PWN-USA is pleased to announce the third 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. PWN-USA wants to give a special thanks to our coaches: As part of the program, the fellows created and completed a practicum project.​

Coaches for Year 3 included the incredible Suraj Madoori from Treatment Action Group, Diana Rhodes from Advocates for Youth, Jamille Fields Allsbrook from Center for American Progress, and JD Davids from JD Strategies. We are so grateful for their support of our Fellows. 

Here are our 2020 graduates:

Jamie Collins (TX): This fellow is creating palm cards that explain the process of a name change and gender marker change in Texas. Positive Women’s Network-USA is the de facto host organization. 

Sharon Decuir (LA): This fellow created pieces of training to be used for a lobby day in Louisiana as well as follow up meetings to strategize ways to have legislators include more funding for services that people living with HIV need. The host organization for this fellow’s practicum is OPEN Health Care Clinic.

Deirdre Johnson (VA): This fellow drafted talking points for annotated codes of Virginia law regarding HIV and created a palm card to inform people in the state about current HIV criminalization laws in VA. The host organization for this Fellow’s practicum is ECHO-VA. 

Antoinette Jones (GA): This fellow created a Reproductive Justice training for He Is Valuable, a same-gender-loving organization, about the ways in which reproductive justice affects them. The training includes a RJ Dating App. The host organization for this Fellow’s practicum is He Is Valuable, Inc. 

Sophia Kass-Martinkus (CA): This fellow created a trans-centered reproductive justice framing document calling for a change to the cis-normative language used in reproductive justice spaces and organizations. The host organization for this fellow’s practicum is Transgender Law Center. 

Sherryl Lamm (OR): This fellow created a factsheet explaining Undetectable = Untransmittable (U=U) specifically for organizations and clinics in Oregon when she saw that they were not sharing this information with people living with HIV. The host organization for this Fellow’s practicum is the Multnomah County Health Department. 

Rica Rodriguez (CO): This fellow created a syringe service program factsheet. The host organization for this Fellow’s practicum is Rocky Mountain CARES. 

Connie Shearer (NV): This fellow created a palm card on proposed HIV-modernization laws in Nevada. The host organization for this Fellow’s practicum is the SERO Project.