Posted December 2, 2025
DOORWAYS | 1101 N. Jefferson Avenue | St. Louis MO 63106
Celebrating World AIDS Day 2025
December 1, 2025, was marked by a March for Awareness ending at St. Louis City Hall for a Rally and Call-to-Action in the rotunda.
St. Louis, MO – On Monday, December 1, DOORWAYS joined Vivent Health, local AIDS Service Organizations, elected officials, and community leaders to recognize World AIDS Day 2025. This year’s effort was a powerful statement of remembrance, advocacy, and commitment to ending HIV. It also underscored the urgent need to safeguard federal, state, and local HIV resources—now under threat of significant cuts or even elimination nationwide.
“DOORWAYS began in 1988 on the frontlines in the war on HIV,” noted Opal M. Jones, President & CEO of DOORWAYS. “Before HIV funding was added to government budgets, DOORWAYS and other agencies relied on the community to educate leaders on the need for funding and services to stop the spread of HIV—which continues at epidemic levels among those living in poverty and battling homelessness, mental health conditions, and/or substance use challenges. Today reminded me how powerful our collective voice can be.”
Funding for critical supportive services is also in jeopardy. People living with HIV and poverty need a stable foundation to manage their medical recovery regimen and improve quality of life. That means affordable housing, food security, accessible healthcare, and income opportunities—all programs now facing deep reductions.
The day’s program began at 11:30 a.m. with a half mile March for Awareness from Kiener Plaza to City Hall for a Rally and Call to Action. At 12:30 p.m., Mayor Cara Spencer, community leaders, and HIV advocates delivered powerful messages of solidarity and commitment.
Want to take action? Visit our website for a sample advocacy script and contact information for elected officials representing St. Louis and Missouri. Together, we can ensure HIV resources remain strong and accessible for those who need them most.
ABOUT DOORWAYS
Founded in 1988, DOORWAYS provides housing and 360 degrees of wrap-around services to people at the intersection of poverty, homelessness, and illness from HIV. Each year, we serve 3,000+ clients and family members in 124 counties spread across Missouri and Illinois. Expanding over the years to meet growing depth and breadth of need, DOORWAYS evolved from a hospice caring for the dying to an agency building lives for the living. We currently own 11 buildings with 219 apartments offering five housing platforms—emergency housing, flexible housing, assistive housing for those too ill to live independently, permanent housing, and, to prevent homelessness for people in their own accommodations, rent/utility subsidies.
Housing is supplemented by empowerment services to build the social determinants of health (housing, health, food security, employment/income, education, community, etc.) that are needed to advance towards a life of opportunity and independence. We use individualized case management, resource referrals, self-development programming, employment support, behavioral health counseling, and psychiatric care. To remove barriers to essential resources, we provided space for both a BOCA Pharmacy and the Key Clinic to locate on campus. Both are open to anyone in the community who wishes to use these services. Pairing a clinic next to a pharmacy strengthens the circle of care.
Through this mix of services to stabilize housing, health, and hope, clients begin their journey toward a more self-directed life. Once housed and linked with a vast array of onsite and offsite resources, clients focus on following an HIV-medication regimen that can help them attain undetectable status. When HIV is undetectable, life span and quality of life improve for the individual. Additionally, undetectable means untransmittable (U=U), stopping new cases, opening the door to ending HIV in future generations.
For more information, please review this website or contact the agency at info@doorwayshousing.org
