MLAC Overview
The Metropolitan Latino AIDS Coalition (MLAC) is a coalition of organizations and individuals in the greater Washington, DC area dedicated to HIV/AIDS education, prevention, treatment, and research. Formerly known as NLAAD-NOVA, the coalition was formed in 2003 around the first National Latino AIDS Awareness Day (NLAAD). While originally organized around one specific campaign, the Coalition has answered the call to meet the year-round needs of the community. Now known as MLAC, the Coalition organizes, collaborates on, and sponsors activities and events in Washington, DC, Northern Virginia, and Suburban Maryland for both the general public and Latino service providers.
The MLAC Name
In April 2008, members of then NLAAD-NOVA gathered in a meeting in Alexandria, VA for the specific purpose of creating a new name for the coalition. The group brainstormed words and terms in both English and Spanish. The result, what is now known as Metropolitan Latino AIDS Coalition (MLAC).
Metropolitan: Members wanted to reflect the coalition’s work and member organizations’ service areas that include the Washington, DC metropolitan area: the District of Columbia (Washington, DC), the Northern Virginia suburbs and the Maryland suburbs.Latino: Members wanted to state the focus on ethnic Latinos (also identified as Hispanics) both as the population served and the ethnicity and identity as service providers.AIDS: Members understood the specific meanings and correct usage of the terms HIV infection and HIV/AIDS. However the term AIDS (SIDA in Spanish) was chosen to reflect two important issues: the unfortunate fact that Latinos in the US are diagnosed in later stages of HIV infection (AIDS) or within one year of an AIDS diagnosis, and experience in the field that indicate that currently, the Spanish term SIDA is more recognizable and better understood by the population being served.Coalition: Formerly considered a committee, members wanted the name to reflect the true function as a coalition of dedicated organizations and individuals. Although not often used, in Spanish the name is Coalición Metropolitana Latina contra el SIDA.