ACoRN's Mock Wins Award

[Guest guest]

ACoRN's Mock Wins Award

by Euan Bear

Lebanon, NH - In an ironic twist of funding fate, Tom Mock, director of A

Community Response Network (ACoRN) of New Hampshire and Vermont, was recognized

in late May for his Community Health Leadership by the Wood

Foundation and awarded $120,000.

It was just last fall that the Vermont Department of Health declined to

pass along to ACoRN any of its CDC grant monies, putting a big hole in the

agency's finances.

" Of course it's wonderful to be acknowledged in this way, " Mock said in a

phone interview. " If you believe in karma, you could look at it this way: Kurt

[Kleier, Vermont's then-AIDS chief] got fired and I got a national award. "

(According to a report in the Valley News, Mock was eventually able to convince

VDH to locate $28,000 in other grant funding, which may well be supplemented by

an additional appropriation from the Vermont legislature for AIDS prevention.

Further, New Hampshire awarded the agency $53,000, an increase of $12,000 over

last year's grant.)

Mock receives $15,000 of the award for his personal use. He said he hasn't

decided yet how to apply the other $105,000. " I'm going to DC next week for a

week, meeting to share ideas with 30 award winners - this year's 10 and the

awardees from the previous two years - before I decide. I'm going to take my

time to think about how best to use these funds, and take advantage of the

technical assistance at Wood [Foundation]. " The terms of the

award allow the monies to be spent over a three-year period.

Among the other meetings Mock planned to attend were those set up by the

foundation's " Project Connect " with New Hampshire's members of Congress. " I was

nominated from New Hampshire, even though we serve as many clients in Vermont,

but [Project Connect] didn't realize that until I called and asked them to set

me up with Vermont, too. They said they would get me a meeting with [Vermont

Congressman] Bernie []. "

In those meetings, Mock said he planned to ask the politicians, " 'Will

you come to an ACoRN event?' This is one way to bring some light back to AIDS, "

Mock added, citing the way AIDS stories - the personal stories about how it is

to live with the disease - have nearly disappeared from the media.

Mock will also use some of his newfound leverage to get New Hampshire

lawmakers to designate Hepatitis C as a reportable disease. ACoRN decided last

year to extend the agency's services to include people living with HCV, or

Hep-C. According to Mock, " 26,000 people are infected with Hep-C in New

Hampshire, and there's no real treatment or outreach. " And no national funding

for research or testing.

Dunham, a national program director for the Wood

Foundation, said that outreach, that expansion of mission and services beyond

HIV/AIDS to Hepatitis C, was part of what made Tom Mock and ACoRN stand out

among the 600 other nominees, of which about a quarter were AIDS-related service

organizations.

" It had to do with how the work persisted through ups and downs and

adapted for its community, " Dunham explained in a phone interview from Boston.

And it was " Tom's devotion as first a volunteer and then making an investment

when the organization was having difficulties, then stretching out to address

Hepatitis C. The national committee was very impressed. "

The foundation is not, she said, recognizing " Lone Rangers, " but whole

organizations, especially, as here, " organizations that are overwhelmed from

their original tasks and mission but then say 'Let's take on another task.' And

it's driven by the need in the community. There came a point when they were

losing more clients to Hep C than to HIV/AIDS. "

In order to get researchers interested in a treatment or a cure, " we need

statistics, " Mock explained. " Hep C is the most prevalent blood-borne pandemic

in the world right now. It's estimated that 1.4 million people are infected with

AIDS/HIV in this country. There are 5 to 10 million with Hep-C. " And many of

those people do not know they are infected.

" A lot of people got infected just by getting a tattoo, in the days before

we went into the parlors and insisted on clean needles because of AIDS. Little

did we know that Hep-C was alive in the ink vats, " Mock said. Tattoo artists now

use individual vials of ink for each customer.

Further, Mock declared, " Hepatitis C is the leading cause of the need for liver

transplants. "

Tom Mock first got involved in HIV/AIDS work when he was counseling young

hemophiliacs who had contracted the virus through blood transfusions. When he

began speaking out against the prejudice they and their families faced, some

physicians stopped referring patients to Mock. " Undaunted, he became Executive

Director of ACORN, which had been struggling financially. Within a year, he had

succeeded in winning back the full support and respect of the state agencies

that funded the organization, increased the staff to seven, and quadrupled the

budget, " according to the official press release announcing the award.

Chambers, a gay member of the ACoRN board of directors, nominated

Mock for the award. He noted that Mock, straight, married and with five

children, including his own and his wife's from their prior marriages, had

gained the trust of the gay community in dealing with the AIDS crisis.

ACoRN provides HIV/AIDS services throughout the rural counties of Grafton

and Sullivan in New Hampshire, and Windsor and Orange in Vermont - low-income

areas with limited public transportation, where people with AIDS can easily

become isolated. ACoRN also offers assistance with housing, food and

transportation.

http://www.mountainpridemedia.org/oitm/issues/2005/07jul2005/fea01_acorn.htm