PWN Action Fund Launches 12-month Get Out The HIV Vote Plan 

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Positive Women’s Network Action Fund Launches 12-month Get Out The HIV Vote Plan

Following a five-day intensive training on electoral organizing, leaders from 10 states leave fired up and ready to mobilize the HIV electorate

November 1, Atlanta: Eleven teams led by women and people of trans experience living with HIV. Ten states. Five days of hands-on, intensive training in get out the vote skills. The Vote Positive USA teams, a project of Positive Women’s Network Action Fund, canvassed Atlanta neighborhoods and phone-banked, talking to residents about the importance of responding to the 2020 census, with Women Engaged, a social justice nonprofit that takes an innovative, hands-on learning approach to advancing women’s human rights, youth empowerment and civic engagement efforts in Georgia. Now they are headed back home to train up their volunteers and engage, educate, and activate their communities.

“It’s called bootcamp for a reason: intense! No pain, no gain,” said Jessi Mona Cartwright-Biggs of Houston. “The most important thing I learned this week is that we are a community—a diverse community—and that is what is going to propel me to go back and get more involved in my community. It’s very important. I’m most excited about canvassing when I get home. I’d never done canvassing before. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and I’m excited to do it!”

“I’m most excited about mobilizing my community for the next election,” said Alecia Tramel of Miami, Florida. “My focus is on making sure that we include the ex-felons in getting registered to vote and educate them on voting procedures if needed.”

Almost exactly one year out from the 2020 election, participants in Vote Positive USA (VPU) project know very well what is at stake. Health care access; rights for LGBTQ people; reproductive rights; basic human necessities like food and stable housing; and so much more are all on the line. By doing integrated voter engagement in communities considered “hard to reach” by traditional get-out-the-vote efforts, VPU leaders and volunteers will register new and returning voters; educate voters on how the issues that matter most to them connect to and are affected by elections; organize folks in their communities to get out the vote; and mobilize the voters they have registered and educated to vote in the primaries and the general election.

“A phrase keeps sticking in my head: We are what we create. This creation that was started eleven years ago by my sisters in the struggle, we must continue this work in their honor; for some of them are no longer with us physically but spiritually, they will always be with us,” said Elder Antionettea Etienne of New York. “I’m most excited to teach and educate my communities—I represent several—on what we have learned this week and how important it is for them to be part of what we are creating in New York, based on what we learned here in Atlanta.”

While the five-day bootcamp has provided the framework, basic skills, and initial platform for the teams to get to work, it was just the beginning. Over the next twelve months until the election, teams will be coached and supported with continuous training, technology, and tools to do the work in the field. PWN Action Fund and the Vote Positive USA teams will also be fundraising to support their integrated voter engagement projects.

“We are incredibly proud of our Vote Positive USA teams,” said National Field Organizer Evany Turk. “They have already worked hard on recruiting leaders and volunteers for their teams and on laying the groundwork for successful get-out-the-vote efforts in their communities. With the skills they’ve learned this week and the ongoing coaching and support they’ll be getting over the coming months, we are absolutely confident that our teams are going to make a big impact. They are already trusted voices in their communities. They know where to go, how to talk to their neighbors, and what to talk about. They understand the urgency and are committed. Together, state by state, city by city, block by block, we can really turn the tide.”

“I’m definitely most excited about mobilizing more people in North Carolina so that we can make a change in all of these negative, stigmatizing policies,” said Alicia Diggs of Greensboro, North Carolina. “What I learned during the bootcamp is that we cannot do this by ourselves. It takes an entire universe, not just a village, but a universe for us to get this work done, to get the freedom we deserve.”

“I’ll be honest—electoral organizing is pretty intimidating to me,” said Katie Willingham of Tuscumbia, Alabama. “It scares the hell out of me. But what scares me even more is doing nothing—waiting for someone else who is not coming, but now I’ve been trained by PWN and I know who’s coming to save me…me! And I’m not alone!”