AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW)

To address the AIDS crisis ravaging the gay community, the BESTD Clinic formed the Milwaukee AIDS Project (MAP) in August 1985. As infection rates continues to skyrocket with no federal response, it became obvious that the new disease needed broad community support.  Unfortunately, the sad truth was that no LGBTQ organization would receive the recognition required to earn government funding, attract qualified healthcare providers, or launch public health programming. 

The Milwaukee AIDS Project was already racing against time. Nearly 100 cases had already been reported by August 1985. Three years after the first Wisconsin case was diagnosed, the state received its first federal funding for anonymous HIV testing, counseling, and reporting. There was absolutely no infrastructure for education, prevention, awareness, or medical care. In effect, the only response to the AIDS crisis that existed was measuring its horrific impact.  Once diagnosed, there were absolutely no care options at all. A positive HIV diagnosis was a death sentence, so many felt they were better off not knowing their status at all. Being negative was almost worse: it was an invitation to watch your friends and loved ones suffer and die.

For a spirited team of local activists, that was simply not good enough.  A special task force was activated, including the BESTD Clinic President Nova Clite; MAP Director Sue Dietz; Marc Haupert, the president of the Cream City Business Association; and Don Schwamb, the president of the Cream City Foundation (CCF) and GAMMA. The result was the formation of an entirely new organization: the AIDS Resource Center of Wisconsin (ARCW.) 

Marc Haupert became ARCW's founding president, Don Schwamb its founding vice president, and Sue Dietz its first/ paid executive director.

ARCW began modestly, with a single paid employee and a primary focus on the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Its first office was in a former residence near St. Anthony Hospital at 1004 N. 10th St. The organization later moved to 315 W. Court St., a building that would eventually become home to the Milwaukee LGBT Community Center.

Housing quickly became one of ARCW's most urgent concerns. People with AIDS could face eviction, discrimination, or abandonment by roommates and loved ones because of widespread fear and misinformation about HIV transmission. ARCW launched a fundraising campaign to purchase a duplex in the Sherman Park neighborhood, working with residents, donors, and elected officials to establish one of Milwaukee's earliest dedicated residences for people with AIDS.

The home, near the intersection of Sherman Boulevard and Hadley Street, was kept confidential to protect residents from harassment.  

As the epidemic continued, ARCW expanded its services beyond emergency support. The organization developed programs addressing HIV prevention, medical care, housing, legal assistance, mental health, dental care, and other needs of people living with HIV and AIDS.

Over the following decades, ARCW grew from a small Milwaukee organization into a statewide HIV service organization. Through partnerships, program expansion, and mergers, it established services in communities across Wisconsin, including Appleton, Eau Claire, Green Bay, Kenosha, La Crosse, Madison, Milwaukee, Superior, and Wausau.

ARCW also expanded the range of services available to people living with HIV. Its housing program, established in 1987, provided assistance ranging from rent support to transitional and family residential services. A legal services program followed in 1989, helping address discrimination, access to benefits, housing disputes, and other legal issues affecting people with HIV.

On December 1, 1996 -- World AIDS Day -- ARCW opened its Dental Clinic, providing preventive and restorative dental care. The organization later developed a medical clinic providing HIV treatment and primary care, as well as behavioral health services addressing counseling, substance use, and other challenges facing people living with HIV.

ARCW also expanded HIV prevention efforts. Beginning in 1986, the organization provided AIDS education and safer-sex outreach in Milwaukee's gay community, including condom distribution in bars and other community settings. Outreach programs such as Bag Boyz promoted safer sex, HIV testing, and self-esteem. Over time, ARCW expanded prevention efforts to reach people at increased risk of HIV infection in a wider range of communities and settings.

During the 1990s, ARCW developed additional outreach and harm-reduction programs addressing HIV among people who used drugs, women, youth, and communities of color. Its Lifepoint program provided needle-exchange services intended to reduce HIV transmission and other harms associated with injection drug use.

The organization's pharmacy, established in 2011, further expanded access to HIV medications and medication-management support.

ARCW also became an active advocate for public funding and HIV policy. The organization worked with local and state governments to develop and expand HIV prevention, care, and treatment services. At the federal level, the 1990 Ryan White CARE Act established a major new source of funding for HIV services. ARCW subsequently advocated for changes to federal funding formulas to better account for communities outside the country's largest AIDS epicenters.

In February 2015, ARCW merged with AIDS Network in Madison, further consolidating HIV services in Wisconsin. ARCW's work eventually extended well beyond Wisconsin. The organization expanded through acquisitions that included Rocky Mountain CARES in 2017, St. Louis Effort for AIDS in 2018, and AIDS Services of Austin in 2020.

On January 1, 2020, ARCW rebranded as Vivent Health, reflecting the organization's expanded geographic reach and its focus on comprehensive HIV care. Today, the group supports clients in Denver, CO; Chicago, IL; Kansas City, MO; St. Louis, MO; Austin, TX; Michigan; and ten locations in Wisconsin.

What began in Milwaukee in the darkest years of the AIDS epidemic had become a broad network providing medical care, prevention, housing, behavioral health, dental care, pharmacy services, legal assistance, and other support to people living with and at risk for HIV.

The UWM Archives owns the Vivent Health Collection, including organizational records from 1985 to 2019.

Timeline of ARCW events

• 1987 - first Make A Promise gala fundraising event
• 1989 - opened its first food pantry
• 1990 - inaugural AIDS Walk Wisconsin
• 1991 - ARCW Legal Assistance Program launched
• 1993 - ARCW merges with Eau Claire AIDS Sservice organization
• 1994 - Lifepoint Needle Exchange program debuts in Milwaukee
• 1996 - ARCW Dental Clinic opened; ARCW merges with Center Project in Green Bay and Appleton
• 1997 - ARCW begins drug treatment program
• 1999 - ARCW mergers with La Crosse AIDS Service Organization, Central Wisconsin AIDS Network (Wausau) and Northern AIDS Network (Superior) are completed
• 2001 - ARCW opens first medical clinic
• 2007 - ARCW becomes largest provider of medical care to people with HIV in Wisconsin
• 2012 - ARCW opens first HIV-specialty pharmacy in Wisconsin
• 2013 - ARCW earns first designation in US as an HIV-dedicated, patient-centered Medical Home from the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• 2015 - ARCW merges with AIDS Network in Madison, WI.
• 2017 - ARCW merges with Rocky Mountain CARES
• 2018 - ARCW merges with St. Louis Effort for AIDS
• 2019 - ARCW changes name to Vivent Health and brand unveiled nationwide

Major annual events

• MAPFest
• Make A Promise Dinner
• AIDS Walk Wisconsin