Take your advocacy to the next level!
Trainings & Tutorials
PWN Policy Fellowship 2026 Trainings
Check out the training series from our most recent year of the PWN’s policy fellowship. These trainings support building the pipeline of well-informed and strategic policy advocates who come directly from the communities most impacted by the HIV epidemic in the United States: BIPOC women, trans, and gender-diverse people living with HIV.
Advocacy Frameworks
HIV BASIC
HIV BASIC is a group of advocates, including people living with HIV (PLHIV), abolitionists, researchers, racial justice and human rights organizers, and public health policy and legal experts working together to address the crisis connecting health status criminalization, public health, and the ever-broadening erosion of privacy and bodily autonomy in the United States. This statement establishes shared principles and commitments for an HIV response grounded in bodily autonomy, informed consent, and freedom from criminalization.
HIV Racial Justice Now! Framework
Presented by the Racial Justice Framework Group, this document is our declaration of liberation. It begins to name and claim a collective vision for resistance practice in the HIV movement, grounded in racial justice. It is our assertion that any response to the impact of HIV must be rooted in a racial justice framework.
Bodily Autonomy: A Framework to Guide Our Future
Bodily autonomy is the simple but radical concept that individuals have the right to control what does and does not happen to our bodies. When we have full bodily autonomy, not only are we empowered to make decisions about our health and future – without coercion or control by others – we also have the support and resources needed to meaningfully carry out these decisions.
The concept of bodily autonomy is central to Positive Women’s Network – USA’s vision of a world where all trans and cis women, gender-diverse, and trans people living with HIV can lead long, healthy, and dignified lives, free from stigma, discrimination, and violence in all forms.
Toolkits & How-To Guides
#PWNVotes
#PWNVotes is PWN-USA’s approach to building long-term political power that advances racial, gender, and reproductive justice, transforming systems and shifting narratives by engaging our members, allies, and communities in conversations about the issues that matter most to people living with HIV.
HR1: Big Ugly Murder Bill Resource Center
The Big Ugly Murder Bill (H.R.1) is a federal law that slashes funding for healthcare and other basic needs programs while increasing funding for Trump’s massive deportation project. It passed last summer and it will continue to wreak havoc on our quality of life and access to care over the next decade. To help you stay on top of what’s changing and what you can do about it, we created the HR1: Big Ugly Murder Bill Resource Center.
The Resource Center is a living document! Every month we will break down the latest updates and lay out what they mean for people living with HIV, especially Black and brown communities, immigrants, women, cisgender and transgender and gender diverse people living with HIV, who are often hit first and the hardest.
How To Create A Powerful Public Comment (2026)
Federal agencies make big policy changes through a “rulemaking process.ˮ Federal law requires agencies to gather, consider, and address public comments when finalizing proposed rules. They might or might not change a proposed rule because of what we say.
Nevertheless, the more unique comments submitted show the force of our collective opposition. Public comments can help lawyers challenge harmful rules and can encourage Congress to reverse an agency decision through the lawmaking process. Most importantly, the public comment process ensures that you – your voice, your experience, and your community – are on the record.
A How-To Guide to Advocacy for People Living with HIV
At PWN-USA, we envision a world where those most impacted by policies are the driving voices behind setting priorities and making decisions.
People living with HIV have a stake in all types of government decisions and actions — from education to health care; housing to mass incarceration; employment to civil rights – and we must participate in crafting and changing policies to ensure that they meet our needs. This multimedia guide is designed to help us make justice for our communities a reality.
Policy Factsheets
If you’ve used our resources in the past, you may have noticed that some of our foundational factsheets on subjects like HIV Criminalization and Harm Reduction haven’t been updated since 2018! Y’all deserve the best and most recent updates on these subjects. PWN-USA, with the help of our wonderful summer intern, Treasure Welle, has been hard at work updating our key factsheets. Stay tuned for their release soon!
Government Shutdown Factsheet (Nov 2025)
Have you been flooded with news of the government shutdown? Confused as to how we got here? Check out our factsheet which breaks down the major pieces of the puzzle with ways you can take action.
Share this with your networks, use it in a call with your representatives, print one out and take it with you. There’s so many ways to use it!
Unpacking the Process Factsheet (2021)
This factsheet will provide a primer on what the executive branch and administrative agencies do, what the main agencies and policies affecting the lives of people living with HIV are, and what steps advocates can take to influence executive agency decision making.
Universal Health Care Factsheet (2019)
Universal health care describes a system where all people can obtain the medical care and services they need without being pushed into financial hardship. All high-income industrialized nations, with the notable exception of the United States, have some form of universal healthcare where the government ensures quality medical services for all residents, regardless of ability to pay.
