http://www.c2ea.org/ The Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) is a diverse, exciting new coalition of people living with HIV/AIDS, their advocates and their loved ones--uniting to demand that our leaders exert the political will to stop the epidemic, in the U.S. and abroad, once and for all. In small towns and big cities across America, we're mobilizing to ensure the best treatment and care for all HIV-positive people...and HIV prevention methods backed by good science. en Copyright 2010 Thu, 18 Nov 2010 21:07:29 +0000 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss (Participants of YAI 2009 Protest California HIV & AIDS funding cuts in San Francisco's Mission District.) For five years the Campaign To End AIDS has had the vision to help develop the next generation of leaders who are committed to social justice and improving the lives of all people living with HIV & AIDS in America. The Youth Action Institute was created to help achieve this goal, one of the many activities that the C2EA Youth Caucus and its members are involved with across the country and around the world. The application process for this year's YAI in Shreveport, Louisiana, July 27-July 2 is now open and available below in English and Spanish. Applications are being received until February 23 (January 23 for international applicants) and participants will be notified March 21 (February 26 for international applicants). 2010 YAI Application (English) 2010 YAI Application (Spanish) Teens and young adults (16-26) from across the country and around the world will gather to strengthen their skill set and their commitment to address HIV & AIDS advocacy issues in their community. The Youth Action Institute will be a five-day, intensive, interactive, and hands-on advocacy, activist, and organizing training that will connect participants with strategies to create and develop advocacy networks that will tackle HIV & AIDS issues on the local and regional level. Participants will develop skills, tactics, and strategies that can be implemented in their communities; fund-raising, issue development, outreach & organizing, media training, etc. For additional information or questions regarding the 2010 YAI, please contact info@housingworks.org or call 1877 END AIDS (363-2437). ]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2010/01/yai_2010_applications_availabl_1.html http://www.c2ea.org/2010/01/yai_2010_applications_availabl_1.html News Mon, 11 Jan 2010 16:38:26 +0000 ¿Habla usted C2EA? C2EA Puerto Rico is now up and running. C2EA members from across the country have been very busy this Fall and it looks like there's no slowing down for World AIDS Day and beyond. Here are snapshots of some of the activities and organizing that has passed, ongoing and new C2EA advocacy network building, and previews of upcoming events. Equality To End AIDS (E2EA); Hundreds of HIV & AIDS activists, allies, and loved ones huddled in the shadow of the White House on a chilly and damp Fall evening to demand leadership and urgency in the development of a national HIV & AIDS strategy and to reconnect the LGBT community to the larger HIV & AIDS activism. Held during the weekend of the National Equality March, participants from all over the country and around the world danced, shouted, and swayed to powerful speakers and performers - many of whom are people living with HIV & AIDS - while remembering those before us, those passed, and urging those that will leads in ending this epidemic. C2EA National Secretary and C2EA/Dallas member Marsha Jones looks on as Herbert Hodge opens the Dallas-area HIV & AIDS Community Discussion. C2EA/ONAP HIV & AIDS Community Discussions; C2EA HIV & AIDS advocacy networks in Washington (NC), Dallas, Norfolk (VA), and Michigan, with collaboration from community partners and the Black AIDS Institute, have organized regional 'Community Discussions' to provide testimony to the White House Office of National HIV & AIDS Policy (ONAP). There has been great energy in creating venues that encourage participation and input from the grassroots community not on the original ONAP visitation schedule. Most recently, dozens of women gathered in southeast Virginia to give testimony regarding women's and children's health issues and how those issues should be addressed within a comprehensive national HIV & AIDS strategy. On November 18, the Detroit metro area will host more than 100 participants from across the state of Michigan. Building C2EA Advocacy Networks; Following in the footsteps of strong C2EA HIV & AIDS advocacy networks in Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia, new leaders have been emerging across the country as well as around the world. Led by young activists