In this issue:
- Meet Tana Pradia, Our July 2018 Shero of the Month
- PWN’s New Policy Agenda Is Amazing. Learn How to Use It!
- HIV Racial Justice Now! Join Us Aug. 8 for an Important Webinar
- #AIDS2020ForAll at #AIDS2018
- POZ 100 Nominations Are Open!
- DYK? PWN’s on Instagram!
Meet Our PWN-USA Shero of the Month, Tana Pradia!
Our July 2018 Shero of the Month is Tana Pradia of Houston, Texas. She is the co-chair of PWN-USA Texas Greater Houston Area and a current PWN Policy Fellow.
According to Jessi Mona Cartwright-Biggs, who nominated her, “She has a spirit of humility and is super always willing to step up and help out, no matter what!”
Though Tana has been active in HIV issues for a long time and a driving force behind the fast-moving PWN-USA Texas chapter for over two years, she has been showing up in intersectional spaces a lot lately–especially when it comes to immigrant rights. “This is important to me as a mother, and I have friends who are immigrants and have children,” she explained. “No one should have to go through the injustice these immigrant families are going through today at the hands of this administration.”
Tana’s words of wisdom for women living with HIV considering getting involved in advocacy? “Advocating is a lot of work, but at the end of the day, it’s worth advocating for what we believe in is the right thing to do in the world we are living in for black and brown people today. I’m very proud to be a part of PWN, and the Policy Fellowship is showing me and the 3 chapter members in Houston who are part of the fellowship that our voice counts. You don’t need money to make a change. All you need bodies in numbers.” And plenty of energy and conviction, of course–two things Tana certainly does not lack!
Congratulations, Tana–we look forward to working with you for many years to come!
| Read more |
How Can You Use PWN’s New Policy Agenda?
We’ll Show You!
You may have already seen our brave, bold, visionary new policy agenda, updated for 2018 and beyond, which we released earlier this month.
Intrigued? Curious to learn more and know more about how you can use it in your advocacy? Join us Thursday, Aug. 9, at 3pm ET/12pm PT for a webinar that will help you understand our policy priorities and how the updated policy agenda can inform your issue-based advocacy campaigns.
And Membership Engagement Coordinator Evany Turk will be going live from our Facebook page this Friday, Aug. 3, at 4pm ET to talk more about the new policy agenda. Tune in!
| Register for the webinar here |
HIV Racial Justice Now! How?
Join Us Aug. 8 to Find Out.
A racial justice lens for the HIV movement demands that we:
(1) Integrate racial justice into our organizations and political strategies;
(2) Center those communities most impacted by the epidemic in leadership and decision-making; (3) Root our efforts to advance a racial justice lens in the HIV movement in accountability to the communities that we lead;
(4) Ensure equity around allocation of resources — human, material, and financial;
(5) Work to transform and, where necessary, dismantle institutions that uphold white supremacy and compromise the wellbeing of communities of color.
| Register here |
The Talk of #AIDS2018: #AIDS2020ForAll
If you were in Amsterdam for the International AIDS Conference (IAC) last week–or on social media–you couldn’t miss the #AIDS2020ForAll direct actions.
PWN is one of over 60 human rights organizations to call for the International AIDS Society to change their plans to hold the next IAC in San Francisco, due to the current hostile environment in the U.S. toward Muslims, LGBTQ folks, sex workers, Black and brown people, immigrants and other impacted communities, as well as how unaffordable the Bay Area is. Combined, these factors would put attendance beyond the reach of most people living with HIV.
“It should be inconceivable that the International AIDS Society would even consider a bid from a country where absolutely zero of the networks of people living with HIV are supporting the conference coming. Who is this conference actually for?” asked Naina Khanna, executive director of PWN-USA.
We ramped up the action last week, disrupting the first planning meeting of the Conference Coordinating Committee to reiterate our demand that offer to help the group navigate the logistical challenges of changing the conference location. Watch it here!
So far, the IAS is standing by its decision to hold the conference in San Francisco. We will continue to stand opposed. Stay tuned! Learn more here. And sign on to the call to move AIDS 2020 here.
While #AIDS2020ForAll took center stage, PWN was still in full effect at AIDS 2018! See where we were here. And check out our 7-foot poster about the PWN Policy Fellowship that was on display below!
Nominate Your (S)hero for the POZ 100!
POZ is seeking nominations for the 2018 POZ 100. Established in 2010, the POZ 100 recognizes individuals and organizations that are committed to ending the HIV epidemic.
This year’s list will celebrate 100 people living with HIV who are 50 and older who are making a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Nominees must submit a high-res photo and be willing to have their name and photo appear in POZ magazine and on POZ.com.
To submit an individual for the 2018 POZ 100, please complete the nomination form here. Self-nominations are welcome. The early deadline for nominations is August 24. The 2018 POZ 100 will be announced in the December 2018 issue of POZ magazine.
Follow PWN on YouTube & Instagram!
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.