Chicago HIV/AIDS service organization Better Existence With HIV ( BEHIV ) has filed for bankruptcy, Windy City Times has learned.
BEHIV reportedly filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Feb. 11, with a meeting of creditors scheduled for March 21. BEHIV will be represented by David P. Leibowitz of the Lakelaw Law Center in the forthcoming proceedings.
BEHIV, founded in 1989, announced on Jan. 14 that they would be closing its doors and transferring its housing and case management clients to other service agencies. The announcement came less than a month after the abrupt announcement that its executive director Eric Nelson had resigned. They cited reduced individual giving during the previous two years and a changing funding relationship with the AIDS Foundation of Chicagonamely a "pending decision" on the part of AFC to suspend its funding of agencies, like BEHIV, who lack an on-site medical clinic.
AFC subsequently denied that such a decision was pending, but admitted to encouraging some of the city's HIV/AIDS service organizations to closely evaluate their financial health and consider options like merging or consolidating before closing its doors abruptly as BEHIV did.
According to their most recent federal tax return, BEHIV faced outstanding debts including a $133,615 line of credit. The return further indicates the organization's net assets had shrunk from $81,431 to $17,492 over the course of that year. BEHIV leadership did not, in recent weeks, respond to questions regarding these matters nor the status of grants issued late last year to the organization.
As of March 4, BEHIV's website, www.behiv.org, had been taken down, though it had remained live, with no mention of the organization's closure, only two days prior.
More information on this developing story will follow in next week's issue.