Dy'ari Volumes, Carrie Rheingans, Ericka Florenciani, and veteran Roberto Archuleta, are developing networks respectively in New York City, Michigan, Puerto Rico, and Kansas City. Direct from participating as volunteer during the E2EA Rally & Vigil, C2EA Youth member is leading the new LGBTQQI Workgroup to tackle equality issues as it relates to HIV & AIDS. People post their communities DEMANDS to be included in the national HIV & AIDS strategy on the C2EA booth at USCA in San Francisco. World AIDS Day; From DC to San Francisco, C2EA members and allies will be marching and rallying with theme of 'Systems Failure' to define the current local, national, and global political and structural mechanisms that are charged with ending the HIV & AIDS pandemic. Broken promise by President Obama on increasing global funding, lack of vision and leadership by city and state elected and appointed officials, mismanagement or misplacing of critical and life-saving funding and resources, among other things have led to an increase of infection rates, additional and unnecessary deaths, and a heightened urgency to develop and implement a comprehensive HIV & AIDS strategy on a levels. C2EA at 5 Years; April 2010 marks the 5 year mark of The Campaign To End AIDS. People living with HIV & AIDS from every state and territory converged on DC in the Spring of '05 to 'Walk A Mile In My Shoes' and begin a journey whose only destination of ending the HIV & AIDS epidemic in this country and beyond. Join the C2EA Outreach & Organizing Workgroup planning calls every other Monday afternoon at 2:30 est, using the toll-free number 1-866-394-9509, 9357895#. For more information on C2EA Workgroups or any events and activities occuring locally, regionally, or nationally, please contact info@campaigntoendaids.org.]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2009/11/c2ea_reviews_previews.html http://www.c2ea.org/2009/11/c2ea_reviews_previews.html News Thu, 12 Nov 2009 13:42:18 +0000 EQUALITY TO END AIDS TO FEATURE PERFORMERS AND SPEAKERS LIVING WITH HIV “Young LGBT people attending the National Equality March need to continue the fight against HIV/AIDS” says Cleve Jones. Diagnosed in 1987, Singer/Entertainer Sherri Lewis will host the 'Equality To End AIDS' Rally & Vigil As tens of thousands of LGBT Americans and their allies converge on Washington DC October 9-11 to march for equal rights, they also will remind the nation and the LGBTQ community that the HIV & AIDS epidemic is not over as well as remember the more than half a million Americans who have died from the disease. The Equality To End AIDS rally and vigil will take place Saturday, October 10, the day before the massive Equality March. Equality To End AIDS will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 pm on the Ellipse, in front of the White House, and feature an inspiring roster of speakers and performers (mostly HIV+), culminating in a candlelight vigil. “The weekend is about achieving full equality for LGBT Americans. We need to use that political power to remind the country that the AIDS epidemic continues. A great many young people will attend the march; we need them to continue the fight against HIV/AIDS,” said Cleve Jones, the founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and one of the National Equality March organizers. Gay and bisexual men are now 50 times more likely to acquire HIV than those any other group. Among young gay men, HIV infections increased an astonishing 12% each year from 2001 to 2006; the only demographic group to see an increase in infections during that period. Even though treatments have extended life for many people with HIV, recent research indicates that, on average, people with HIV live 21 years less than their HIV-negative counterparts. “Many of our most energized LGBT activists are too young to remember the devastating impact AIDS has had on the gay community. We must re-engage the larger LGBT community in AIDS activism,” said Charles King, President and CEO of Housing Works, which is the fiscal sponsor of the rally and vigil. “Ending the HIV pandemic is an issue of justice that must be their fight as well.” Speakers and entertainers at the rally will include singer/actress Sherri Lewis, former Miss America Kate Shindle, members of the Diva League (as seen on America’s Got Talent) on and Inner Light Ministries Choir, San Francisco Human Rights Commission Chairperson Cecilia Chung, Shawn Decker’s Synthetic Division, poet Brandon Plain, gospel rap artist Desencé, singer/songwriter Dudley Sanders, POZ Magazine founder Sean Strub, Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, Bishop Rainey Cheeks and DJ Stone. Many of the speakers and performers are people living with