The Innovate Fund Provides $12.5 Million Financing for Renovation of Most Comprehensive HIV/AIDS Facility in the US
ATLANTA, Ga. (FEB. 21, 2022) — Renovation will soon be underway at the Grady Ponce De Leon center, an HIV/AIDS clinic providing various medical and support services for people living with HIV/AIDS, due to investment from The Innovate Fund. The Innovate Fund, a New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC) Community Development Entity, provided $12.5 million to assist in the rehab of the facility’s five existing operational floors.
The facility, which treats one out of seven persons living with AIDS in Georgia. Some neighboring zip codes have rates of HIV/AIDS that are six to eight times higher than the national average. The renovated facility will provide improved treatment facilities for dental, ECHO, infusion, imaging, lab, pharmacy, and social support services.
Shannon Sale, the Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Grady Health System, said the renovated facility will provide better service to current patients and support new people seeking treatment. “The Ponce Center has not been significantly revamped or updated since the early days of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1990s,” Sale said. “Since then, everything from perception, to treatment and technology to floor plan designs have significantly changed. Grady Health is a leader in the global battle against HIV and needs facilities to match that leadership.”
In addition to the additional community members who will be served, 120 new direct jobs will be created, adding to the 126 jobs that will be retained at the Ponce Center.
The Innovate Fund Program Manager Emma Wyatt said: “We are proud to assist in the financing of such an impactful project providing frontline care and supporting services for people living with HIV/AIDS. The Innovate Fund prioritizes investments such as the Grady Ponce project that improve health and wellness outcomes for our nation’s most vulnerable populations.”
Special acknowledgement is extended to U.S. Reps. Sanford Bishop and Drew Ferguson of Georgia for their support of the NMTC program at the federal level. Without the NMTC, vital projects such as this would not be undertaken.
