About Love Heals

Love Heals, the Alison Gertz Foundation for AIDS Education, empowers young people in the fight against HIV. Their HIV-positive speakers are putting a face on the epidemic, and their youth empowerment programs are training a new generation of community educators and activists. Love Heals also creates and distributes educational materials, shares its expertise and advocates for young people's right to HIV/AIDS education. They operate in partnership with hundreds of schools and community groups throughout New York City and the surrounding areas, reaching both young people and those individuals who impact their lives, and placing a special emphasis on outreach to high-risk communities.

Alison Gertz, the inspiration behind the organization, was infected with HIV through a single sexual encounter when she was 16. Soon after discovering she had AIDS, Ali made her story public in an effort to help others and quickly rose to become an internationally recognized spokesperson for AIDS awareness and prevention. After Ali died in 1992, her three best friends Stefani Greenfield, Victoria Leacock Hoffman and Dini von Mueffling continued her mission by cofounding Love Heals. Today, the foundation reaches more than 40,000 young people each year.