HIV. Who's who?: The Campaign to End AIDS in collaboration with Housing Works, Broadway Cares/Equity Fight AIDS, Westminster Presbyterian Church, More Light Presbyterians, OD/More Light Presbyterians, AIDS Action, The Human Rights Campaign; The Afiya Center, D.C. Fights Back, SisterLove, Southern AIDS Coalition, Positive Advocacy Caucus, Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), Bailey House, Health GAP, National AIDS Housing Coalition, Metropolitan Community Church, Inner Light Ministries, AIDS Action in Mississippi (AAIM), Connecticut AIDS Residence Coalition (CARC), NYC AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN), International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC), Lifebeat, Cable Positive and Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA). Media Contact: Diana Scholl; 917-402-2576; D.Scholl@housingworks.org Organizer Contact: Christine Campbell; 202-409-9786; Campbell@housingworks.org.]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2009/09/excitement_builds_as_equality.html http://www.c2ea.org/2009/09/excitement_builds_as_equality.html News Mon, 28 Sep 2009 16:15:13 +0000 HIV/AIDS Rally & Vigil on October 10, 2009 from 5:30 to 8:30 on the Ellipse in Washington DC. The goals of the Rally and Vigil are to send a message to our national elected officials that addressing the AIDS epidemic must be a major priority if we are to achieve national equality for all, and to draw newly galvanized LGBT activists into the AIDS movement. We will be having a broad spectrum of speakers and performers, predominantly positive, at the rally and vigil and are glad to be part of the National Equality March. To date we have several partners that include SisterLove, Health GAP, CHAMP, The Southern AIDS Coalition, The National AIDS Housing Coalition, Bailey House, Cable Positive, The Afiya Center, DC Fights Back, Westminster Presbyterian Church, AIDS Action in Mississippi, the Positive Advocacy Caucus, Inner Light Ministries - DC and Housing Works who is serving as the fiscal sponsor. Others have expressed interest and we are looking forward to hearing from them soon! We are inviting everyone to be part of this Rally and Vigil. There are many ways you can participate, from being a sponsor or partner to participating on the policy conference calls to attending and spreading the word. If you and your group or organization would like to get involved please contact me at (202-408-0305) or campell@housingworks.org. Looking forward to hearing from you!]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2009/09/many_faces_many_voices_one_goa.html http://www.c2ea.org/2009/09/many_faces_many_voices_one_goa.html News Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:54:28 +0000 Counselor, diagnosed with disease, speaks from her experiences Elizabeth Lancaster speaks to Washington (NC) community while Jeff Crowley, Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy, and Christine Campbell, Vice President for National Advocacy & Organizing with Housing Works, take notes. By GREG KATSKI Community Editor (Published: Friday, September 4, 2009 2:20 AM EDT, Washington Daily News) When Elizabeth Shepherd was diagnosed with HIV in 1997, she thought her life was over. Little did she know her life, or at least a new chapter in it, was just beginning. Twelve years later, Shepherd is the HIV/AIDS health educator for Metropolitan Community Health Services. Recently, she coordinated a town hall-style meeting at Metropolitan AME Zion Church that welcomed HIV/AIDS carriers and advocates from 11 counties in the region. On-hand at the meeting was Jeff Crowley, the director of the White House’s Office of National AIDS Policy. Shepherd has made it her mission to see that people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS and living in eastern North Carolina’s rural counties get the proper care they need through education and action. She said area services provided to those stricken with the disease are minimal. “HIV is a pandemic out here in the rural areas, because they (carriers) don’t have the services, don’t have the transportation,” she said. Shepherd said she has helped people in Belhaven, Pantego and Aurora get to Greenville where they receive the care they need. Several of them are patients at Pitt County Memorial Hospital. Shepherd is looking to further her mission by striving for bachelor-of-science degree in community health education and promotion at East Carolina University. She is set to graduate next spring. Shepherd, 50, has taken a long and, often, tumultuous road to being a HIV/AIDS advocate. She grew up in northern Illinois, moved with her family to Alaska as a child, then, when she was in her mid-30s, to Charleston, S.C., to