The program is for those who do not have sufficient health care coverage or financial resources for coping with HIV disease.

Ryan White was diagnosed with AIDS at age 13. He and his mother, Jeanne White Ginder, fought for his right to attend school, gaining international attention as a voice of reason about HIV/AIDS. Ryan White died at the age of 18 on April 8, 1990, just months before Congress passed the Ryan White CARE (Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency) Act. The legislation has been reauthorized four times, most recently in 2009, and is now called the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program.

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