Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day-Team Indy
October 19, 2010 in AmeriCorps
The team went to a local restaurant called 45 Degrees where Indy Pride (a local nonprofit seeking to educate and honor the GLBT communities) helped organize an event to raise funds to support clients. October 30, 2010, immediately following the local production of Mary Poppins, there was a fundraiser that went to benefit the Indiana AIDS Fund and Broadway Cares Equity Fights AIDS. There was a silent auction and the cast of Mary Poppins as well as local patrons exhibited their talents on stage.
We decided to participate in the event as a way to recognize National Gay Men’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
As a sort of “part two” on November 2, 2010 as part of the National Gay Men’s HIV Awareness Day, the team participated in a Drag Show called Sober Sirens.
The Indiana AIDS Fund “Team King” had a group of people who used to be substance abusers come together and decided for this to be the first year they put on a drag show fundraiser.
The team spoke at intermission about getting tested for HIV, and that safer sex kits were available. It was conveniently located near the food and raffle tickets. We kept it simple, as we were guests but anyone who needed more information knew where to find us.
Between the two events, there was approximately $4500 raised, with over $6,500 raised total to go to the Indiana AIDS Fund Walk & Ride which goes towards emergency assistance for clients.
One of the most important lessons we could have learned in working with these groups over the past week have been that we often have to reach outside of our comfort zone to find the best way to reach our clients. In reaching out to the Gay Men in Indianapolis, it is not always simple to relate or be related to. As a team we have all had the opportunity to grow in learning how best to reach the needs of all people.
National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day-Team Indy
in AmeriCorps
The Team decided to meet with a local community asset, Delores Horgan to identify the needs of our community and how we are responding to those needs as it relates to our elderly citizens. Each Team Member took a moment to reflect on the time we spent talking with her, and below are those comments.
Dolores’s perspective on HIV-related issues was especially unique because of her personal connection to the disease combined with her involvement in the prevention community. She was able to describe the history and progress of HIV/AIDS care in Indianapolis as a first hand witness. As we spoke with her more, it was clear that she had an attentive connection with the people that she was reaching out to. I was surprised by the awareness of HIV Dolores described within the senior citizen community as well as the support of others in reaching out to this population. Even with this less explored group of at-risk individuals, the same barriers of misunderstanding and stigma still seemed to exist. In reaching out to the elderly and aging populations about HIV, there is a strong base of awareness to work with, but there is still much to be done.
From the discussion we had with Delores on Friday it stressed to me that HIV still has a stigma tied to it and people don’t realize that it can affect everyone. It is important that HIV/AIDS awareness is not just catered to younger generations but all since there is a rise in the senior population.
I felt that she brought a lot of honesty and humanity to our meeting on Friday. By painting a picture that wasn’t all roses (and at times it was a bit depressing) she shed some light on some of the huge deterrents in getting people to accept this disease….
Aging and HIV is a topic that is not widely discussed because many think that the old do not engage in sexual activities. Studies show that the elderly over 60 still engage in sexual activities, and if this is true it is important to continue HIV education among this group as well. Proving this, 15 of the new diagnosed cases of HIV are those over the age 50. So, the discussion of HIV and sex education among the elderly should exist and needs to be implemented in the many HIV prevention campaigns.
I think it was important for our team to hear Delores speak about her experiences with HIV and the elderly since, even in the HIV world, it is a rarely discussed topic. People don’t like to think of senior citizens as sexually active, but they are. Senior citizens think that just because pregnancy is not a concern they have no need to use condoms, so they don’t. The combination of these beliefs has lead to rising numbers of STDs in the elderly population, yet there is still a significant lack of prevention and awareness available. It is reassuring to meet someone like Delores who is doing their part to help stop the spread of HIV in a population that is typically overlooked.
In reflecting upon the conversation we had with Delores it makes it that much more obvious to me that we cannot fall into the trap of thinking that HIV is only effecting a certain population. In fact, the older population is temporary. One day every other age group will become elderly-including the groups most infected now. Unfortunately, knowing that there is a need is one thing, but actually being able to reach a community who seems to have no understanding of how it relates to them is the true obstacle here. We can certainly begin by not marginalizing them in our outreach.