be with her ailing grandmother. On a normal, quiet evening in Charleston, Shepherd said, she was jumped by several men in a back alley near the College of Charleston’s campus. The men raped her, then beat her with 2-by-4 pieces of lumber. “They were screaming at me, ‘We’re going to kill you because some white girl gave us AIDS,’” Shepherd said. The next thing, Shepherd recalled, she was riding in an ambulance to a hospital. “They beat me down until I was left for dead,” she said. “All the bones in my body were broken. I was ripped up real bad.” Shepherd said she was the hospital in a full-body cast for more than four months. After checking out of the hospital, she began to rehabilitate and relearn basic motor skills. Things were looking up until she was diagnosed with HIV almost a year after the attack. “I just knew then that my life was over,” she said. “My life was never going to be the same — if I lived.” Shepherd said she was disowned by her family and shunned by her friends. Alone, scared and helpless, she didn’t know where to turn. “I didn’t have a clue. I didn’t know what HIV was. I just knew that people died from it,” she said. Shepherd said that, by the grace of God, a married couple and pastors at Shepherd’s church took her in. The pastors, Michelle and Floyd Dotter, remain her best friends. With a place to stay and food to eat, Shepherd had time to think about her future. She realized that with so much bottled-up anger and a newly found drug problem, she needed to go to rehabilitation. Shepherd checked herself into a 12-month drug and alcohol program, Charleston County Adult Drug Court. During the program, she was treated by counselor Ricky Dennis, who was also a pastor at Charleston’s AME Zion Church. “He basically is the one that opened my heart and transformed my mind,” Shepherd said. She graduated from the program in 2002, and she decided it was time to go back to school. She went to Trident Technical College in Charleston for two years before transferring to the University of South Carolina. Living in Columbia, S.C., she began to work as an HIV/AIDS counselor, consoling young women who felt like she once did — lost, scared, lonely. At a counseling conference, Shepherd met the man she calls the love of her life, Scott Shepherd. Elizabeth and Scott, who is HIV negative, dated long distance before Elizabeth moved to Greenville to live with Scott two years ago. The two got married last year and moved to Washington. Shepherd, who is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society at ECU, said she was called to Washington by God. “I think this is an awesome opportunity that I accidentally walked into,” she said. “There is a huge need around here (for HIV/AIDS services).”]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2009/09/shepherd_tends_hivaids_flock.html http://www.c2ea.org/2009/09/shepherd_tends_hivaids_flock.html News Fri, 04 Sep 2009 17:38:32 +0000 Youth activists sound the alarm on the impact of proposed budget cuts Outreach Leader Devin Escobar passing out fliers in the Castro. SAN FRANSISCO, CA (June 26, 2009) – The Campaign to End AIDS Youth Action Institute in conjunction with the Iris Center, are hosting a public informational demonstration today, June 26th at the Plaza located in Castro District. The purpose of the event is designed to speak out against proposed budget cuts scheduled to eliminate crucial HIV prevention and services for San Francisco and Bay area residents. At this event, young HIV & AIDS activists from across the country and around the world will educate the community and disperse pamphlets outlining the impact of the cuts and ways to contact local key decision makers in the allocation process. These cuts will impact important services such as case management, housing services, and medication assistance for those living with HIV in the Bay area community. Additionally, these cuts will impact an array of essential programs such as mental health counseling, drug and alcohol recovery, child care and counseling services of those who are HIV negative or positive. Specifically, the Iris Center (www.iriscenter.org) provides essential resources to women of color who would immensely be afflicted if these proposed cuts would occur. These vital, low costs health care programs would be drastically limited leaving few alternatives for these underserved individuals. The proposed cuts will disproportionately affect women of color and the target population relying on these resources and services. About IRIS Center Founded in 1977, the mission of the IRIS Center is to provide high-quality prevention, education, and behavioral health services to uninsured/underinsured women and their families living in underserved