In this issue:
- Meet our Shero of the Month: Rica Rodriguez
- Organizing Spotlight: Women Engaged
- New Resources Page for Media-Makers
- Congratulations 2019-20 PWN-USA Policy Fellow Graduates
- HIV Is Not a Crime IV Updates
- Last Chance to Vote for Our Block Party Series!
Meet Our Shero of the Month: Rica Rodriguez
Our November 2019 Shero of the Month is Rica Rodriguez of Denver, Colorado. She was diagnosed with HIV in 1989 at the height of the early epidemic. She began advocating in 2006. She is currently a member of the PWN-USA Board of Directors and the PWN Colorado co-chair. Barb Cardell, PWN’s training director, said, “Rica is a bad-ass community organizer who doesn’t even realize how amazing she is. In the last several years, she has partnered to bring comprehensive sex education, family planning, syringe access, HIV outreach, voter education, voter registration, and grassroots organizing to Colorado. She is able to talk to anyone about any issue and sees this versatility as a way to connect folks to PWN Colorado and Organizing for Power. She is the go-to advocate who supports people in her community, sees value in everyone’s lived experience, taking time to listen deeply, and then follows up with a goofy Instagram picture to leave you laughing.”
Rica has kept busy since she first learned about PWN. She said, “I have been a member of PWN for many years, and I initially joined for the support that we receive from each other and the networking. Recently I’ve become more involved in policy because of the current administration and all of the ugliness and pain that has come from it. I feel that being a part of the PWN Policy Fellowship has both educated and empowered me to become more of a leader in my communities and help others to move up the leadership ladder so that we can collectively make the changes that we need to see happen.”
| Read more about Rica here! |
Organizing Spotlight: Women Engaged
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Women Engaged is a pioneer in the reproductive justice movement, as one of the very few organizations in Atlanta, Georgia, to use an integrated voter engagement model to not only increase civic engagement but to build power for reproductive justice issues and values. Using a human rights framework, Women Engaged develops policy recommendations, conducts research and organizing initiatives paired with, leadership development, savvy communications outreach strategies and civic engagement opportunities for women and youth of color.
Women Engaged joined our electoral organizing bootcamp in Atlanta last month to lead discussions on effective and safe canvassing and phone banking. We interviewed Michelle N. Wilson, Senior Program Manager, about how she came to be a part of the organization and lessons she has learned.
Q. How did you get involved in the work of electoral organizing? What have you learned in the process?
A. I joined Women Engaged a little over two years ago as my first formal position in electoral organizing. I am thankful for the leadership of our co-founders, Malika Redmond and Margaret Kargbo, because I have found an avenue to channel my passion for political education and use it as a tool to build power and protect the rights of the communities I hold dear. I have learned the power that in-person conversations have to build power, and how important it is for us to use our stories to hold the government and communities accountable to our needs.
| Read the full interview here! |
New Resources for Media-Makers and Communications Professionals Covering HIV!
Check out our new page for media-makers covering HIV, and anyone working with people living with HIV or dealing with HIV-related issues!
The new resource center includes a recording of the much-in-demand webinar for media-makers we co-hosted with Equality Florida last week (11/18) as well as our brilliant 2015 webinar on avoiding stigmatizing language; a downloadable palm card with preferred language and facts about HIV; guidelines and best practices for media-makers to avoid stigma; and more!
| Check out Reporting with Care: Updating How We Talk About HIV in the Media here! |
Congratulations 2019-20 PWN-USA Policy Fellow Graduates
PWN-USA is pleased to announce the second graduating class of our Policy Fellowship. These 2019-2020 fellows successfully completed a 9-month-long fellowship to 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.
| RSVP here! |
HIV is Not a Crime 4 Training Academy Updates
Registration Now Open!
HIV is Not a Crime IV (HINAC), the fourth national training academy to educate, train, and mobilize 300 people living with HIV, stakeholders, and policy leaders to mobilize state-level advocacy to end HIV-related criminalization, will be held May 30-June 2, 2020, at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. Registration is now open!
Want to join a working group to help plan HINAC IV? The working groups are: Program; Venue and Logistics; Fundraising; Media and Outreach; and Hospitality and Culture. To join a working group, email Tami Haught at [email protected].
| Register for HIV Is Not a Crime IV here! |
HIV Is Not a Crime IV Call for Abstracts Webinar
Dec. 5, 6:30pm EST
The call for abstracts for HIV Is Not a Crime IV opens Thursday, December 5! Interested in submitting a session proposal? Be sure to attend this informational webinar December 5 at 6:30pm EST for guidelines and tips on how to submit a successful abstract.
| Register for the webinar here |
Last Chance to Push PWN’s Block Party Series Across the Finish Line on POZ Media Awards!
Last chance to vote for PWN’s Block Party webinar series for POZ’s best video series of 2019! Voting ends Dec. 1.
| Vote now! |