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By: LOU CHIBBARO JR. COMMENTS
 
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HIV and AIDS, the clinic
operates a wide range of services for lesbians and gay men, including sexually
transmitted disease testing and treatment, mental health counseling and treatment,
substance abuse treatment and recovery programs, breast cancer screening, and
services for lesbians having children, among other programs.
The clinic’s AIDS programs include HIV testing and counseling services;
HIV prevention programs aimed at high risk populations, including gay and bisexual
men; outpatient medical services; and legal assistance associated with HIV discrimination,
preparation of wills, and assistance for clients in applying for government
programs such as Medicaid.
Whitman-Walker currently has a staff of 270 full-time and part-time employees,
Antoniotti said. Its current annual budget is $30 million, she said. Fifty-seven
percent of its revenue comes from federal, state and local governments, including
the governments of D.C., and suburban D.C. area counties in Maryland and Virginia.
The current funding problem marks the first time the clinic has missed a payroll
since its founding as a gay health clinic in 1973.
Antoniotti informed the clinic’s 270-member staff of the need to withhold
part of their salaries in a May 11 e-mail message.
“I am very sorry that we cannot meet the full payroll this week,”
she said. “We have had a shortfall in fundraising revenues due to a reduction
in AIDS Marathon registrations and our inability to pay our direct mail and
telemarketing vendors,” she said in the e-mail.
“We have been working diligently for several weeks with our funders to
get more than $800,000 in outstanding grants. We have turned to many leaders
in our community for help, including members of the City Council, the mayor’s
office and the city’s health director.”
She said the clinic’s 16 senior managers chose not to receive any pay
on May 13 in an effort to garner enough funds to pay the remaining staff at
least half of its salary.
Antoniotti said Wednesday that HAA this week released enough of its outstanding
balance due to the clinic to enable the clinic to pay the remainder of the staff
salaries by May 20.
She said she was also hopeful but uncertain that the clinic could meet the
full payroll for the next pay period on June 3.
“We’re still working on that,” she said.
The May 17 board meeting, which was closed to the media, was to include a discussion
on a detailed plan by the clinic’s senior staff for “restructuring”
the clinic’s staff and programs, Cox said.
When asked if staff restructuring would include layoffs, Cox said it would.
“I don’t know how many people will have to be laid off,&
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