Baby, it's cold outside. 

Mounting state budget cuts and only nominal proposed federal budget increases threaten HIV prevention services across the nation.  The fate of health care reform is uncertain.  Marginalized members of our communities continue to be to be denied the prevention, health, and housing services they desperately need to improve their lives. Resource allocation remains limited for gay men of all races, African American women, people who use drugs, and other individuals who are at risk of HIV.

Despite this bleak winter landscape, this is not the time for prevention advocates to hunker down in our burrows and wait for a more favorable climate for action.  HIV prevention justice is needed now more than ever. 2010 will prove to be a pivotal year in building a unified and effective social movement for HIV prevention rooted in human rights.

The HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (HIV PJA) is a network of 79 organizations advocating for effective and just HIV prevention policies for the United States.  We grew out of the successful 2007 Prevention Justice Mobilization, which united hundreds of groups across the country at the intersection of HIV/AIDS, human rights, and struggles for social, racial, gender, and economic justice.

In 2010, the HIV PJA will continue to grow this movement by:

• Growing the HIV PJA membership through active recruitment of individuals and organizations committed to the principles of HIV prevention justice as well as identifying and engaging other allies about the social determinants that fuel the epidemic

• Developing a clear policy agenda through member engagement and public dialogue

• Mobilizing members to help enact this agenda

• Facilitating the on-going discussion about the role social drivers, human rights, and social justice play in perpetuating the epidemic

Stay tuned for more updates and opportunities to help shape the future of the HIV PJA.

 

Not already an HIV PJA member and wondering why you should join?  Several of the benefits of membership in the HIV PJA you'll find are:  read more »

• Members-only email lists on federal prevention justice issues and state-level prevention justice advocacy

• Quarterly teleconferences to assist in the development of the HIV PJA policy agenda and mobilization plans

• Capacity-building support on development and maintenance of mobilization structures

Go here for more information on the alliance and how you can help bring justice to HIV prevention.

Like the recent blast of snow, a political chill has set in across Washington and complicated the efforts of social justice and HIV advocates to pursue progressive federal policy.

Senate leaders and the White House, reeling from an unexpected special-election defeat in Massachusetts, scaled back their ambitions and embraced a more centrist agenda anchored in pocketbook issues.

President Barack Obama's State of the Union address heralded the shifting political stance of Democrats, who remain firmly in control of both chambers of Congress and the White House.  Jobs creation, economic revitalization, fiscal responsibility and deficit reduction are squarely at the top of the agenda.  By contrast, healthcare reform, immigration reform, and significant social investments appear downgraded for the time being as priorities.  read more »

In this issue of Base Building, the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance (HIV PJA) examines early 2010 political developments and their likely impact on policy-making aimed at rooting out the social drivers of HIV vulnerability in the U.S.

Please join CHAMP and the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance for the next Strategy Lab teleconference on February 24 from 3:30-5:30 PM Eastern.

Click here to register for the call.

During the second hour of the call, the HIV Prevention Justice Alliance will host the first of series of panel discussions focusing on key social drivers of the HIV/AIDS. Housing advocates and researchers will help us to understand how structural issues like housing drive the epidemic and what we can do about it.

The call's first hour will explore advocacy opportunities and a refinement of thinking on "Test-and-Treat," an experimental intervention and service delivery strategy that seeks to drastically scale up access to testing in a geographic area and facilitate rapid connection to care, with the goal of decreasing community viral load and, subsequently, HIV incidence.

Monthly throughout the year, CHAMP's Strategy Lab on HIV Prevention Policy hosts teleconferences that bring together activists, researchers and policy analysts and makers for discussion, dialogue and debate on current HIV prevention programs and research. Strategy Lab seeks to cultivate national discussion that considers the HIV prevention justice issues that must be addressed to ensure comprehensive and effective HIV prevention research and programs.

Save the date! In addition to February 24, mark your calendars for the March 24 Strategy Lab teleconference - agenda details to follow in coming weeks.

