In this issue:
- Meet Our Shero of the Month: Asha Molock
- Organizing Spotlight: A Huge Salute to Our PWN Volunteers
- Apply for the PWN Policy Fellowship
- Celebrate and Honor Black Women Art Contest
- Celebrate and Honor Black Women Twitter Chat
- Love Positive Women: Request Your Valentine Day’s Card
- PWN Is Hiring
Meet Our Shero of the Month: Asha Molock
Our January 2021 Shero of the Month is Asha Molock of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. A retired schoolteacher who has been living with HIV for 20 years this year, Asha has as many creative talents as she does responsibilities, and she never misses an opportunity to educate her community and fight stigma.
“Asha is one of the most inspiring people I’ve ever met,” said PWN Communications Director Jennie Smith-Camejo. “She does so many different things well and isn’t afraid of going out on a limb and trying new stuff. She does not let age hold her back any more than she lets HIV—when I see her doing burpees on Instagram and making documentaries in her free time, I really start wondering what I am doing with my life! She’s also just a wonderful, humble, generous human being.”
Asha is a caregiver for her 92-year-old mother and her adult son with special needs; during the pandemic, she has also been supervising her seven-year-old granddaughter’s schooling via Google Meets classroom.
Still, she somehow still found the time to write, direct, and produce a documentary film over the past year–and she still manages to get in two virtual sessions a week with her personal trainer and make her Friday pole dancing class.
| Read more about Asha here! |
Organizing Spotlight:
A Huge Salute to Our PWN Volunteers
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When you could have been doing anything else after a very, stressful election, you chose to take up the mantle and continue to educate, engage, and mobilize voters in Georgia. Alongside our partners from Women Engaged in Atlanta, PWN volunteers played a critical role in a runoff election with record-shattering voter turnout, especially among Black voters and young people.
“Speaking with voters in conversations that are personalized, and nonpartisan increases voter turnout. We empowered people with amazing resources to help them vote,” explained Shari Leyshon, one of our most dedicated volunteers. “Calling with PWN and Women Engaged, who have and will continue to care for community and Georgians before, during, and after elections, was so powerful and such an honor.”
| Read more here! |
Take Your Advocacy to the Next Level as a PWN Policy Fellow
Positive Women’s Network – USA (PWN) is thrilled to launch applications for the fifth year of our PWN Policy Fellowship, a year-long program designed to prepare and support women and trans and gender nonconforming (TGNC) people living with HIV to engage effectively in federal, state and local policy and advocacy.
“The PWN Fellowship has meant so much to me–especially with the year we have had. The compassion of every fellow to help others is amazing. I learned you CAN teach an old dog new tricks! Being a fellow has me looking at policies and bills in a whole new way and has taught me how important it is to vote in EVERY election, not just the presidential election.”
– Sonya Milliman, current PWN Policy Fellow, Baton Rouge, LA
The deadline to apply for the PWN Policy Fellowship is February 12.
| Learn more and apply here |
Calling Black Women Artists in the HIV Movement:
Express Your Vision in PWN’s Celebrate and Honor Black Women in the HIV Movement Art Contest!
Are you a Black woman or person of trans experience living with HIV or involved in the HIV community? Get your creative juices flowing and enter an original piece of artwork for PWN’s inaugural Celebrate & Honor Black Women in the HIV Movement Art Contest!
Three talented and inspired individuals will win prizes and will be featured in a special Facebook Live on March 11, the day before our first-ever Celebrate & Honor Black Women in the HIV Movement Day. All eligible submissions that follow the guidelines will be shared through PWN’s website and social media.
The prizes will be $200 for first place, $100 for second place, and $75 for third place, via gift cards that can be used anywhere that accepts credit cards.
| Submit your artwork here! |
Forms of art eligible for entry in the contest include:
- Original visual art (e.g., drawing, painting, photography, sculpture, graphic design, etc.)
- Original writing (e.g., poem, song, essay, or short story)
- Performance art (e.g., video of you performing spoken word poetry, singing, dancing, etc.)
In order to be eligible to participate in the art contest, you must:
- Self-identify both as Black and as a woman, person of trans experience, or gender non-conforming person.
- Be living with HIV OR actively involved in HIV care, prevention, advocacy or activism.
- Agree that your submission can be shared publicly through PWN’s website and social media platforms.
Your artwork should reflect your vision of what it means to you to celebrate and honor Black women in the HIV movement. Deadline to enter is February 28.
Join Us for Our Celebrate and Honor Black Women Twitter Chat
February 10 at 2 pm EST/ 1 pm CST/ 12 pm MST/ 11 am PST
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In honor of Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, PWN-USA invites all of our partners who love and celebrate Black women in the HIV movement to join us, Black AIDS Institute, Transgender Law Center, and Sister Song for a Twitter chat on February 10 at 2 pm EST.
Follow the hashtag #CelebrateAndHonorBlackWomen to participate!
We invite organizations to celebrate and honor Black women in the HIV movement with us.
PWN will be hosting the first annual Celebrate and Honor Black Women in the HIV Movement Day on March 12, 2021.
| Learn more about how you can participate here! |
Get a Handmade Valentine’s Card from Love Positive Women!
PWN is thrilled to continue our collaboration with Visual AIDS, Fire Island Artist Residency, The Well Project, and Dieu Donne to do something special for women living with HIV on the occasion of LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN 2021.
Are you a woman/femme living with HIV who would like to receive a handmade card on Valentine’s Day as part of our LOVE POSITIVE WOMEN program?
To receive a handmade valentine, please email your name and full mailing address to [email protected] by January 31, 2021.
Due to limited supplies this year, group requests are limited to 10 cards per organization.
Cards will be mailed out in late January so that they arrive by Valentine’s Day, February 14. (International mailings may arrive later.) Respecting the privacy of receipts, envelopes will bear the recipient’s address without additional information.
Please note that the valentines are for women and femme-identified people living with HIV only. Thank you for respecting this.
PWN Is Hiring!
Finance and Operations Manager
The Finance and Operations Manager (FOM) is the central administrative hub for PWN’s people (staff, board, and members), money (income, expenses, assets, and liabilities), and technology (systems and devices). The position holds a balance of big-picture and detail-level projects and responsibilities.
The FOM oversees daily operations, supports project management and program reporting, manages infrastructure, operations, and technology for our national and remote offices, and creates and implements organizational policies and procedures. Reporting to a Senior Director, the Finance & Operations Manager is a member of the leadership team; as such, they provide guidance and input on the overall activities of the organization, while overseeing operational functions. Occasional travel may be required when travel restrictions due to COVID-19 end.
| View the full job description and instructions to apply here! |