The National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS (NBLCA), founded in November 1987, is the oldest and largest not-for-profit organization of its kind in the United States.
Our mission is to educate, organize, and empower Black leaders, including clergy, elected officials, medical practitioners, business professionals, social policy experts, and the media, to meet the challenge of fighting HIV/AIDS and other health disparities in their local communities.
The NBLCA, founded in November 1987, is the oldest and largest not-for-profit organization of its kind in the United States. The NBLCA conducts policy, research and advocacy on HIV/AIDS and other health disparities to ensure effective participation of our leadership in all policy and resource allocation decisions impacting communities of African descent nationwide.
The NBLCA has established affiliates in cities throughout the United States where African-American communities are hardest hit by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, including New York City, Nassau County (LI, NY), Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Baltimore, Atlanta, Detroit, Tampa, and Washington, D.C.
The work of the NBLCA is financially supported by contributions and grants from a range of sources – philanthropic foundations, corporations, government, individual donors, and proceeds from special fund-raising events such as the Choose Life Awards Benefit Reception. These funds are allocated across the nation to support the organization’s volunteer efforts.
Since its inception, the NBLCA has served thousands of organizations and institutions through community development, technical assistance, and formulation of public policy; helped to raise over $2 billion in federal funding for HIV/AIDS and public health-related direct service organizations serving communities of African descent; created the first programs for the Black clergy to develop strategies to address the complexity of problems caused by HIV/AIDS.
The NBLCA serves as chief consultant on HIV/AIDS and public health-related issues to numerous national organizations. Among them are its partnerships with the Congressional Black Caucus and its official partnerships with the National Association of Black Social Workers, the National Caucus of Black State Legislators, representing over 500 Black state elected officials, and the National Baptist Ministers’ Convention with a membership of 8.2 million. The NBLCA has served as an advisor on HIV/AIDS-related issues to the United Nations and to the nations of Gabon, Central African Republic, Uganda, and the Bahamas, among others.
What makes the NBLCA different from other similar organizations?
• We fill a void in policy formation and advocacy resulting from the overwhelming service demands placed on community-based organizations (CBOs).
• We create new funding and programs targeting African-American and other communities of color.
• We redirect existing funding and programs in the direction of African-Americans and other communities of color.
• We produce a greater return on investment than other community organizations because we generate funding/programs that directly benefit community-based organizations.
• Our organizational structure offers a model that can be replicated throughout the nation.
• We create a public policy infrastructure from our organizational structure rather than a program or a one-time event.
• We have the capacity to mobilize African-American professionals from a variety of professions including medicine, media, business, government and clergy.
• Our affiliates are guided by and gain their credibility from the established clergy.
• We have the capacity to produce policy papers on the medical, religious, and legal issues related to HIV/AIDS and African-American and other communities of color.
• We have the capacity to produce statistical reports that document the status and trend of HIV/AIDS.
• We are a resource for direct service community-based organizations.