Click here to register for the call.

Do you know that HIV isn't spread by spitting, and that condoms are an effective HIV prevention tool?

 read more »

TAKE ACTION: Endorse the letter to CDC  asking them to keep their own promises to address HIV criminalization.

Bill Clinton said NOT lifting the federal funding ban on syringe exchange was one of the biggest regrets in his presidency. But he didn't fess up to that till he was safely out of the White House.

Barack Obama pledged to lift the ban. Then pointedly didn't publicly work to do so, even when his imprimatur could have given a much-needed margin of safety for congressional efforts.

But who really did work to lift the ban? People with HIV, drug users, harm reduction leaders and their allies. Long-time and brand new AIDS activists who took to the streets and the halls of Congress and the plaza of HHS and the UN for decades at this point, including those who got arrested in the Capitol Rotunda in one of the first acts of civil disobedience against the Obama Adminstration. Organizers and policy wonks who counted the votes and worked hand in hand with grassroots activists to persuade and convert legislators. Religous people who spoke up about what faith and redemption and compassion really means. AIDS service and prevention providers and drug treatment people and harm reduction counselors and people in recovery, and people in and out of recovery, who spoke up about their lives and their work.

And because of all this - not because of the political cowardice of those who knew they were doing the wrong thing by allowing the ban to persist but who time and again shrank in the face of ideological opposition - the ban will now be lifted.

This weekend, the Senate joined the House in approving the final 2010 appopriations bill that will lift the ban, without the deadly not-near-1000-feet-of-anything amendment that would have rendered it virtually meaningless.  read more »

The Latino Commission on AIDS invites anyone involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS to participate in an English and Spanish language National Conference Call to ensure Latino voices are included in the development of a National HIV/AIDS Strategy led by the Office of National AIDS Policy of the White House.

Friday, November 13, 2009
3:30 P.M. EST | 4:30 P.M. in Puerto Rico

CALL-IN NUMBER: 1-888-387-8686
PARTICIPANT CODE: 1883577#

The Office of National AIDS Policy is inviting community input to shape the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.  The Latino community in the U.S. must be present at these meetings to ensure our voices are heard when federal officials draft the National HIV/AIDS Strategy, designed to reduce new infections, increase the number of people in care, and lower HIV-related health disparities.

Join us for this call to understand how you can get involved.  People in Mississippi, Florida, New York, and Puerto Rico are especially encouraged to join the call to learn more about providing effective testimony at one of the upcoming community meetings:
- Jackson, MS 11/16/09
- Ft. Lauderdale, FL 11/20/09
- New York City, NY 12/4/09
- Caguas, Puerto Rico 12/14/09
 
All other interested parties are invited to participate to learn more about submitting your testimonies online. 
 
Download the Spanish language worksheet on preparing effective community testimony. click here 
 read more »

White House officials have announced the tentative dates for community discussions to gather recommendations and input for the creation of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy.  The tentative dates and communities where these meeting will occur are listed below:

District of Columbia -- Monday, September 21
Minneapolis, MN -- Friday, October 2
Albuquerque, NM -- Friday, October 9
Houston, TX -- Saturday, October 10
San Francisco, CA -- Friday, October 16
Oakland, CA -- Saturday, October 17
Los Angeles, CA -- Sunday, October 18
Columbia, SC -- Monday, October 26
Puerto Rico -- Friday, November 6
Virgin Islands -- Monday, November 9
Jackson, MS -- Monday, November 16
Ft. Lauderdale, FL -- Friday, November 20
New York, NY -- Friday, December 4 

The HIV Prevention Justice Alliance will continue to update readers about these meetings and any changes as they are announced.

Dear Planning Committee,

 

Thank you for your input concerning selecting a date, location, and meeting format for the September 21 HIV/AIDS Community Discussion in Washington, D.C.  Please note the following confirmed details for your planning purposes:

 

Location:

The University of the District of Columbia Auditorium (building #46 on campus map)

 read more »

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