Agencies try to minimize harm from Rainbow Health shutdown

Foundations and social service agencies moved quickly this week to minimize harm for Minnesotans who are LGTBQ, or have HIV, after the abrupt closure of Rainbow Health in Minneapolis.

Community leaders at some point will need to figure out why Rainbow failed and how to prevent similar disruptions in the future, but for now they need to determine who is filling in for the largest organization of its kind in Minnesota, said Alfonso Wenker, vice president of community impact for the Saint Paul & Minnesota Foundation.

Thousands of Minnesotans relied on Rainbow until its closure July 19 for federally funded HIV support services, medication access and specialized mental and chemical health services for the LGBTQ community.

“We don’t want there to be any kind of safety net falling out,” said Wenker, whose foundation earmarked $170,000 to support other agencies and help them take on care for Rainbow’s patients.

Some of that money is going to the PFund Foundation, which will pass it to agencies that can quickly expand and serve Rainbow’s clients. Likely recipients include the Family Tree Clinic in Minneapolis, and Reclaim in St. Paul, which provides therapy and crisis support services to help youths deal with gender identity and sexual orientation.

The Aliveness Project is an established provider that will take on many Rainbow clients, and is assuming responsibility for a federal contract through which it will connect about 2,500 clients with HIV to support services including housing assistance.

The Minnesota Department of Human Services announced the contract switch Tuesday, noting that it was important to get another provider in place before Aug. 1, when many clients with HIV needed regularly scheduled support payments in order to make rent.

The support services are funded through the federal Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program, which helps people with HIV stay current with costly medication regimens and keep their infections at virally suppressed levels that can’t be passed on.

Roughly 10,000 people in Minnesota have been identified as living with HIV, the sexually transmitted infection that causes AIDS when left untreated, according to the most recent state data.

“Our first priority was doing everything in our power to make sure people got reconnected to services in the most timely manner possible,” said Natasha Merz, DHS’ assistant commissioner for aging and disability services.

Rainbow Health was created seven years ago following the merger of Rainbow Health Initiative, which was founded in 2001, and Minnesota AIDS Project, which dates back to the 1980s and the emergence of HIV as an epidemic.

Its closure “was a complete surprise for us and it was totally devastating,” said Aaron Zimmerman, executive director of PFund, which was founded by and for the LGBTQ community. Zimmerman had interned at the AIDS Project earlier in his career, and led the Red Ribbon Ride that raised money for the organization.

Beyond direct care services, the LGTBQ and HIV communities are losing an influential voice. Rainbow spent more than $1 million on lobbying and advocacy in 2021, according to its most recent publicly available tax return, nearly doubling that total in four years. Examples include an event at Como Park earlier this year to celebrate its clients living with HIV.

Rainbow also operated the Minnesota AIDS Line, which has shut down. DHS is providing a temporary hotline at 651-431-2398 for people needing to find new service providers.

Rainbow’s closure was a surprise when the organization on July 18 announced “financial challenges” that made its operations “no longer sustainable.” But it followed some turbulence, including the unionization of the majority of its 80 workers in 2022 after allegations of worker harassment.

Workers represented by SEIU Healthcare Minnesota & Iowa took a vote of no confidence this summer against Rainbow’s director, who resigned days before the agency’s closure. Rainbow had reportedly run out of operating cash that it needed to stay afloat while awaiting repayment through its federal contractor and other funders.

Foundations and providers need to work together in the future to respond to any such financial crises earlier, so they can at worst provide an orderly shutdown that gives clients more than a day’s notice, Zimmerman said. Imagine if “you’re going to see your therapist tomorrow or go to an appointment, and now there’s no one there. The doors are locked.”

Workers were coping with the abrupt news of their job losses while they only had a few short hours to notify clients. Former benefits counselor Zoe Geisen of Minneapolis had gotten to know clients over her six years at Rainbow, and she felt helpless as she called them with news of the closure but no information on what to do next.

“I can’t even describe to you what that was like,” she said. “I didn’t have any answers to share with people ... It’s not how I ever expected to say goodbye.”