In this issue:
- Meet our PWN Shero of the Month!
- SPEAK UP! 2018 Updates
- Take Your Advocacy to the Next Level: Apply for the PWN-USA Policy Fellowship
- Join the Black Women Living with HIV Workgroup Feb. 5 to Talk Self-Care
- PWN-USA Is Hiring! Seeking Deputy Director
- Meet Our Office Manager
- Submit a Session Proposal for HIV Is Not a Crime
- This Valentine’s Day, Love Positive Women
- Sign On to Condemn Deportations of Sanctuary Movement Leaders
- Find PWN-USA at Creating Change
Meet the PWN-USA Shero of the Month, Olga Irwin!
Positive Women’s Network – USA is excited to announce the launch of a new monthly feature: our PWN-USA Shero of the Month, a way to highlight and honor just a few of the many amazing women living with HIV going above and beyond to make life better for people living with and vulnerable to HIV and our communities. Our Sheroes of the Month will be highlighted in our e-newsletters (like this one!), on our website and on social media. You can nominate a Shero of the Month here.
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Our January 2018 Shero of the Month is Olga Irwin of Youngstown, Ohio. Diagnosed with AIDS in 1999, Olga has been an active member of PWN-USA for years, serving as co-chair of the PWN-USA Ohio chapter; as a member of the Strategic Communications Action Team (SCAT), policy and organizing workgroups; and as a member of the planning committees for the 2014, 2016 and upcoming 2018 SPEAK UP! Summits. She has served many years on Ryan White planning councils, several state prevention and care groups, and has been publicly sharing her story of living with HIV for years. She was recognized with a Trailblazer Award for Lifetime Achievement this past October at the Transforming Care Conference.
Olga’s work and visibility as a fierce advocate ramped up in 2017, as she got very involved in the fight to protect health care. In addition to a number of protests and press conferences in her region, where she spoke to media and the public about why health care access was so critical for her and others living with chronic conditions, she traveled to Washington, D.C., five times, where she was arrested three times for civil disobedience during large-scale protests on Capitol Hill. These actions helped get far more media coverage about the ACA repeal attempts and how the tax bill would impact health care for low-income people and those with chronic conditions.
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We asked Olga what gives her the drive, motivation and strength to keep fighting without burning out, even when struggling with her own health issues. “When I was first diagnosed, I was so stigmatized and discriminated against. I’d never felt so belittled in my life. Then eventually I hooked with a support group, and from then on, I always said I will not let a person go through what I did. What gives me motivation is mostly when I hear that people are experiencing some the same treatment I’ve received.We Are Getting Ready to SPEAK UP! Are You?
Women living with HIV across the country can’t wait for SPEAK UP! 2018, the only national leadership summit by and for women living with HIV, happening April 12-15 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Click on one of the images above to hear what PWNers Maria Mejia and Stacy Jennings have to say about the upcoming Summit!
Early bird discount ends Jan. 31 – register now to lock in savings!
You have 2 weeks left to take advantage of our special discounted early bird registration, which ends Jan. 31. Your $200 registration fee, which includes 3 nights of shared accommodations at the DoubleTree Myrtle Beach Oceanfront Resort, meals and snacks and all training materials, is well below the cost of most conferences and is made possible by the generous support of our sponsors.
If you have already held your spot with a deposit, you’ll need to complete payment by Jan. 31 in order to keep the early bird rate. The registration rate will increase to $250 on Feb. 1, so don’t miss your chance to save! We also have helpful fundraising tips available here, including a template of a letter you can use to request funds from agencies, clinics, organizations or individuals. If you work or volunteer with or get services from an agency or organization, you may want to ask them to sponsor a group of 5 or more women (including yourself!) to attend SPEAK UP! 2018 at a special discounted rate.
Support leadership development and community of women living with HIV as a SPEAK UP! 2018 sponsor or supporting organization!
PWN-USA is committed to ensuring women living with HIV from communities most impacted by the epidemic are able to participate. Your support will cover lodging, meals and other participation costs for low-income women and people of trans experience living with HIV. Further, your support will allow us to resource high-quality panels, workshops and breakout activities for participants. We have several levels of sponsorship available, which include placement in our special 10th anniversary keepsake program. Get the details and sign up as a sponsor here.
Thank you to our sponsors at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and Housing Works for your generous support!
We are also inviting organizations working with women and people of trans experience living with HIV to be supporting organizations by sponsoring groups of 5 or more women to participate in SPEAK UP! 2018 at a special discounted group rate. Sign up before Jan. 31 and get an extra early bird discount! (Names and information for sponsored participants may be submitted after Jan. 31. Register now to lock in the early bird group discount.)
Take Your Advocacy to the Next Level. Apply for the PWN-USA Policy Fellowship!
We have launched applications for the second year of our Policy Fellowship for women and folks of trans experience living with HIV (WLHIV)! The goal of the yearlong Fellowship is to increase participants’ ability to engage effectively in federal policy and advocacy. In the current political environment marred by threats to sexual and reproductive rights, basic health care, the social safety net and civil and human rights, it is critical that our community is equipped with a wide array of tools to support vibrant, visionary and strategic advocacy on behalf of their communities.
