The Campaign to End AIDS is hitting the road again and this time our destination is Oxford MS – September 24-26, 2008 - the site of the first National Presidential Debate for the Stand Against AIDS. AIDS activists from around the country want to make sure that people living with HIV/AIDS voices are heard as part of this election process and are engaging in a year long campaign to ensure that this happens.

(Pictured: Civil Rights legend and Mississippi native James Meredith with C2EA Outreach Co-chair Larry Bryant.)

Nine caravans travel different routes across the country raising awareness on issues like access to care, research based on science – not ideology, increased funding for prevention tools and an end to stigma. Caravans will begin in California, Washington State, Texas, Minnesota, Maine, Virginia and Florida

As those of you who have been following C2EA, we believe that the AIDS epidemic is not just a public health issue, it’s a social justice issue. To that end we are very happy to announce our partnership with Mr. James Meredith, Civil Rights Activists, for this project. “This is really the same issue that Dr. King was dealing with when he got killed: poor people” says Meredith. “ If the Campaign to End AIDS is successful, it will change everything by focusing on the conditions and the circumstances of the poor. This will be a thousand times bigger than the right to an education.”

In 1966, James Meredith embarked alone on the March Against Fear, a 220 mile walk from Memphis Tennessee to Jackson Mississippi. The March was intended to encourage African-Americans to register to vote and make an impact on elections. Now 42 years later, Meredith lives in Jackson, MS and is lending his support to another Mississippi March, The Stand Against AIDS, organized by C2EA. In addition to eight caravans the caravans traveling across the country, in the ninth caravan AIDS Activists in Mississippi will reprise Meredith’s walk going from Jackson to Oxford, MS. Once arriving in Oxford, C2EA will host a town hall meeting on HIV/AIDS, have a Rally to End AIDS and visually depict the importance of addressing the HIV/AIDS epidemic both domestically and globally.

One of C2EA’s main priorities is to demand that the United States develop a national strategy to end AIDS. The US requires that countries receiving PEPFAR (President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief) dollars have a strategy with measurable outcomes to address the epidemic in their country, yet the US does not have such a plan.

To get connected with a Stand Against AIDS caravan, or host an event along a caravan routes with Stand Against AIDS contact: Larry Bryant, 1-877-ENDAIDS, or bryant2@housingworks.org

To sponsor an AIDS activist on one of the caravans, make checks payable to Campaign to End AIDS and mail to Campaign to End AIDS c/o Housing Works, 727 15th St., NW, 2nd Flr, Washington DC 20005

There are young people across the country emerging from the fading cold and of winter and dusting off their fundraising kits. No, not the Girl Scouts... It's the C2EA Youth (scouts?)! The application process is in full swing for the 4th Youth Action Institute to be held on the campus of University of New Mexico in Albuquerque June 25 - 29, 2008.

This will be YAI's first gathering west of the Mississippi since its first in '05 on Colorado State University's Ft. Collins, Colorado campus. The following year was in Chicago and last year's was in Raleigh, North Carolina, at the North Carolina State University.

"New Mexico is a culturally rich and geographically beautiful state," says, New Mexico resident and member of the C2EA Youth Caucus, Kahlo Benevidez. "Native American and Hispanic culture pervade every city in the state in one form or another. Here, you will find a culturally diverse and friendly community willing to share its values, traditions and customs and a stunningly beautiful landscape. The beauty of New Mexico and the openness of its people
do justice to its nickname 'The Land of Enchantment.'"

Kahlo and the rest of the YAI staff and faculty will be welcoming this years group and sharing experiences and developing skills in grassroots organizing, public health, advocacy, anti-stigma, and direct action. In all, over 200 youth representing communities 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 attached application (below, in English and Spanish) must be received by 6:00pm
on March 15th. It can be faxed, mailed, or emailed to the number and address below:

CAMPAIGN TO END AIDS
YOUTH ACTION INSTITUTE 2007
c/o Charles Long
57 Willoughby Street 2nd Floor
Brooklyn, New York 11201
(347)473-7451 oce
(646)942-1934 cell
(347)473-7464 fax
long2@housingworks.org

You will be notified of your acceptance by April 1. Travel arrangements will be made by YAI staff after confirmation of acceptance.

YAI Application eng.

YAI Application esp.

Little Caleb Glover gets to go swimming, as Campaign to End AIDS event boosts awareness of AIDS stigma

Two months ago, Alabama toddler Caleb Glover was barred from the pool at the Alabama RV resort Wales West simply because he is HIV-positive. Yesterday, Caleb, accompanied by dozens of HIV-positive activists from the Campaign to End AIDS (c2ea.org), finally got to take a dip in the Wales West pool. The Labor Day swim was part of C2EA's "family reunion" at the resort, intended to call attention to the stigma that still affects people living with HIV/AIDS.

More than 100 people with HIV traveling from across U.S. to participate; RV park owner at center of controversy says activists welcome

The Campaign to End AIDS (www.C2EA.org) is holding a "family reunion" at the Wales West RV Resort in Silver Hill, Alabama, on Labor Day, Monday, September 3, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The group expects more than 150 people to attend the event, including at least 100 people living with HIV/AIDS arriving in car caravans from Washington, D.C., Nashville, Miami, Houston, Dallas and Little Rock, Arkansas.

Marie and friends in Humboldt Park, Chicago

Marie Garlock is our youth whose experience at the Youth Action Institute she states "has altered her life." She will be stationed at the HIV Clinic twice a week when she is not in the community! Tim Johnson, our member who is a journalist and Bill Moureaux, our genius web guy will create a blog to follow Marie's summer project to inform and encourage all who reads!

Lane, Rajner, Miller and Brett Calka

More than 20 young people gathered in Raleigh, NC, last week for the Campaign to End AIDS' third annual Youth Action Institute (YAI) to learn how to become effective AIDS advocates. Little did they know, that over the course of the five day gathering, they would be faced with a real-life crisis that would teach them how to organize and take action.

Robinson at the women's affinity session.

Last week, some 1,400 people from all over the country gathered in New Orleans for the 2007 HIV Prevention Leadership Summit (HPLS) sponsored by the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC). This year's HPLS, which ran from May 20 to May 23, had a special feel to it because of its location, and, thanks to a little push from NMAC executive director Paul Kawata, because "grassroots organizing" was on the tip of many people's tongues.

CHAMP RI has been meeting with HEALTH, the state Health Department, to demand full information on proposed cuts to AIDS services. On this website, you will find all of our letters to HEALTH before and after these meetings, and their replies to our request for information.

Cedric Murphy (Shreveport) and Joyce Keller (Baton Rouge) compare notes.

The Campaign To End AIDS/Louisiana met January 20 on the campus of Southern University to create a plan to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Louisiana. The group, consisting of advocates, activists, and people living with HIV/AIDS braved the rainy and cold weather to brainstorm and discuss issues such as housing, education, and other topics that affect those living with HIV/AIDS across the state. By the end of the day, C2EA/LA had developed a working action plan that will serve as a road map towards addressing these issues.

To join or for more info please contact one of C2EA/LA's regional represenatives.

(Columbia) December 10, 2006 - AIDS activists are trying to get the governor's attention now that a fourth person on a waiting list to get AIDS medication in our state has died.

Sunday, a group gathered outside the governor's mansion chanting " end the waiting list."

Clearly, the main thing to do on November 7 is vote. Voting is very important but can often be a confusing process. Here is a brief guide designed to answer some common election day questions.