Violence Against Women Living with HIV Factsheet (2015)
This factsheet, released for our 2015 National Day of Action, gives important statistics about the violence and trauma women living with HIV are particularly vulnerable to, how they contribute to worse health outcomes, and policy recommendations.
Policy Factsheets to Download & Print
Unpacking the Process Factsheet – What Are the Executive Agencies and What Do They Do?
PWN-USA’s factsheet on HIV criminalization
Positive Women’s Network – USA, Colorado produced this factsheet describing the HIV epidemic as it pertains to women in 2018.
This factsheet, released for our 2015 National Day of Action, gives important statistics about the violence and trauma women living with HIV are particularly vulnerable to, how they contribute to worse health outcomes, and policy recommendations.
The Disability Integration Act is bipartisan, bicameral legislation that ensures that disabled Americans have a right to live and receive services in their own homes.
This factsheet gives key statistics and makes important recommendations for economic justice for women living with HIV.
This short version of our 2015 community-based participatory research project presents key findings of obstacles to engagement and retention in care among women living with HIV and policy recommendations for addressing them.
This factsheet contains key information about sexual and reproductive health options, outcomes and policy recommendations for women living with HIV.
In order for prevention efforts to be effective for the most vulnerable communities, we must address systemic root causes of the epidemic. Here are facts and recommendations for prevention justice.
Harm reduction efforts prioritize the safety, rights and dignity of individuals engaging in the activity, rather than focusing on ending or preventing the activity. This approach respects people’s autonomy to make their own choices, and literally focuses on reducing harm that can result from those choices.
Universal Healthcare describes a system where all people can obtain the medical care and services they need without being pushed into financial hardship. All high-income industrialized nations, with the notable exception of the United States, have some form of universal healthcare where the government ensures quality medical services for all residents, regardless of ability to pay.
U.S. policies undermine the health and rights of sex workers internationally by requiring that organizations seeking funding adopt a policy against sex work. Additionally. in 2018 the U.S. passed rights violating restrictions via the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA) and Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA). This legislation limits the sharing of vital safety information for sex workers online and causes economic harm and social marginalization.
How-To Guides, Toolkits & Other Resources
What do advocates need to know about the federal government’s “End the Epidemic” plan?
Want to make a difference in the 2018 elections? Here is your complete guide to understanding your ballot, registering voters and getting out the vote, with resources and webinar trainings.
This guide was created as a resource to provide people living with HIV with knowledge and information to protect themselves from being prosecuted and/or criminalized under discriminatory HIV-specific laws. It includes sections with specific information for communities most likely to be impacted by HIV criminalization, as well as general information about understanding your rights as a person living with HIV if arrest, prosecution and/or incarceration should occur. The contents herein are not intended as legal advice
Be the change you want to see in your community! Run for a local or state office. Here’s a resource center to help you get started.
This is a guide for setting up and preparing for a meeting with a legislator.
From the Center for HIV Law and Policy, this is a comprehensive online database of memoranda, research, reports, legal and medical guides, court and agency decisions, pleadings and briefs, policy analyses and recommendations, and other materials on topics of importance to people living with HIV and their advocates.
From the Translatin@ Coalition, released in 2019, this is a comprehensive policy agenda for advocates to use to fight for policy change that ensures full rights and justice for transgender, gender non-conforming, and intersex people.
The latest addition to the HIV JUSTICE Toolkit, this toolkit provides an introduction to the topic of HIV criminalization and the importance of engagement with media to change narratives around this unjust practice. The toolkit also includes reporting tips for journalists, designed to educate writers and media makers around the nuances of HIV criminalization, and the harms of inaccurate and stigmatizing coverage.
Trainings & Tutorials
Context Matters: Using tools to inform your “End the Epidemic” advocacy
Context matters in the planning and implementation of the Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) initiative. amfAR’s free and interactive EHE database provides information on policy, services, and demographic and epidemiological indicators across EHE jurisdictions.
Presenters: Gregorio Millet, M.P.H., Vice President and Director, Public Policy, amfAR; Austin Jones, Policy Associate, amfAR. Moderated by Naina Khanna, Executive Director,PWN-USA.
State Legislative Advocacy Series #4. Community Mobilization
In the 4th installment of our state legislative advocacy series, PWN National Field Organizer, Evany Turk and PWN Policy Director, Breanna Diaz, spoke to our members who are interested in mobilizing and organizing their communities.
During the webinar, we discussed:
Many ways you can organize on issues important to you!
How to contact and engage with your legislators and community via social media, letter campaigns, phone zaps, and more.
The importance of coalitions: how to find them and how to get involved.
State Legislative Advocacy Series #3. Messaging for Impact
This webinar, hosted by PWN’s communications and policy departments on January 27, 2021, covers the basics of messaging your issues or bills for different audiences, including your community; fellow advocates; and lawmakers (or other key decision-makers).