Using the Visual Arts to Teach HIV Prevention to Women
October 12, 2010 in GENERATIONS
by Alana Feldman Soler
General Coordinator
Taller Salud, Inc.
One out of every three Puerto Ricans under 18 years old is sexually active [1] and the island wide average incidence of women infected with HIV through unprotected heterosexual sex is 61%.[2] Because of cultural ideas about the roles of men and women in a relationship with which they have grown up and the issues of power that result from those ideas, young Puerto Rican women simply do not have the tools to communicate effectively about sex, especially with their sexual partners.
Because studies have indicated that teens expect adults to be a main source of information on sexuality and HIV, Taller Salud, Inc., a 30-year-old feminist based community organization working towards the health and well-being of girls, adolescents and adult women, developed a unique HIV prevention education program called “¡Arte con Salud!” to develop self efficacy among women regarding intergenerational communication and safe sex practices. By employing visual art strategies to address topics usually considered “taboo,” — including female sexuality, HIV/STI prevention and sexual negotiation — ¡Arte con Salud! helps 18- to 40-year-old women visualize new strategies to reduce high risk behaviors and protect their health. Using acrylic paint, collage, drawing, and printing, among others, participating women create full body self portrait silhouettes that help them view themselves in the light of each week’s educational module. Throughout the program, women are also simultaneously trained to be mentors to young women under 20 years old who form a part of their biological or chosen kinship circles.
¡Arte con Salud! is supported by the third funding cycle of the National AIDS Fund’s grantmaking initiative GENERATIONS: Strengthening Women and Families Affected by HIV/AIDS (GEN III) .
The first pilot session of ¡Arte con Salud! took place during August and September 2010 at the Pueblo del Niño Community in Loíza, Puerto Rico. Originally adapted from the CDC’s effective behavioral intervention–SISTA, (Sisters Informing Sisters about Topics on AIDS), ¡Arte con Salud! was implemented in five educational sessions–plus an introduction and closing session.
Initial feedback from participants has been helpful and given us ideas about how we will shape the program before the start of the implementation phase. Throughout the pilot implementation, we have confirmed a need for safe spaces for discussion on topics of female sexuality. Participating women expressed appreciation for the clarity of expression as well as the trusting, pressure-free environment cultivated during workshops. Women have described themselves as “astonished” at what they have learned and claim they are seeing themselves and their bodies in new and positive ways.
Some of the most common participant recommendations for program improvement include: less instrumental/classical music in the background; and better use of time in order to maximize artistic creation and an early return home.
We’ll be working on these and other ideas in time for the implementation phase which starts in December 2010.
[1] Pando, José. Prevalence and Factors Associated with the Sexual Conduct of Puerto Rican Adolescents; 2007
[2] AIDS Watch, Division of Epidemiology, Puerto Rico Department of Health; February 2008.
Developing HIV/AIDS Strategies in the South: Day 2
September 30, 2010 in Southern Initiatives
By Jeff Graham, Executive Director
Equality Foundation of Georgia
Day two of the Southern REACH convening allowed us the opportunity to work in smaller groups to share information on issues and activities that support HIV/AIDS advocacy in our region. My friend and colleague Dazon Dixon Diallo of SisterLove summed up the goal of our work when she reminded us that it’s important to speak from one page as a region and realize how each group’s work support our collective goals.
As someone who has worked on HIV advocacy in the south for more than 20 years, it’s always refreshing to hear how others are approaching this work. Groups broke out to create broad strategies that address the intersection of issues such as Reproductive Justice, Housing, Human Rights, PWLHA Organizing, coordinating Legislative Advocacy Days and promoting Harm Reduction.
My agency looks primarily at how issues of importance to Georgia’s LGBT community intersect with the issues of people living with HIV/AIDS. Although the topic of Harm Reduction is usually seen as a domain defined exclusively by injection drug users, as the discussion unfolded, we realized that many groups of people such as diabetics and public safety officials can benefit from syringe access programs. We even identified uninsured transgender individuals as a group who may benefit from these programs if they are forced to share syringes for hormone injections. Clearly the work that may at first only support one group actually serves to help many others. 
