Starting in February, we began to create a detailed plan on how the garden was going to look like, how much it was going to cost us, how we would raise the money and what kind of long-term effect we wanted the community garden to leave. We literally began the renewal of the garden with a pair of gloves, a few trash bags and our hands. We spent one full day pulling weeds, some reaching the height of our hips.  The messy plot of land was filled with rocks, clay, bricks, needles, broken glass, trash, you name it! However, once we finished the garden, it was filled with lots of herbs and vegetables including zucchini squash, oregano, okra, basil, tomatoes and our favorite, chocolate mint!  The goal was to have not only a peaceful place for their low-income, HIV positive clients to relax in but for them to also adapt a healthy lifestyle with fresh vegetables and herbs that they could hand pick.

After months of running in an out of Home Depot, getting assistance from local carpenters Danny and Randy, raising nearly $2,000, days in the heat working tirelessly, a 10′ x 12′ patio, picnic table, grill, bench, a hydrangea tree and many shrubs, vegetables and herbs later, we decided to reveal the garden on June 27, which happened to be National HIV Testing Day.  Our team ended up administering over 80 HIV tests to people in the local community along with passing out fish and hamburger trays as incentives for getting tested!

Team DC is so proud of our hard work as a team! Being able to create a space for such a small organization that serves a population that is constantly overlooked was a very rewarding way to end our year as Americorps members.

At the symposium, we learned about issues from a wide variety of sources facing people living with HIV/AIDS  in Tulsa . The first presenter, Jim Ott, talked to us about the “rush to judgment” that we fight against in our work with HIV. Then we had a panel of health experts talk about current and promising medical advances, including new drugs and trials. It was very informative, especially hearing from our HIV-positive audience members and learning their health concerns.

After lunch, Dr. Timothy Harrison from the  US Department of Health and Human Services explained how the National HIV/AIDS Strategy was created and how it would affect Oklahoma. Christopher Grano from the Northern Colorado AIDS Project talked to us about taking stigma out of our prevention materials. Instead of using scare tactics that make people living with HIV seem evil, negligent, or dangerous, he wants us to put people first and have sex-positive prevention materials that focus on good behaviors (getting tested, wearing condoms, not discriminating against people with HIV, etc). Our last presenter asked us to be mindful of the ethics in how we share information about clients with other agencies. Even though sharing might be legal through releases or lack of laws, it might not be ethical. The whole program helped us professionally and personally and was a good reminder that we have the information and medications to end AIDS.

At the candlelight vigil, we had a chance to remember our co-workers, clients, and friends with HIV who have passed. Then we went inside the independent movie theater to listen to stories from Tulsa’s early response to the HIV epidemic. We had a lot of former AmeriCorps site supervisors and an AmeriCorps member from the first team talk about their experiences at the beginning of the epidemic and their hopes for the future. There were lots of people dying in Oklahoma at the beginning, and Ric Harrison, a former AmeriCorps member, was a part of a VNA hospice group that help ease the passing of Tulsans with AIDS. Janice Nicklas, our city supervisor, talked about founding TCAP, Tulsa Community AIDS Project, and Tulsa CARES. It was good for the AmeriCorps team to hear these stories of the beginning of the epidemic since none of us had been born during that time. Hearing all the stories and hopes for the future made us feel more committed to the cause. We’ve come a long way since the beginning of the epidemic, but there’s still a lot more to do!

by Christine Wasik
Community AIDS Partnership of the Capital Region
Albany, NY

Another wonderful AIDS United Community Partnership Meeting!  Thanks so much to AIDS United and the AIDS Foundation of Chicago for their hospitality.  It is so helpful to get together with other Partnerships and find out the new and innovative things people are doing as well as share with each other the similar challenges we are facing.  We are all struggling with decreases in funding and donor fatigue, especially in the area of HIV/AIDS.  People have been working so hard for so many years to end AIDS in their communities and it seems that it is harder and harder to get people’s attention about the issue.

Over the past two years AU has been stressing the importance of collaboration and advocacy.   After last week’s meeting I believe we have some clear direction to begin discussing and implementing much needed changes to our Partnership.   I now feel prepared to take some of the concepts we have been discussing for the past two years and strategize ways to make them work locally.   The support from AU has always been top notch but after this meeting I am especially confident to tackle a new partnership model.  AU seems to understand that, as they are, the Partnerships are finding their way through this process.  It is evident that AU is prepared to support us patiently along the way and assist us in achieving shared goals even if we all get there on slightly different paths.

Thanks so much again for a great meeting!

A week earlier, on Friday, October 15, we got together as a team at CWAP and prepared boxes of games and toys for the children who would be at the conference with their mothers.  We also organized fliers and made folders for the participants.

When we got to the conference, we each had different roles.  A few of the team members worked at the registration table, getting participants signed in and pointing them in the right direction to rooms that were spread out over three floors.  Others helped set up food, showed participants where their workshops were, and passed out information.  During the movement workshops, which included stepping and salsa, a few members of the team joined in learning the dance moves and mingling with participants.

What struck us most as a team were the various faces and ages that came through the door, giving light to who exactly we were serving: everyone. It wasn’t like magic to see them light up when we said there was breakfast, nor was it unbelievable that they smiled when we smiled, grateful to receive a break from their daily lives. What it was was real life and seeing how offering someone child care, meals, and exciting activities really meant a lot to women who traveled from all over the city to make it. What we recognized as a team is our obligation to servicing communities in need as they are dedicated to come when people provide opportunities for empowerment. Just being there and assisting however we could was a shot of reality: yes we made a difference and yes it was absolutely appreciated.

The event was really fun and, thanks to Tracy’s leadership, everything went smoothly.  We were able to spend time supporting the participants who were living with HIV/AIDS in a way that was outside of our usual professional role.  We were able to meet their children, shake their hands and help them in ways that testing and counseling doesn’t let us. In order to recognize the humanity of the situation, that we are not dealing with clients but with people who have needs, that made a world of difference for us. We are thankful for the chance to see a different color in the spectrum of being in service to our community.

- Annie V. and Phillip W., Team Chicago

The UCLA/Johnson & Johnson Health Care Executive Program is a management development program exclusively for executive directors and leaders of community-based health care organizations. The program provides an intensive ten days of management and leadership development at the UCLA Anderson School of Management in Los Angeles, California. Participants are senior executives from community-based healthcare organizations, and engage in a rigorous but relevant curriculum that provides the requisite skills, knowledge and abilities to successfully manage their organizations. The program has graduated over 500 participants since its inception in 2002.

The selected NAF-affiliated leaders for the 2010 program head up organizations that receive funding from their respective National AIDS Fund Community Partnerships, and were nominated by key staff members at those Partnerships.

“The National AIDS Fund takes great pride in the fact that these selected participants in the Health Care Executive Program are part of the NAF Community Partnership network,” said National AIDS Fund President and CEO Kandy Ferree, who is a 2007 graduate of the program. The enthusiastic recommendations from their respective Community Partnerships demonstrate another way that the National AIDS Fund and its stakeholder organizations are helping to cultivate a bright new generation of HIV leaders, as we have done for 15 years with our AmeriCorps program.”