Presenters:
Jennie Smith-Camejo, PWN Communications Director
Barb Cardell, PWN Training Director
Tana Pradia, PWN Board Member and member spokesperson
State Legislative Advocacy Series #1. State Legislation 101
We know many of the laws that most directly impact our lives are made at the state level. As the 2021 state legislative session approaches, it’s critical to prepare to fight for the issues that affect us, including access to health care, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, and criminalization. PWN is proud to announce our State Legislative Advocacy Training Webinar Series– a four part monthly webinar series–to sharpen our advocacy skills to be as effective as possible. Wednesday, Nov. 18, PWN’s Policy Department presented the first webinar in the State Legislative Advocacy Training series, where we discussed the state legislative process.
This webinar addresses:
- How a bill becomes law.
- What legislative committees are and how to participate in committee hearings.
- How to submit testimony, track legislation and more!
State Legislative Advocacy Series #2. Issue-Based Advocacy
The second webinar in PWN’s State Legislative Advocacy Training Series, on issue-based advocacy from a racial and gender justice lens, included presenters from Positive Women’s Network Colorado and Colorado Organizations and Individuals Responding to HIV/AIDS (CORA) who will share how they got a bill increasing access to PrEP passed in the 2020 Colorado legislative session, including specific examples of:
- community engagement as the bill was drafted,
- testimony at committee hearings,
- suggested revisions to be more inclusive of women and rural communities,
- mobilizing before the vote on the senate floor, and
- pushing the governor to sign the bill.
Policy 101- Universal Healthcare
In this webinar, the objectives were to increase participants’ understanding of what Universal Healthcare is and why it is a PWN-USA policy agenda issue. Secondly, we educated participants on the Democratic Presidential Candidates Healthcare Proposals. Presenters are Breanna Diaz, PWN Policy Director, and Kelly Flannery, If/When/How Reproductive Justice & HIV Legal Fellow.
Learn to Use Legiscan to Track Bills
Watch this brief tutorial on Legiscan to learn how to track legislative bills.
Who Are Advocates? What’s a Campaign?
What is a campaign? Who are advocates? This 101 webinar training teaches you the nuts and bolts of getting started in advocacy work to effect change.
HIV Criminalization First Responder Series #1: Laws, Facts and Policy
The first webinar in PWN-USA’s HIV Criminalization First Responder series included an an overview of respectful, person-first language use, facts about HIV criminalization, and what rights people living with HIV have when they are criminalized. This session also covered how to research state law and policy that impacts people living with HIV. This session featured PWN staff and chapter leaders Barb Cardell and Bonetta Spratley.
HIV Criminalization First Responders Series #2: Activating Support Networks
The second webinar in the First Responder series focuses on activating support networks for people experiencing HIV criminalization. This webinar covers how to work with local coalitions and organizations, how to create fundraising campaigns, and how to create social support systems that keep people living with HIV who are incarcerated connected to their communities and community resources.
HIV First Responder Series 3: Combating Stigmatizing Reporting
The third webinar in the First Responder series will focus on media advocacy, including responding to negative and stigmatizing reporting by the press, op-ed writing, creating publicity materials, and talking to media about HIV criminalization.
The last webinar in the First Responder series will include an in-depth look at the criminal legal system. This training will introduce participants to the main “players” that people experiencing HIV criminalization will encounter, including prosecutors, public defenders, and judges. The training will also discuss advocacy techniques for ensuring the privacy and human rights of PLHIV are upheld while engaging these players and navigating the criminal legal system.
The objectives of the webinar are to:
- Learn to identify federal agencies where federal policy is administered,
- Increase understanding of the federal legislative policy making process, and
- Learn to identify key policymakers to target for advocacy efforts.
Presenters: Arneta Rogers, PWN-USA Policy Director; Candace Bond-Theriault, Policy Counsel, National LBGTQ Task Force and Zsea Beaumonis, LSRJ Fellow, National LGBTQ Task Force.
The objectives of the webinar are to:
- Understand the impact of violence and trauma in the lives of women living with HIV;
- Provide an update from the White House;
- Provide an update on Federal Interagency Working Group on HIV/AIDS, violence against women and girls and gender-related health disparities;
- Discuss opportunities to expand services for women living with HIV under the Affordable Care Act and
- Discuss advocacy opportunities and next steps.
Presenters are: Gina Brown, PWN-USA & PACHA; Lynn Rosenthal, White House Advisor on Violence Against Women; Maggie Czarnogorski, Senior Policy Advisor, White House Office of National AIDS Policy; Linda Dawson, Kaiser Family Foundation; Kathleen Griffith & Olivia Ford, PWN-USA.