More HIV-positive youth in Jacksonville are being identified and treated due to the early successes of the #AIDSFreeJax campaign launched a year ago by an area nonprofit that serves LGBTQ youth.

JASMYN, the Jacksonville Area Sexual Minority Youth Network, announced on Thursday, which coincides with World AIDS Day, that it is 70 percent of the way toward meeting its fundraising goal of $1 million.

The nonprofit is well ahead of its goal due to $150,000 donations by the Chartrand Family Fund at the Community Foundation for Northeast Florida and the Hall-Halliburton Foundation. The Delores Barr Weaver Fund is offering a matching grant up to $500,000.

Cindy Watson, JASMYN executive director, said that knowing the campaign has 150 donors of all amounts has been heartening, as it shows a widespread support for tackling HIV/AIDS in Jacksonville. More support shows a lessening of the stigma, she said.

"We know a lot about the young people in Jacksonville. There's still so much stigma around HIV. There's still sizable portions of the population that experience homophobia and transphobia," Watson said. "Those kinds of issues really drive the epidemic because they drive people who are very at-risk to be more at-risk. Young people are rejected by families, they experience discrimination and harassment, they experience sexual assault."

JASMYN's effort to educate, test and treat 80 more LGBT youth is reaching some of the most at-risk people - young, black, gay or bisexual men - in an area that is highly impacted by HIV/AIDS.

Jacksonville is ninth in the nation for new HIV cases, and sixth in the nation for AIDS, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Florida has the most HIV diagnoses of any state, with 4,864 in 2015 alone. An average American has a 1 in 99 chance of being diagnosed with HIV, but a Floridian's chances are 1 in 54.

JASMYN has served 50 HIV-positive youth this year alone, and after completing 524 tests, has identified eight more people with the virus.

JASMYN's model is time-intensive, and allows caseworkers to only manage 15 to 20 cases each, as opposed to higher rates elsewhere, Watson said. The nonprofit has also hired four additional staff this year to support the #AIDSFreeJax effort. Caseworkers help with doctors' appointments, insurance, medication, house and food issues, and much more, she said.

"When they come to JASMYN, we really wrap-around and help them feel like they're OK, they're loved, they found a home, they found a community that cares for them, they found a safe place to gather and a place where they can talk about the hard things and get help with it," she said.

And, it's working.

Nationally, only 25 percent of youth living with HIV are in treatment, but at JASMYN, 93 percent are receiving medical care. Chanel Scott-Dixon, assistant director of case management at JASMYN, said the remaining 7 percent are facing serious barriers like homelessness, substance abuse and especially mental illness.

Scott-Dixon said many of the young people have been through trauma, and that many have "never known this support before."

Watson said stigma will continue to be a huge issue in Jacksonville, but talking about it openly will help.

"We believe that putting it out there, being open, talking about it is really, really critical. We have the privilege as adults in this community to talk about it in ways that our young people can't always talk about it," she said.

Ravyn Winehouse, 20, said she is willing to step up and be a face for her peers at JASMYN. Winehouse was tested and diagnosed with HIV just over a year ago. But because she's stayed up-to-date on her tests, medicines and doctors' appointments, her viral load has been undetectable since July.

"I looked at this as another challenge. I did not look at it as a burden to carry," she said of her diagnosis. "I love challenges. Challenges are what strengthen me, what make my mind grow."

Without JASMYN, Winehouse said, she would feel alone.

"They are amazing. They are really amazing," she said. "The staff are really awesome. They get on your level to actually communicate to you. A lot of people don't understand what we go through, but when the staff talk to you, it's like they are there with you, siding with you."

Tessa Duvall: (904) 359-4697