In the afternoon we looked at the how Strategic Communications can advance our cause. The highlight of this panel was an in-depth look at the Kaiser Family Foundation’s national campaign: We are Greater than AIDS. This innovative program leverages some of the best talents in the marketing and communications world to bring the issue of the domestic HIV epidemic to a public that has begun to forget that AIDS is still a plague on many of our communities. It’s an excellent example of how we can all benefit when multiple sectors find ways to work together and share our talents towards creating a world where HIV infections are rare and all people living with HIV/AIDS are treated with dignity and respect.
Developing HIV/AIDS Advocacy Strategies in the South
September 28, 2010 in Southern Initiatives
by Jeff Graham, Executive Director
Equality Foundation of Georgia
Convening of NAF Southern REACH Grantees, Day 1
The first day of the National AIDS Fund’s Southern REACH convening was filled with reconnecting with colleagues from throughout the South who are committed to doing the work necessary to address the numerous disparities that define the fight against HIV/AIDS in this hard hit region.
NHAS panel
The opening panel discussed the implications of the National AIDS Strategy and federal health care reform on our work. The South is a region that has carried an extraordinary burden with extremely limited resources. While the promise of both the newly released National AIDS Strategy and the passage of federal healthcare reform are reasons for hope, they also present a new set of challenges. Southern states have unique barriers in fully implementing both of these new strategies. State legislatures are mostly hostile to the expansion of Medicaid to new populations and there are great concerns that as additional people enter the system, low reimbursement rates and restrictions on the services offered to those currently enrolled will result in further disparities if not adequately addressed. And while the National AIDS Strategy does specifically mention the burden of the South, many of the recommendations do not adequately address the need for increased resources to alleviate the historical underfunding of services, especially in rural communities.
Panel on impact of HIV/AIDS on Latinos
Panels on both legal strategies and the special needs of Latino/Hispanic communities further defined the specific challenges facing people living with HIV/AIDS and their advocates. Harsh criminal penalties for HIV transmission and the growing trend of using health care settings to identify and arrest undocumented migrant workers, while not unique to the South, add a new sense of urgency to our work.
Day 1 closing strategy discussion
The day closed with a discussion of how to identify and implement effect strategies to address the growing list of challenges and disparities. Throughout the discussion it is apparent that the people gathered here in New Orleans are truly committed to justice. With the vision and support of the National AIDS Fund and the Ford Foundation, Southern HIV/ AIDS advocates are finding new resources, gaining new allies and crafting new strategies to address an epidemic that has had a distinctive impact on our region.
Creating the Right Message for Women of Color
September 23, 2010 in Every Life Matters, Every Dollar Counts
Dr. Valerie Montgomery Rice
by Valerie Montgomery Rice, MD
Executive Director and Dean
Center for Women’s Health Research
Meharry Medical College
Nashville, TN
Chair, Every Life Matters, Every Dollar Counts
As a member of the National AIDS Fund Board of Trustees, I am proud to be associated with the the organization’s work, and especially with the Every Life Matters, Every Dollar Counts campaign. When you look at the risk of HIV in this country, you begin to clearly recognize that the some of the people most impacted are women of color. Black women constituted about 63% of all new cases in the U.S. in 2005. To put it another way, if you were to look at the demographic of new cases per 100,000 women in this country, here is what you would find: 45.9/100.000 black; 13.8/Hispanic; and only 2/100,000 white. These statistics apply for women between 18 to 40 years of age.
Why are women of color so disproportionately affected? The fact is, there have always been a disproportionate number of black people being affected, even in the early 90’s when AIDS was thought of as a gay white man’s disease. What has happened is that while we’ve seen a significant decrease in the death and prevalence in the white population, we haven’t seen the same in the black population. Part of this is because of lack of access to treatment, and the second part of it is that heterosexual contact is the number one way that black women are becoming HIV positive. And even though we don’t like to talk about this, this goes all the way back to men being in prison. The highest percentage of people in prison are black men. They become positive in prison, and then spread the disease to women. In many cases, black women are involved without even knowing they are at risk.
So when we talk about how to make a difference, we can not underestimate how important education is toward prevention. We especially know that we have to make sure we’re creating the right message for women of color. So, the Every Life Matters, Every Dollar Counts initiative is going to raise dollars that will be directed to communities of color — especially women in those communities — around education and prevention.