Carrie Rheingans
The White House Office of National AIDS Policy is coming to Michigan to host a Community Conversation, in which they will receive feedback and testimonies of people affected by HIV about what should be included in a national AIDS strategy. The Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA), the Black AIDS Institute, and the National Association of People With AIDS (NAPWA) are also supporting the event. I’ve worked with C2EA for the last two years, particularly with their Youth Caucus and the Youth Action Institute, and I will be the Michigan-based contact person. See my previous SPH blog posts about this year’s YAI here and here.
The event will allow people to provide 1-2 minute testimonies about their experiences with HIV (as someone living with HIV, affected by HIV, or working in the field), and what they think should be included in a national AIDS strategy. The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is a program through which the US government supports work to turn the tide against the AIDS epidemics in various hard-hit countries. One requirement to receive PEPFAR money is that each country must have a national AIDS strategy – which the USA itself doesn’t even have! These community conversations, happening all over the country, will help inform the eventual national USA AIDS strategy here at home.
You can give testimony yourself at the event:
FREE ADMISSION
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Affirmations Community Center
290 West Nine Mile Road
Ferndale, MI 48220
(248) 398-7105
For more info, please contact me at crheinga@gmail.com or leave a message at 734-572-9355 x238
You can also give testimony online. Please register for the event here. Naturally, I’m very excited about this opportunity! Very rarely does such an easy opportunity for policy advocacy happen, and even more rarely can I work on it as part of my social work internship! This opportunity gives me a chance to flex both my public health and social work muscles!
