In this issue:
- Meet our PWN-USA Shero of the Month for March 2018, Pat Kelly!
- Meet our 2018-2019 PWN-USA Policy Fellows
- SPEAK UP! 2018 Plenaries Announced
- PWN-USA members rock National Women & Girls HIV Awareness Day (NWGHAAD)
- PWN-USA at AIDSWatch
- Register for HIV Is Not a Crime III
Meet the PWN-USA Shero of the Month, Pat Kelly!
Our Shero of the Month for March 2018 is Pat Kellyof Orangeburg, South Carolina. According to Tammy Kinney, who nominated her: “Pat is a rebel when it come to women living with HIV! She is extremely versed in all areas in addressing the needs of women living with HIV unapologetically…Pat works diligently in her community and abroad to serve at an outstanding level of perfection.”
An advocate and leader for over twenty years, Pat was a founding member of Positive Women’s Network – USA and is currently the treasurer of our Board of Directors. She has been leading PWN-USA South Carolina’s campaign, funded by an AIDS United Positive Organizing Project (POP) grant, to educate the community and lawmakers about HIV criminalization laws in the state and then, along with a coalition she has helped build, change those laws. She is also leading the South Carolina host committee for our SPEAK UP! Summit next month.
Asked what gave her the motivation to continue in advocacy, she thanked her mentors. “The people still doing the work after so many years…Sometimes I feel like I’m not appreciated and want to quit. Then I see people like Naina Khanna and Vanessa Johnson doing so much work that is so impactful in people’s lives. And I think, if they can do it, so can I. If I don’t do it, who will? I’m in the business of service, and everything I do for others also helps me. As I help others, I’m also helping myself.” Read more about Pat here.
Know a potential PWN-USA Shero of the Month? Nominate them here!
Introducing the 2018-2019 PWN-USA Policy Fellows
We are proud to announce the 2018-2019 class (year 2) of PWN-USA Policy Fellows! This program, now in its second year, will build the policy leadership bench for women, including women of trans experience, directly impacted by the epidemic and historically underrepresented in the federal health policy advocacy arena. The program kicks off today, when Fellows will embark on a yearlong training where they will develop skills in policy analysis, research, coalition and relationship building as emerging leaders in the field. They will also get a thorough orientation during a day-long institute on April 12, right before the SPEAK UP! Summit.
Our 2018-2019 Policy Fellows are (in alphabetical order): Roselyn Brickenstein (SC), Sylvia Britt (CA), Mona Jessi Cartwright-Biggs (TX), Shelia Crockett (TX), Tuyishime Claire Gasamagera (MI), Roxanne Glapion (TX), Kriss Harper (WA), Olga Irwin (OH), Evonne Kaho (MS), Susan Mull (PA), Kneeshe Parkinson (MO), Tana Pradia (TX), Aracelis Quinones (NY), Marnina Ross-Miller (TX), Storm Salazar (AZ), Meta Smith-Davis (LA), LaDawn Tate (MI) and Prizila Vidal (CA). Learn more about our newest Policy Fellows here.
Announcing the SPEAK UP! 2018 Plenary Sessions
SPEAK UP! 2018, our national leadership summit, is less than two weeks away! We are thrilled to welcome over 320 women and people of trans experience living with HIV to Myrtle Beach, SC, April 12-15, to learn, grow, bond in sisterhood and celebrate 10 years of PWN fierceness with us. We have been extra-busy planning an exciting, impactful program for participants.
As a sneak peek, here are the plenary sessions scheduled for SPEAK UP!:
The Power of Meaningful Involvement
featuring Tami Haught, Sero Project; Pat Kelly, PWN-USA South Carolina; Andy Spieldenner – US People Living with HIV Caucus; Octavia Lewis, Positively Trans.
Reflecting on our Past, Visioning our Collective Future
featuring Waheedah Shabazz-El, Evany Turk, Naina Khanna, Venita Ray, Arneta Rogers.
Federal Policy: Holding the Line: Protecting What We Have
featuring Cecilia Chung, Transgender Law Center; Marcela Howell – In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda; William McColl, AIDS United.
(re) Claiming Our Time: Building Power Beyond this Political Moment
featuring Malika Redmond, Women Engaged; Evany Turk, PWN-USA; Kenyon Farrow, TheBody.com; Monique Tula, Harm Reduction Coalition.
Let’s Talk about Sex: The Criminalization of Bodies, Dating, and Intimacy
featuring Cris Sardina, Desiree Alliance; Stephanie Laster, SisterLove Inc.; Evonne Kaho, Love Me Unlimited 4 Life; Nina Martinez, Georgia HIV Justice Coalition; Tranisha Arzah, BABES Network – YWCA.
10 Years Fierce: A Celebration of Our Victories and Herstory
featuring special guests Brook Kelly-Green, Ford Foundation, and Terry McGovern, Mailman School of Public Health.
Building Resilience: Self and Community Care in Challenging Times
featuring Waheedah Shabazz-El, Barb Cardell, Bre Campbell, Grissel Granados, LaTrischa Miles.
See the Summit schedule here; more program updates coming soon!
Opportunities to sponsor SPEAK UP! 2018 at any level are still available! Get the details and sign up as a sponsor here, or contact Executive Director Naina Khanna at [email protected].
Thank you to our sponsors at AIDS Healthcare Foundation, AIDS United, Amida Care, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Ford Foundation, GMHC, Housing Works, MAC AIDS Fund and ViiV Healthcare for your generous support!
PWN-USA Members Rock National Women and Girls HIV Awareness Day!
March 10, National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, PWN-USA members were busy educating, informing and promoting awareness about HIV in their communities throughout the U.S. Members organized and presented at in-person events, participated in Twitter chats, webinars, interviews, wrote press releases and did live broadcasts to social media. Take a look here at some of our members in action in honor and recognition of National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day!!
PWN-USA Speaks Truth to Power at AIDSWatch 2018
“As a first-timer attending AIDSWatch 2018, I must say I was very impressed by the way I was made to feel so welcomed by everyone!” said Mary Jane Maestas of PWN-USA Colorado, one of dozens of PWNers at the 25th AIDSWatch this week in Washington, DC. “I was in awe most of the time just watching such an amazing group of advocates working so well 
together! As a member of PWN I was very impressed witnessing how all the different organizations worked towards a common goal…I know now that I can help change lives by speaking up and out to help educate others. This event helped me realize that we have a lot of work to do in the fight to end HIV/AIDS and we are just the organizations that can get it done! Just remember Congress works for us! They are human beings with hearts and souls and your stories can make a difference! We must rise up and keep fighting for our rights and the rights of others!”
Advocates living with HIV and allies had a full day of training, preparation and networking sessions on Monday, March 26, followed by a packed day of visits to their members of Congress on Capitol Hill on Tuesday. Check out our photo album on Facebook here.
Join Us at HIV Is Not a Crime III Training Academy.
Registration Is Open!
HIV is Not a Crime III, the third national training academy to educate and train 300 people living with HIV (PLHIV), stakeholders and policy leaders to mobilize state-level advocacy to end HIV-related criminalization, will be held June 3 – 6, 2018, at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI).
HIV is Not a Crime III will once again unite and train advocates living with HIV and allies from across the country about laws criminalizing people living with HIV and on strategies and best practices for repealing such laws. Skills-building trainings, with an emphasis on grassroots organizing, advocacy, coalition-building and campaign planning, will leave participants with concrete tools and resources to work on state-level strategies when they return home.
Registration is open! Register today!
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.