HIV ACTIVISM
After letting the world know he was HIV positive during a 1991 press conference, Johnson immediately went into action by starting a campaign and the Magic Johnson Foundation. Since launching in 1991, MJF has expanded to host a scholarship that pays up to $5,000 in tuition; help families become home owners; annually provides food to more than 10,000 families in need and offer technologically-savvy learning centers in urban communities. The foundation has three major partners that work with HIV/AIDS relief: AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the largest healthcare provider for HIV/AIDS, providing services to over 1,200 individuals living with HIV/AIDS via five AHF Magic Johnson clinics; Abbott, a worldwide healthcare company devoted to helping establish health management and finding new medicines, who will offer health education to minority communities through a multi-year plan; and Aetna, a national health insurance company, who launched a 20-week “nutrition and exercise competition between fourth-and-fifth graders at five elementary schools in the Houston Independent School District.†Overall, Johnson’s programs help around 250,000 people every year, and they only continue to grow.