communities. The Center reaches more than 7,000 high-risk women each year through its various prevention and treatment programs. The IRIS Center is the only provider of its kind for women of color in San Francisco. For more information about the IRIS Center visit www.iriscenter.org. About The Campaign To End AIDS The Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) is a diverse, exciting coalition of people demanding that our leaders exert the political will to stop the epidemic, in the U.S. and abroad, once and for all. The Youth Action Institute (YAI) is a youth subset whos purpose is to educate and eradicate the pandemic amongst the youth population. For more information about the C2EA, please call 1-877-END-AIDS (363-2437). California HIV/AIDS Statistics - In 2006 the reporting system changed from non-name coding to name reporting. Based on this new system, there have been a total of 36,412 reported cases of HIV.* - In Alameda County there have been a total of 1,062 cases of HIV and 7,587 cases of AIDS. - In Berkeley alone there have been 46 cases of HIV and 630 reports of AIDS.* - In San Francisco there have been 5,215 cases of HIV and 28,179 cases of AIDS since reporting began.* - San Francisco County ranks second in CA for the number of HIV cases with 5,215 and for the number of AIDS cases with 28,179.* *Source California Office of AIDS April 2009 Monthly HIV/AIDS Statistics Report.]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2009/06/fight_for_funding_aids_cuts_ki_1.html http://www.c2ea.org/2009/06/fight_for_funding_aids_cuts_ki_1.html News Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:09:55 +0000 C2EA recommends one-year-only Ryan White extension to speed reform; White House’s Crowley says change is coming National Secretary Marsha Jones and C2EA say the time for Ryan White reform is now—not three years down the road. The Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) released its position paper on a re-authorizing the Ryan White Treatment Modernization Act this week. The national coalition of people living with HIV and AIDS recommended that the legislation only be extended for one year, with specific benchmarks regarding preparations for integrating Ryan White into fast approaching federal health-care reforms and President Obama’s promised National AIDS Strategy. Read the position paper The existing Ryan White legislation sunsets on September 30. “Ryan White has always been an imperfect approach to fighting AIDS in the U.S. and now we know that health care reform is coming,” said C2EA National Secretary Marsha Jones. “It is absolutely essential that the AIDS community limit the Ryan White extension to one year with a focus on rewriting the legislation. If we extend it for three to four years, as many advocates would like, we are going to get left behind.” C2EA leaders worry that based on the current Ryan White legislation and funding system, community-based organizations that depend upon Ryan White funding are not prepared to work with Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurers, all of which are likely to be key players in the impending healthcare reform landscape. Crowley: Change is coming Housing Works Vice President of National Advocacy and Organizing Christine Campbell says that Jones’ concerns echo what has been coming out of the White House. “In my conversations with [Office of National AIDS Policy Director] Jeffrey Crowley, Crowley has made it very clear that the AIDS community needs to be prepared for major changes, especially being ready to work with Medicaid, Medicare, and private insurers,” said Campbell. “Improving the flexibility of Ryan White is important step in making sure that happens.” C2EA has proposed three benchmarks that would ensure a smooth transition to a new health care era: - By month one of the extension, the creation of a bipartisan committee tasked with ensuring effective links between Ryan White and health care reform. - By month six, development of reworked Ryan White language that includes strategies for meeting the needs—such as health care access and substance abuse services—of people living with HIV AIDS, including but not limited to women of color, ethnic minorities who identify as MSM and people living in rural areas. - By month nine, completed draft legislation reflecting the work of the bipartisan committee. For more information regarding C2EA’s effort to improve Ryan White and ensure that community-based AIDS organizations are ready for health care reform, contact Campbell at campbell@housingworks.org. ]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2009/05/people_get_ready.html http://www.c2ea.org/2009/05/people_get_ready.html News Fri, 22 May 2009 21:21:47 +0000 Isaac Henry from C2EA/Dallas Hundreds of people living with HIV/AIDS from around the country meet up in Washington, D.C. to lobby Congress—about legislation that, for the first time in eight years, actually has a chance of being signed into law. Top priorities this year include lifting the ban on federal funding for syringe exchange and pushing the Early Treatment for HIV Act (ETHA). Activists and advocates aren’t just going to sit back and wait for politicians to do the right thing. The rally at Freedom Plaza was called “We’re Watching—And Tired Of Waiting!” dozens of activists from throughout the country are holding leaders accountable for ending the epidemic in both Washington, D.C. and throughout the country. The diverse group of speakers addressed the need for the involvement of people living with AIDS in crafting a National AIDS Strategy and a D.C. AIDS strategy. The rally was organized by the Campaign to End AIDS, DC Fights Back, and NAPWA. “We need our elected officials to hear us loud and clear that we’re going to hold them accountable,” said Housing Works National Field Organizer Larry Bryant. The rally also promoted NAPWA’s efforts to renew the Denver Principles. The Denver Principles Project is an effort by NAPWA to empower and connect people living with HIV/AIDS. The movement renews the Denver Principles that were created 25 years ago by HIV-positive activists who demanded respect, dignity and a say in their health care. The Denver Principles Project will combine individual voices of PWAs to form a collective and powerful single voice.]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2009/04/tired_of_watching_waiting_aids.html http://www.c2ea.org/2009/04/tired_of_watching_waiting_aids.html News Wed, 29 Apr 2009 19:35:04 +0000 C2EAers from all over continue to 'Stand For A Plan' while assessing progress toward its completion. The Campaign To End AIDS, partnering with organizations and communities across the country are gearing up for the Stand Against AIDS: 50 Day Report Card, marking the 50th Day of the Obama Administration. Marches, rallies, protests, and town halls will take a pulse check - a progress report - on where the Obama Administration is in developing and implementing a comprehensive national HIV & AIDS strategy that will end the epidemic once and for all. Each activity will also take a hard look at their respective local jurisdiction's response to related issues that fuel HIV & AIDS epidemic. With recent news that Jeff Crowley was appointed to head the Office of National AIDS Policy gives evidence that the administration is moving in the right direction. Rallies are being planned in Portland (OR), Denver (CO), Dallas (TX), Memphis (TN), Jackson (MS), Charlotte (NC), Norfolk & Newport News (VA), Harlem (NYC), and Washington, DC. The DC rally will include actress/activist Sheryl Lee Ralph, joined by hundreds of participants in a march that will begin in the shadow of the nation's Capitol to 'East of the River' in Anacostia Park, an area of town where the HIV & AIDS epidemic has hit the hardest. In DC and many neighborhoods across the country, the urgency and importance that this administration create and implement a national strategy that will combat an epidemic that has taken more than a half million American lives will be the focal point. Rallies and town halls led by people living with HIV & AIDS will also give a 'grade' to local jurisdictions as to how they are doing with addressing barriers that contribute to the local epidemic. The messages will link local strategies with progress being made on the national HIV & AIDS plan as well as addressing the intersecting factors - homelessness, racism, poverty, homophobia, etc. For more information and to connect with a rally close to you, please feel free to contact C2EA at 1877-END AIDS (363-2437) or info@campaigntoendaids.org.]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2009/03/31109_obamas_national_aids_str.html http://www.c2ea.org/2009/03/31109_obamas_national_aids_str.html News Mon, 02 Mar 2009 21:44:41 +0000 2008 YAI Class at UNM. The applications are ready (see below) now for the 5th Youth Action Institute to be held on the campus of University of California-Berkeley in Oakland, California, June 23 - 27, 2009. This will be the fifth annual gathering of youth activists and advocates since starting in '05 at Colorado State University's Ft. Collins, Colorado campus. Other locations include Chicago, Raleigh, North Carolina, at the North Carolina State University, and last year at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The YAI organizers are led by George Montgomery (NC), Lolisa Gibson (DE), Carrie Rheingans (MI), and Johnny Guaylupo (NY) - all of whom began