Last night, the Human Services Commission and the City of West Hollywood hosted the 25th Annual Paul Andrew Starke Warrior Awards in the City Council Chambers.
Nine people received Warrior Awards this year, all chosen by the Human Services Commission. Anne-Marie Williams ran the program, having just been elected chair the night before. Commissioner Sam Borelli will be taking the vice chair seat for the 2026 term.
The Human Services Commission has been around almost as long as the City itself. Formed in 1985, it gives the Council a reliable sounding board on how West Hollywood spends its social services dollars. Commissioners review agency presentations, proposals from nonprofits and weigh in on which groups should be awarded three year contracts. They dedicate a lot of time going over and making sure the basics: food, housing, mental health, human rights and older adult services are being supported.
The commission is also where people show up when something or someone is slipping through the cracks. Staff brings data, residents bring stories, and commissioners raise red flags when they see problems in care or barriers that keep people from using the help that is already there. In that way, the Human Services Commission keeps the City’s social services work close to the people who rely on it.
The Paul Andrew Starke Warrior Awards grew out of that world. The awards recognize people who stand up for health, dignity and equity for those living with, or at risk for, HIV and AIDS, as well as people dealing with substance use. The awards are named for Paul, a longtime HIV and substance use services advocate who worked with Being Alive and served on the West Hollywood HIV and Substance Use Services Providers Consortium. Complete list of recipients below:
Miguel Arevalo, AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Jack Crozier Inman, Jr. Life Group LA
Robert Lester, Men’s Health Foundation
Marico Lopez, APLA Health
Alexandra Maggalon, Translatin@ Coalition
Chloe Opalo, LA LGBT Center
Andrew Ramos, C.I.T.Y. X1 Youth Group
Jim Scott, Being Alive
Russel Ybarra, Capitol Drugs (awarded posthumously)
Starke died in 2001. Not long after, the City attached his name to the Warrior Awards so that the community would keep talking about the kind of day to day work he did and the people who do it now.
The Warrior Awards sit inside a much bigger HIV and AIDS effort. The City and its partners mark World AIDS Day each year with programming like the quilt display, candlelight walk and community events like the ones held at STORIES: The AIDS Monument in West Hollywood Park. The Warrior Awards plug into that same through line, a reminder that the City’s HIV response still lives on and there’s still much work to be done.