The fellowship is open to all women living with HIV, including women of trans experience. We especially encourage applications from those who are: young, Black, Latinx, immigrant, LGB, trans and gender nonconforming, low-income, and/or reside in the South. All applicants should possess a strong desire to effect meaningful change in the lives of other WLHIV to apply. Check out our current class of fellows here!
“Becoming a PWN policy fellow was an inspiring and phenomenal experience. It’s an experience every woman should embark upon, because you learn so much about policy on many levels that will assist you in knowing your rights and the rights of others,” said Stacy Jennings, a current PWN-USA policy fellow.
Learn more and apply for the policy fellowship here.
Upcoming Webinar 2/5: Let’s Talk Self-Care
Register at bit.ly/pwnselfcarewebinar and help spread the word!
PWN-USA Is Hiring a Deputy Director
PWN–USA seeks an individual who has the experience and skill sets to serve as our Deputy Director. The deputy director is an exciting and key new leadership position identified as necessary to support our growth strategy and future impact. This key position works closely with the executive director and all staff to provide leadership in the organizational strategy, goals, and outcomes particularly for the programs and key operational functions, along with fund development and communications. An ideal candidate should be able to think both broadly and strategically about our work, while being extremely detail-oriented and organized to hold the implementation and structures necessary to move our vision into reality. Find the full job description here.
Meet Our New Office Manager, Anand Kalra!
PWN-USA is thrilled to welcome Anand Kalra to our team as office manager. He describes himself as a systems nerd through and through, earning a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Michigan in 2010. Anand has applied his skills in a variety of settings, including pre-K, K-6 & university education; libraries & museums; and nonprofit advocacy and labor organizations. From 2012-2016, Anand managed health programs for Transgender Law Center, where he focused on non-discrimination policy implementation for transition-related care at state & federal levels and on Positively Trans, a project centered on leadership development and research for and by trans people living with HIV. Anand grew up in rural Illinois and currently lives in Oakland with his cats, Sparrow and Finch.
Submit a Session Proposal for HIV Is Not a Crime III!
The call for session proposals for the HIV Is Not a Crime III Training Academy (June 3-6 in Indianapolis, IN) is now open! We held with an informational webinar Monday, Jan. 8; you can watch the recording here. The webinar explains the abstract submission process, scoring criteria, timeline and helpful tips.Accepted abstracts will be announced on April 9, 2018.
HIV Is Not A Crime program and agenda will be finalized April 25, 2018.
Important Things to Consider Before Submitting:
- All proposals must include at least one person living with HIV as a presenter or a co-facilitator to be considered for selection.
- All presenters are required to register for the conference; acceptance of a proposal does not guarantee a scholarship or coverage of registration or travel expenses.
Read the full guidelines and find links to submit your proposal here.
This Valentine’s Day, #LovePositiveWomen!
Since 2013, communities from around the world have been celebrating LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN from February 1–14. In 2015, Visual AIDS first partnered with the Fire Island Artist Residency, Dieu Donné, and the International Community of Women Living with HIV to make and send out hundreds of handmade paper Valentines all over the world. This year Visual AIDS is working with even more artists, activists and women living with HIV in New York City to make and mail out 500 cards this year!
If you are a self-identifying woman living with HIV and would like to receive a handmade Valentine in the mail for LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN, send an email to [email protected] with your name and mailing address to register by Wednesday, January 24.
For more LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN updates follow the amazing projects posted on the LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN Facebook Page!
Sign On to Condemn Targeting of Leaders of
Immigrant Rights Movement
Prominent leaders of the immigrant rights and sanctuary movements have been targeted in recent days by ICE, detained and, in the case of Haitian-born New York sanctuary movement leader Jean Montrevil, who has lived in the U.S. for over 30 years but was deported summarily on Tuesday without notification from his attorney. This comes on the heels of the president’s racist remarks about Haiti and African nations, referring to them as “shithole countries” and saying the U.S. should take them out of any potential immigration deal and should get more immigrants from “countries like Norway.” Read more about the targeting of sanctuary leaders here.
Join PWN-USA in signing on to this letter to the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen, condemning the targeting of immigrant rights leaders. And please be ready to take action on upcoming action alerts related to the attacks on immigrants.
Going to the Creating Change Conference?
Look for PWN-USA!
PWN-USA’s Reproductive Justice and HIV Legal Fellow, Rebecca Wang, will be presenting in three sessions at the upcoming Creating Change conference in Washington, D.C. If you are going to be there, check out her sessions!
1. Decriminalizing Bodies: From the Grassroots to the Capitol (Session 3) Friday 3-4:30 PM
2. Queering the Waiting Room: Cis/Heteronormativity in Family Planning (Session 6) Saturday 10:45-12:15PM
3. Reproductive Justice in Muslim Communities (Session 8) Saturday 4:45-6:15PM
Positive Women’s Network – USA is a national membership body of women living with HIV and our allies that exists to strengthen the strategic power of all women living with HIV in the United States. Founded in 2008 by 28 diverse HIV-positive women leaders, PWN-USA develops a leadership pipeline and policy agenda that applies a gender lens to the domestic HIV epidemic grounded in social justice and human rights.