as participants at previous trainings. They will be welcoming this years group and will share their experiences and assist in developing skills in grassroots organizing, public health, advocacy, anti-stigma, and direct action. In all, over 230 youth representing communities from all over North America have shared ideas and succeeded in goals developed at YAI. This year will be no different. Who Can Come? Absolutely everyone (between the ages of 16 and 26) is encouraged to apply, regardless of past experience working on HIV and AIDS issues. If you’re passionate about working to end AIDS, then you qualify. C2EA especially encourages people living with HIV and AIDS, women, and people of color to apply. How To Apply? The application (below) must be received by 5:00pm on February 5th. It can be faxed, mailed, or emailed to the number and address below: CAMPAIGN TO END AIDS/YAI '09 727 15th Street NW Suite #210 Washington, DC 20005 1877 END AIDS (363-2437) info@campaigntoendaids.org You will be notified of your acceptance by March 21, 2009. Travel arrangements will be made by YAI staff after confirmation of acceptance. Application: Download file Essay Questions: Download file Release: Download file]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2009/01/yai_2009_hiv_aids_advocacy_by_the_bay.html http://www.c2ea.org/2009/01/yai_2009_hiv_aids_advocacy_by_the_bay.html News Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:12:27 +0000 Shedding light on the unjust treatment of people who are transgender In an emotional ceremony last Thursday, dozens of participants at the Housing Works East New York Transgender Day of Remembrance lined up to light a candle in honor of transgender people who have died. This event was one of many across the country dedicated to remembering transgender people who are killed each year, as well as those that face brutal discrimination off all kinds on a daily basis. “We’ve lost so many people because of hatred,” said Bianca Candall, a Housing Works Transgender Health Services client. “We need to be heard.” In addition to the candle-lighting, the ceremony included prayers by the Rev. Charles King, music from the East New York gospel choir and a reading of “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou.The ceremony was dedicated to Rachel Harden, a member of theHousing Works transgender community who died this month of natural causes. Transgender Day of Remembrance was founded in 1998 to honor Rita Hester, whose murder on November 28, 1998 kicked off the Remembering Our Dead web project and a San Francisco candlelight vigil in 1999. Rita Hester’s murder—like most anti-transgender murder cases—has yet to be solved. Silicone danger Transgender women in particular face special risk factors for death. One major killer highlighted at the vigil was silicone poisoning. Often transgender women receive illegal silicone treatments to change the appearance of their hips, breasts and face in order to appear more feminine. These women can die when silicone is injected directly into their arteries. The continuous build-up of silicone also has longterm effects. Housing Works case manager Tracy Bumpus said that she has known three women in the past year who have died from silicone poisoning. “All the girls who get it swears it’s safe,” Bumpus said. “They say, ‘I’d rather die looking like a woman than live looking like a man.’" To join the Campaign To End AIDS Transgender Group, go to C2EA_Transgender-US-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. For more information on the Housing Works Transgender Program and to see the Transgender Awareness PSA, go to http://www.housingworks.org/services/health-care/transgender-health-services/.]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2008/12/lighting_a_candle_for_the_trans_community.html http://www.c2ea.org/2008/12/lighting_a_candle_for_the_trans_community.html News Mon, 01 Dec 2008 14:36:12 +0000 Dazon Dixon Diallo of SisterLove in Atlanta, GA raises her fist in unison with Stand Against AIDS participants.]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2008/09/stand_against_aids_rallies_in.html http://www.c2ea.org/2008/09/stand_against_aids_rallies_in.html News Fri, 26 Sep 2008 20:03:05 +0000 View image Dazon Dixon Diallo, of SisterLove in Atlanta, GA, raises her fist high as she rallies in unison with Stand Against AIDS participants.]