The AIDS Outreach Center, which has served Tarrant County for almost 40 years, is expected to be absorbed into the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, according to county officials.
The foundation (AHF) will take over the outreach center's (AOC) services and a majority of leadership staff have been let go, Renee Thomas, Tarrant County’s grant and data coordinator, said at the May 20 commissioners court meeting.
Thomas said the two organizations are discussing whether AOC will exist in the future. For now, AOC is still a separate organization and has two contracts with the county that end in August.
But Imara Canady, a spokesperson for AHF, denied that AOC was being absorbed by AHF.
"There is absolutely no change in terms of who AOC is and the services that AOC will be providing for the community," Canady said.
Tarrant County Commissioner Alisa Simmons told KERA News former AOC executive director Kelly Allen Gray, who left the organization, confirmed the changes.
Simmons said staff told her the contracts Tarrant County has with AOC are still valid because AOC is currently a separate entity, but that amendments may need to happen if AOC is absorbed completely or dissolved.
"I'm interested to see how services are still being provided, if they're still being provided robustly," Simmons said.
It has not yet been publicly stated why the decision was made to fire AOC leadership.
"To me, the county needs to know what the hell is going on with AIDS Outreach Center," Simmons said.
Last year in March, Allen Gray had voiced concerns about the organization after County Judge Tim O'Hare had dissolved the council responsible for allocating funding to Tarrant County's AIDS treatment centers, according to WFAA. O'Hare then recreated the group with all new members.
Allen Gray did not respond to requests for comment from KERA News.
AOC as a non-profit has provided education, testing and treatment to Tarrant County since 1986, according to their website. AHF is a Los Angeles global nonprofit that has provided treatment to 2 million people in 48 countries, according to the organization.
AOC and AHF started co-locating some services in 2012 before teaming up more formally in 2017, according to AHF’s website.
There were 6,715 people in Tarrant County living with HIV, the disease that causes AIDS over time, in 2022, according to the most recent data from AIDSVu.
Tarrant County is one of 48 counties in the Ending the HIV Epidemic federal initiative, which aims to reduce HIV infections by 90% in the U.S. by 2030, according to the Tarrant County HIV Administrative Agency. The first phase of the initiative is focusing resources on the 48 counties where HIV cases happen the most.
Dylan Duke is KERA's summer 2025 SPJ news intern. Got a tip? Email Dylan Duke at dduke@kera.org.
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