In this issue:

• Meet Our Shero of the Month: Grissel Granados
• Organizing Spotlight: RISE Gender Justice Training of the Trainers 2.0 Gender Justice Training of the Trainers 2.0
• National Day of Action
• COVID-19 Vaccines & PLHIV FAQ
• Webinars You Won’t Want to Miss, Including What’s My Leadership Style Corrected Date
• Welcome PWN’s New Staff
• PWN Is Hiring: Communications Director

Meet Our Shero of the Month:

Grissel Granados

Our September 2021 Shero of the Month is Grissel Granados of Los Angeles, CA. Grissel Granados is an HIV advocate, HIV Prevention Program Manager at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, and Positive Women’s Network (PWN) Board member since April 2018. You may remember Griselle as a co-director of the groundbreaking 2015 documentary on young people born with HIV, “We’re Still Here.”

“Grissel is a Shero to me every day,” said PWN co-executive director Naina Khanna. “I so appreciate her brilliant insights, her laughter, and her fierce commitment to justice and equity. As a board member, she asks thoughtful questions and pushes us as an organization. Grissel has been a key contributor in work around addressing anti-Black racism as it shows up in communities of color impacted by HIV as well as PWN’s efforts to integrate language justice. Grissel is one of those people you can count on to have your back when you’re not in the room. She’ll actually kick the door down for you. Grissel is super smart, she’s a warrior and a soldier for the people, and she does it all with the most immense love and humility and while parenting a small revolutionary human. I’m grateful to be in this work with her and to call her a friend.”

Organizing Spotlight: RISE Gender Justice Training of the Trainers 2.0

PWN is getting ready to launch our RISE Gender Justice Training of the Trainers 2.0, an opportunity for BIPOC transgender women living with HIV in the south to participate in our intensive transgender and reproductive justice training of the trainers’ program in October. This is an 8-month academy from November 2021 through June 2022.

We are focusing our recruiting on Black and Latinx transgender women and gender diverse folks living with HIV predominantly from the south, but all transgender and gender diverse folks living with HIV are qualified.  To complete a pre-application click here.

National Day of Action to End Violence Against Women Living with HIV

PWN will hold a virtual event to commemorate its annual National Day of Action to End Violence Against Women living with HIV. In 2014, PWN established an annual day to bring attention to intimate partner violence experienced by women living with HIV from partners. The day of action is held annually on October 23rd, was started after two women in Texas, Cicely Bolden, and Elisha Henson, were murdered by sex partners following disclosure of their HIV status. The event will feature one of the PWN Cares video series of women and people of trans experience discussing intimate partner violence followed by a panel discussion. This event will also be streamed live from our Facebook page: Positive Women’s Network

Register HERE!

COVID-19 Vaccines & PLHIV FAQ

HIVMA has updated COVID-19 Vaccines and People with HIV Frequently Asked Questions to summarize the latest recommendations for supplemental and booster doses (copied below). Updates to the Spanish version coming soon.

Webinars You Won’t Want to Miss

HNP Collective: 2022 Advocate Funding Project

Friday, October 22nd, at 1:30 pm ET

The Health Not Prisons Collective (HNP) is excited to launch the 2022 Advocate Funding Project. HNP is a group of 5 national organizations, The Counter Narrative Project, Transgender Law Center, US People Living with HIV Caucus, Positive Women’s Network–USA, and SERO Project, working to advance the goals of HIV decriminalization with support from Gilead Sciences. The HNP Advocate Funding Project (The Project) is being launched in hopes that directly funding state advocates living with HIV will better support people living with HIV to lead decriminalization efforts at the state level in four target states–Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

The Project supports a number of founding HNP principles, including economic justice, community power, and meaningful involvement of people living with HIV.

This Project connects advocates that identify as Black, Indigenous, and/or people of color living with HIV to material resources in order to participate in state HIV decriminalization coalitions. Over the course of twelve months, advocates will be given a stipend of $500/month to participate in state decriminalization coalition work. In addition, advocates will be connected with seasoned legislative advocates via bi-monthly coaching calls with HNP partners and monthly workshops to address real-time needs and identify resources. Advocates will also receive a training stipend for development and attending relevant HIV conferences.

Read the full program description here.

Applications for The Project are open today to advocates living in Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee and will be accepted until November 15th, apply here.

Please join us on October 22nd at 1:30 pm EST/10:30 am PST for an informational webinar about The Project and the application process. Register for the webinar here.

What’s My Leadership Style?

Wednesday, October 27th, at 7 pm ET

Join PWN’s Barb Cardell, Crystal Townsend, and Ieshia Scott as we explore and discover our personal leadership style. We all are leaders in our families, in our churches, and in our communities. Knowing what type of leader we are and how we partner with others matters! Together we will understand how we function as a leader, learn about other leadership styles, and how to develop yourself and your team.

Join us Wednesday, October 27, 2021, at 7:00 PM ET/ 4:00 PM PT, and be sure to register here.

Welcome, PWN’s New Staff Team Members!

Please join us in extending a very warm welcome to the newest members of PWN’s staff team:

• Ieshia Scott – Communications and Training Program Assistant
• Sallie Thomas – If/When/How Reproductive Justice and HIV Fellow

PWN Is Hiring!

Communications Director & Interim Communications Director

The communications director leads the efforts of Positive Women’s Network – USA (PWN) to elevate the voices, experiences, and priorities of women and people of trans experience living with HIV online and in the media.

This is accomplished through the strategic use of and skillful management of the various online platforms PWN uses to communicate with our members and base—including social media, our WordPress website, our Action Network email list—as well as through proactive media outreach; training, and support for member and staff spokespeople; thought leadership within the organization and coalition spaces, especially as pertains to framing, messaging, and communications strategy; and creation of collaterals that educate and mobilize members and base.

The communications director is a senior leadership role in the organization and contributes to organizational strategy as well as supervising communications-related staff and consultants.