April 2022

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Meet PWN’s Shero of the Month: Sonya Milliman
PWN Recognizes National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Celebrating Black Joy, Resistance, and Resilience: CHBW Town Hall Recap
Take action:

PWN Colorado is getting out the vote! Join us!

Upcoming events, trainings, and meetings:

April 7 and 21: PWN SisterCircle Virtual Support group
April 20: White Folks Dismantling Racism and Navigating Conflict

What we’re reading: Why Women must be included in HIV Research

SHERO of the Month

Congratulations to PWN’s April 2022 Shero of the Month: Sonya Milliman of Baton Rouge, New Orleans! Sonya has been a PWN member since 2019 and currently serves as the Chair-in-training for PWN’s Louisiana chapter.

Originally from Buffalo, New York, Sonya takes pride in raising 6 children, 2 of them biological, and considers them her greatest accomplishment and blessings in her life. Her hobbies include making jewelry with hemp and beads, as well as her recently discovered passion for pour painting. She loves this newfound art, just pouring paint and watching a beautiful creation emerge from such a simple act.

“We just need to work together, we need to test, we need to normalize talking about sex and HIV. I want to see more people be vocal about living with HIV, and with each step, we can possibly end this! I know my thoughts can be outrageous, but this is my hope.” – Sonya Milliman

Read Sonya’s Full SHERO Interview here

PWN Recognizes National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

This NYHAAD, PWN wants to not only remind youth about the importance of HIV awareness, HIV education, and HIV testing but uplift the experiences of young people born with HIV and younger long-term HIV survivors. Today’s young people are the first generation who have never known a world without HIV, among them are the first generation of children who were born with HIV. Youth today experience low rates of testing and condom use, and high rates of STIs, due in part to an egregious lack of access to comprehensive sex education. But while these issues dominate the national conversation surrounding youth and HIV, the stories of young long-term survivors are largely untold. We invite you to honor National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, by tuning in to The Reunion Project’s screening of “We’re Still Here,” a documentary film by PWN Board member and deputy director of The Well Project, Grissel Granados. “We’re Still Here” chronicles Granados’ journey to connect people who were born with HIV, giving them a platform to share their powerful testimony.

Celebrating Black Joy, Resistance, and Resilience: CHBW Town Hall Recap

Nail cam! The Black Resilience panelists show off their fabulous nail art per viewers’ requests.

PWN’s second annual Celebrate and Honor Black Women in the HIV Movement (CHBW) Day was a resounding success with 100 attendees on Zoom and nearly 1,000 post engagements on Facebook Live.

With broad support from the HIV community, including the 29 organizations who are committed to uplifting Black women, we honored twenty Black HIV Movement Mothers and hosted a powerful Black Joy and Resilience Town Hall, featuring seventeen brilliant Black women dropping pearls of wisdom, Black love, and inspiration. Haven’t signed on to support CHBW yet? It’s not too late! Organizations can sign on here.

Missed the Black Joy and Resilience Town Hall 2022? Catch the recording here:

TAKE ACTION:

Come get out the vote with PWN-Colorado!

Positive Women’s Network-USA Colorado (PWN-CO) works on reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, racial justice, healthcare access, and affordable housing. We’re looking for folks who care about these issues to knock on doors and make phone calls for the upcoming Spring election. And yes, we’re paying!

Phone bankers call voters on the phone using a script and are paid $15/hour. Canvassers walk door-to-door in Denver neighborhoods to talk to voters and are paid $17.50/hour. Phone bankers can be located anywhere, but we’ll prioritize folks who live in CO. In order to canvas with us, you have to be able to reach Denver. Get out the vote and get paid to do it! We’ll be reviewing applications on a rolling basis so apply ASAP.

Apply here!

UPCOMING EVENTS, TRAININGS, & MEETINGS:

PWN Sister Circle Virtual Support Group Apr 7 & 21

Join us this month on Thursdays, April 7 and 21st at 8 pm ET/ 7 pm CT/ 5 pm PT for PWNCares Sister Circle. #PWNCares Sister Circle is a virtual support group for women and people of trans experience living with HIV. Registration is required for participation.

PWN members will receive a link to join the group once they sign up. We encourage you to join us and invite a friend!

Dismantling Racism and Navigating Conflict (for white racial justice advocates)

The first white folks dismantling racism in HIV spaces was hosted for white participants attending at HIV is Not a Crime (HINAC) IV in YEAR, to strengthen a shared understanding of anti-Black racism, to identify how it has shown up both in our advocacy communities and in our personal lives and to acknowledge the disproportionate impact of HIV criminalization on communities of color. We came together to acknowledge the harm white people in the HIV community have caused, and to develop tactics to actively interrupt and dismantle systemic and interpersonal racism in HIV advocacy spaces.

Sero and PWN are collaborating with Partners for Collaborating Change to continue this work. We invite community partners to join our next workshop on April 20th: Dismantling Racism and Navigating Conflict. This workshop is designed for white participants.

April 20th from 4:30 pm – 7:30 pm ET

What we’re reading: Why Women must be included in HIV Research

POZ.com’s piece including PWN’s Matha Cameron is a thought-provoking article and reminder for us to ensure awareness for the inclusion of women and HIV research. Women represent 19.2% of participants in HIV antiretroviral drug studies, and 11% of participants in cure research, although women make up 51% of people living with HIV.

Read ‘’Why Including Women in HIV Research Matters’ including the opinions and lived experiences of PWN’s very own Martha Cameron here