The Black Coalition on AIDS is one of the nation's oldest community service organizations dedicated to fighting HIV/AIDS in the Black community. It was founded in 1986 by a group of community activists — gay and straight, men and women — responding to the rise of HIV in San Francisco's Black community.

While BCA has expanded its mission and has grown into a multi-service organization — its response to HIV in the Black community remains focused on providing care, promoting responsibility and encouraging compassion as a means of stopping the spread of HIV.

The coalition is governed by a 12-member Board of Directors and led by Chairperson Donyale John, a registered nurse. The agency is headed by Executive Director Perry L. Lang, a seasoned non-profit manager, writer and Bay Area interfaith leader. Lang was appointed Executive Director of the coalition in November 2003.

During his tenure as Executive Director, BCA more than doubled in size and expanded its programs and services, offering information, workshops and support services to a diverse community through an expanding network of partnerships, including a network of more than a dozen churches.

The main office of the agency was relocated two years ago to Southeast District 10 at 2800 Third Street; the agency also operates an 11-bed transitional housing facility in the Western Addition for homeless HIV positive men and women.

Before joining BCA, Lang worked as the Western Region Director of YouthBuild USA and was the Vice President of the Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education. He worked for more than 20 years as a journalist in New York, Norfolk Virginia and San Francisco. In San Francisco, he was a staff writer at the San Francisco Chronicle for more than a decade.Lang has been of service to the community in a variety of volunteer capacities, including as President of the Bay Area Black Journalists Association and as a board member of the Bayview YMCA.

He has a BA in Journalism/Communications and a Master of Divinity with an emphasis in interfaith studies. He has served as President of the Board of Directors of the East Bay Church of Religious Science in Oakland and was the Associate Pastor at San Francisco historic Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples, the nation's first interfaith, interracial congregation founded by the late Howard Thurman.

Lang, a native of Rochester, New York, has called San Francisco home for more than 25 years. He has been in domestic partnership for 17 years with Dr. Kenneth Monteiro, Dean of the College of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University. He is has two children and two grandchildren.