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Main Forums => AIDS Activism => Topic started by: emeraldize on August 17, 2009, 03:20:40 pm

Title: Are You Ready to Offer Testimony?????? And much more...
Post by: emeraldize on August 17, 2009, 03:20:40 pm
Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), AIDS Foundation of Chicago and SisterLove
thank you for your work fighting for HIV Prevention Justice...

Building a Unified and Effective Movement for HIV Prevention in the United States

The National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) process kicks off...

Get ready to speak out on prevention justice with our training call on crafting NHAS testimony!

The Obama Administration has chosen the National HIV Prevention Conference as the site for the first of thirteen town meetings soliciting input for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (see below for information on how to attend, if you live in the Southeastern US)... What a vital time for the struggle for HIV prevention justice!

We must use this and all other opportunities to speak out for a real shift in HIV prevention policies... to address root causes of high incidence, like poverty and marginalization... to demand community-accountable, strategic research to get us the answers we need... and to insist on a true cross-governmental effort to scale up and systematize the fight against HIV/AIDS across the country.

But how can we turn our community stories and years of work into concise, effective testimony that will be compelling and effective in shaping the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS)? Join us for our next HIV PJA call:

Friday August 21:  1:00 PM - 2:00 PM (Eastern Time):
 From "Speaking Out" to Real Change: Developing Effective Testimony for the National HIV/AIDS Strategy Town Meetings and Beyond
Friday August 21 from 1-2 pm Eastern, 12-1pm Central, 11am-12pm Mountain, 10am-11am Pacific

Dial in: 1-866-740-1260  Passcode 4272302#
Please use link below to register to access live web presentation

Please join us for a teleconference and web presentation to ensure we are ready to deliver targeted, effective and powerful testimony towards a truly meaningful National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

Click here (copy/paste) to register for the call!

http://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/1837/t/482/event/index.jsp?event_KEY=52066


Are Town Meetings Coming to My Town?

On our last HIV PJA planning call, we shared the information we'd received on the locations of all the planned town meetings that will be held as a part of creating the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

The dates are still not known and this list is not in chronological order. However, all are expected to happen by the end of the year. We've been told that there will also be an online system for submitting input up and running in September or October; that the information collected at the town meetings will be publicly distributed and/or the sessions will be webcast; and that the August 25 town meeting will be the only one that is embedded in a conference rather than free-standing. Here's the locations:

Washington DC New York City San Francisco and Oakland (2 events around same time) Los Angeles
Houston Albuquerque Mississippi (exact location to be determined) Ft. Lauderdale
Minneapolis Columbia, SC Puerto Rico Virgin Islands


Live in the Atlanta region or the Southeast? Reserve your seats for August 25 National HIV/AIDS Strategy Town Meeting - you don't have to be registered for the prevention conference to attend!


As soon as the first NHAS town meeting was announced, the HIV PJA and allied demanded space in the town meeting for local people who are not attending the conference - and we won 200 seats that can be reserved by anyone in the region who would like to attend!


Here's the announcement from the conference that tells you how to reserve your seat:

Developing a National HIV/AIDS Strategy
2009 National HIV Prevention Conference
Hyatt Regency Atlanta Hotel
Centennial Ballroom
Tuesday, 6:30 p.m. - 8:00 p.m.
August 25, 2009

The Obama Administration is committed to developing a National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) that reduces HIV incidence, increases access to care and improves health outcomes, and reduces HIV-related health disparities. The White House's Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP), directed by Jeffrey Crowley, is committed to developing the NHAS through a process that includes a broad range of perspectives and stakeholders.

To that end, ONAP has announced plans to conduct a series of town hall meetings across the United States through the end of the year. The first town hall meeting will take place during the 2009 National HIV/AIDS Prevention Conference on Tuesday, August 25th, 6:30-8 p.m., in the Centennial Ballroom of the Hyatt Regency Hotel.

