In February 2023, we started a community consultation process to revise our mission, vision, and name, called Vision Our Future. Over and over, we heard the importance of HIV-specific services, even as the ways HIV affects our communities continue to change. Following the community consultations, a committee of the AIDS Vancouver Board of Directors worked to honour these ideas, pulling as much as possible together to update and recommit our teams to this important work. 

And so, we decided to continue to focus on HIV. We also heard over and over again about the stigma – whether related to substance use, mental health, sex, or anything else - that can be much harder than the virus itself. From these two key themes, we created a purpose statement that replaces our past mission and vision.The goal of the purpose statement is to make it clear why we exist, and identify the one thing we all believe in.

Today, we are proud to share our new purpose statement that highlights the role people living with HIV, and our broader communities, have always played in caring for each other. As of today, our new purpose statement is: “We support and empower our communities in overcoming the impacts of HIV and HIV stigma.”

Our new purpose statement reflects what has been happening in the HIV movement for decades: the work to feed, house, and care for people living with HIV holistically and with dignity even amid pervasive fear, the direct action to ensure antiretroviral research and information reflects everyone and that whether for treatment or prevention, these medications are available to everyone, and the community organizing and empowerment behind Indigenous AIDS Awareness Week, Love Positive Women, the important message of undetectable = untransmissible, the AIDS activism and AIDS memorials, the dozens of community organizations that have worked in this space over decades.

Ultimately, our new purpose, values, and name are a celebration of our communities past and present: what we have built, and what we have learned along the way; the connection and community borne out of remarkable grief and loss. As we share our new purpose, values, name and look, we are also celebrating what you told us you want to see change, the parts of us that will stay the same, and most importantly, they ways we will continue to show up for people living with HIV - and our broader communities - for years to come.

It has five key concepts that we are working on putting into action across everything we do:

1.Support

2.Empower

3.Our communities - even as we have much in common, we are made up of more than one community. We use communities in a plural form to honour the incredible diversity of people, cultures, languages, genders, sexualities, accessibility needs, families, incomes, and substance use experiences that we welcome with intention

4.HIV

5.HIV stigma (includes stigma about substance use, sex, sexuality, and sex work, and stigma that arises from interconnected systems of oppression including colonialism, racism, and xenophobia)  

We look forward to putting this purpose into action across all our programs, and being alongside each person on their unique journey in whatever way you choose.

Please join us as we share our new name and look that will help us put our purpose and values into action. Get your free ticket for our March 26 Community Celebration where we will share our new name and purpose at www.aidsvancouver.org/march26. We hope to see you there!