ACRIA envisions a world where all people with HIV receive the treatment and support they need to lead healthy, productive lives and where transmissions of the virus have been eliminated.

In 1991, a group of physicians, activists, and people with HIV, tired of the slow pace of government-sponsored and academic research, took action. Under the leadership of prominent doctors and researchers, these men and women brought the first-ever activist, community-based approach to the study of new treatments for the disease. Since then, ACRIA has contributed to the development of a remarkable 20 medicines that have gone on to receive FDA approval.

Today, ACRIA studies the lives and needs of people with or at risk of HIV through its Robert Mapplethorpe Research Program; offers critical HIV healthcare education to HIV-positive people and their caregivers around the globe through its Training Center; and is a leader in HIV-prevention and youth development through its Love Heals Youth Education Program; finally, through the ACRIA Center on HIV & Aging, the organization is recognized as an international authority on the emerging issue of older adults and HIV. 

Since its inception—and through the generosity of founding Board members including Ross Bleckner, Bob Colacello, Michael Goff, Carolina & Reinaldo Herrera, Terrence McNally, and David Seidner—ACRIA has received unparalleled support from the worlds of art, design, fashion, and media. This truly unique relationship continues today through partnerships with industry leaders, brands, designers, and artists—many of whom have generously donated the incredible works of art found in our shop. 

In 2017, ACRIA acquired Love Heals: The Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education. Love Heals was founded in 1992 to carry on the work of the late AIDS activist Alison Gertz. Through this acquisition, ACRIA’s Love Heals Youth Education Program is the largest provider of sexual health and HIV prevention education in New York City schools and a leading provider of leadership development programs for young people. Over 700,000 people from under-served and under-resourced communities, including LGBTQ youth, parents, teachers, and other youth allies, have been reached through our trainings and presentations in all five boroughs of New York City and across the Tri-State Area. The Love Heals Youth Education Program at ACRIA will continue to grow and evolve to respond to the changing needs of young people affected by HIV and the communities in which they live.

The mission that guides all of ACRIA’s programs—and has animated the creative communities to action on our behalf—is a truly inspired one: to pioneer the newest HIV prevention and health education, and get that information into the hands of the people who need it the most.  

To help us achieve this goal, in October 2017 ACRIA entered into a strategic partnership with Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), forging a link between both prominent groups working to end the AIDS epidemic and creating a new kind of service, research, and policy organization.

Together, we can end AIDS. Join us!