All conference attendees are invited to attend the forum, and an additional 200 seats have been reserved for individuals who have not registered for the National HIV Prevention Conference. If you haven't registered for the conference, you can register to attend this special session outside the Centennial Ballroom beginning at 6 p.m.. You may also e-mail info@cdcnpin.org  to preregister for this event.

Conference registration [meaning the National HIV Prevention Conference overall, not the town meeting] is now only available onsite at the conference beginning August 23 at 9 a.m.
 
HIV PJA Leaders call out for high-level PLWHA and community integration in the development of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy

In July 2009, the White House Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) released a short statement on their plan to develop the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS).

Two key coalitions of AIDS advocates - including HIV PJA founders AIDS Foundation of Chicago, CHAMP and SisterLove - contacted ONAP to ask for changes in the proposed structure. Both the Coalition for a National AIDS Strategy, which initiated the call for a NHAS and a Ford Foundation-convened coalition of 14 organizations addressing the needs of women living with HIV are calling out for the inter-governmental panel developing the NHAS to work closely and consistently with the AIDS community on all stages of drafting the plan, in addition to soliciting input from the town meetings and through online mechanisms.


In Atlanta, or coming for the Prevention Conference or Town Meeting? Join us for HIV PJA evening events OPEN TO ALL!



MONDAY AUGUST 24: 8:00 - 10:00 PM
Atlanta Marriott Marquis, 265 Peachtree Center Avenue, NE, Atlanta, GA 30303, in the Fairlie Room
Meet-Up and Dance Party for HIV Prevention Justice!

Who says Prevention Justice is NO FUN?? Right after the CBO/NGO Village, join us for great music and fantastic company as we come together to celebrate our accomplishments in the struggle for HIV Prevention Justice, and get in rhythm for the road ahead.  For more info, call or text Josh Thomas at 917-539-7016.

TUESDAY AUGUST 25: 8:30 - 9:30 PM • Atlanta Marriott Marquis, 265 Peachtree Center Avenue, NE, Atlanta, GA 30303 • Fairlie Room
HIV Prevention Justice and the National HIV/AIDS Strategy

Come together as HIV Prevention Justice Alliance members and interested allies right after the town meeting to craft next steps to ensure that Prevention Justice is a part of the NHAS. For more information, call or text Julie Davids at 646-431-7525.

While we have your attention:

Last call to join the HIV PJA as Founding Members - Organizations can sign up for as little as $25!

Many of you told us that your organizations are eager to join the HIV PJA but needed time to do so due to fiscal-year-end issues, board procedures or other totally understandable reasons! We're all struggling in this economy, and we want to do all we can to make membership work for our allies. 

So we're extending our Founding Member recruitment period till THIS TUESDAY AUGUST 18, in order to have our slate of founding members in place by the National HIV Prevention Conference. Of course, you can also join as standard members from that point onwards.

Dues are based on your organizational budget and can be as low as $25 a month... and  monthly payment plans as well as partial scholarships are available. So please click here to learn more about membership, and contact us if you have any questions. 

And remember - if you are an individual who wants to be involved with the HIV PJA outside of an organization, we welcome you to join the CHAMP Network and apply to become a Key Contact of the HIV PJA.


In the spirit of unity in the fight against HIV,

Julie, Dazon, David and everyone else at the HIV PJA


32 Broadway, Suite 1801, New York, NY 10004
Tel: 212.937.7955 • Fax: 401.633.7793 • E-mail: champ at champnetwork.org

www.champnetwork.org
Title: Re: Are You Ready to Offer Testimony?????? And much more...
Post by: Jody on August 18, 2009, 10:35:46 pm
Thanks emeraldize for this post.  I will print it out and try and take part Friday in the teleconference.  I have gotten a bit sidetracked by everyday things and haven't done even the little things I had been doing consiently in the past, still important endeavors like letter writing and calls to politicians offices. (No, not crank calls).

Are you getting a little nervous the Obama administration might not be able to come through with even larger pieces of universal healthcare and that the whole thing could blow up???
 
Jody