Mission & History

Being Alive is a nonprofit membership organization created and operated by and for people living with HIV/AIDS that engenders a sense of independence and self-determination in its members and builds a healthier and more powerful community of HIV-positive people. Being Alive accomplishes its mission through a comprehensive array of emotional support, treatment education, prevention, advocacy, wellness and social services.

Being Alive is Los Angeles’ first peer-led HIV agency. Established in 1986 by three friends, John Mohr, Ron Rose, and Rick Ewing, who were living with AIDS, Being Alive was created in response to a need for services free of red tape and bureaucratic entanglement, an organization to call our own. These three visionaries saw the need for an organization made up of other people living with HIV and AIDS who would advocate for the HIV/AIDS community from the point of view of those who are infected. Today, Being Alive serves as a beacon of emotional support, treatment education, and empowerment to thousands of people living with HIV/AIDS.