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2008/09/the_stand_against_aids_rallies.html http://www.c2ea.org/2008/09/the_stand_against_aids_rallies.html News dazon dixon diallo oxford rally Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:52:36 +0000 Hundreds march across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhatten "Obama or McCain, will you stand against AIDS?" More than 500 people walked across the Brooklyn Bridge yesterday, one stop on the itinerary of the Northeastern caravan of the Stand Against AIDS. The Northeastern caravan is one of nine caravans converging in Oxford, Mississippi on Sept. 26 at the first presidential debate between Sens. Obama and McCain. Their aim? Obtain commitments to from both presidential hopefuls to take meaningful steps toward the creation of a National AIDS Strategy in the first 100 days of occupying the Oval Office. Activists from up North weren't the only ones making a ruckus: Last Saturday, a “walking” caravan of folks marching 172 miles from Jackson, Mississippi to Oxford kicked off, with a little help from civil rights hero James Meredith. Check out our reports on both the Northeast caravan and the walking march below, and for all the juicy insider info on the progress of the caravans visit to http://standagainstaids.wordpress.com. Kristen Goodwin from Gay Men's Health Crisis in New York City talks about deadly budget cuts Staff and clients from Harlem United, GMHC, Housing Works, NYCAHN, Bailey House and CitiWide Harm Reduction all gathered at a park near the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge on an exceptionally beautiful morning. They carried banners and signs, and wore T-shirts demanding not only action on AIDS from the next president but from New York City officials as well. Once the 400-strong crowd hit the westbound lane pedestrian lane of the famous bridge, tourists, bikers and New Yorkers headed east cheered and gave them the thumbs up. The marchers poured into City Hall Park for an upbeat but no-nonsense rally. "As we stand outside City Hall we have to remember we have some serious battles in our own backyard," said GMHC's Kristin Goodwin. Some of those battles, which many speakers highlighted, include overturning the $6 million cuts to AIDS funding in this year’s City budget and implementing HASA for All, which would provide HIV-positive asymptomatic people with housing and other benefits already provided to people diagnosed with AIDS. "There's a whole community of people who have HIV but aren't able to access services before they get sick. That ain't right," said Shirlene Cooper, NYCAHN co-executive director and participant on the Northeastern caravan. "Why is it the Department of Health always takes from us first?" asked Derrick Starr of VOCAL. "Is it because they think we're the weakest link? Well, I've survived 23 years with this virus because I'm strong." For Carmen Rodridgez, a peer educator with CitiWide Harm Reduction, the latest cuts hit close to home. She was diagnosed with HIV in 1996. She buried her 5-year-old daughter 11 years ago and her husband four years ago. "That's why I'm a peer educator and why I'm still fighting. It's gotten better because of medication, but we're still losing a lot of children and a lot of people." The East New York Choir from Housing Works lights up Lower Mahatten Before hitting the Big Apple, the Northeastern caravan had successful events along the way, including its launch in Portland, Maine. Seventy people turned out for a rally outside City Hall, among them nine political candidates. State Representatives Anne Haskell and John Hinck attended, as was the Portland DOH and every media outlet in town. Andrew Bossie of Maine AIDS Alliance and Jeannemarie Celentano of the Frannie Peabody Center were the brains behind the launch. "This was a great opportunity to get HIV and AIDS talked about in the public arena," Bossie said. "This epidemic is the modern most-deadly epidemic of our time. It's 100 percent preventable. To not have a strategy for all of the U.S., rural and urban, is unacceptable. It's time for a plan not just sitting on a shelf, but one the government can implement to end this epidemic." The caravan also made whirlwind visits to Boston and Albany. For a list of press coverage so far go to http://standagainstaids.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/stand-against-aids-press-coverage/. ]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2008/09/east_coast_stands_against_aids.html http://www.c2ea.org/2008/09/east_coast_stands_against_aids.html News Fri, 19 Sep 2008 15:28:24 +0000 Charles King, Valencia Robinson, and James Meredith lead the 'Walk Against AIDS' AIDS Action In Mississippi! (l-r, Valencia Robinson, Pat Smith, Robin Webb, Eric Bailey) Eric Bailey and Valencia Robinson of AIDS Action In Mississippi carry their message in a bottle]]> http://www.c2ea.org/2008/09/walk_against_aids_officially_s.html http://www.c2ea.org/2008/09/walk_against_aids_officially_s.html News Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:17:10 +0000