Community Organizing Resource Center

In the 4th installment of our state legislative advocacy series, former PWN National Field Organizer, Evany Turk and former PWN Policy Director, Breanna Diaz, spoke to our members who are interested in mobilizing and organizing their communities.

During the webinar, we discussed:

1. Many ways you can organize on issues important to you!
2. How to contact and engage with your legislators and community via social media, letter campaigns, phone zaps, and more.
3. The importance of coalitions: how to find them and how to get involved.

Did you know? It’s totally legal for 501c3 nonprofits to register voters. Learn to build your voter universe! Join this webinar to learn strategies to register, identify and recruit voters.

Presenters: Carly Calhoun, Sisterlove Inc., Chunnika Hodges, PWN Michigan State Lead, and Naina Khanna, Executive Director of PWN

Learn who the key players are in developing legislation.
Learn how to activate your local networks for in-district organizing.
Learn strategies for in-district organizing, including hosting advocacy events.

Learn how and where to get information about the issues and candidates you’ll be voting on and mobilizing others to get out and vote on this fall. This webinar will cover the basics of researching and understanding what’s on your ballot, what sources to use to find more information about what’s on your ballot and how to determine which issues and races are important for your community.

Presenter: Arneta Rogers, PWN-USA Policy Director

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. 

Panelists: Monique Howell, Motivational Speaker & Advocate for HIV awareness & Criminalization Reform 
Mayo Schrieber, Jr., Deputy Director of Center for HIV Law & Policy

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.

Panelists:  Olivia Ford, Freelance Editor/Writer, past Communications Director, PWN-USA; Dr. Carrie Foote, Sociology Professor IUPUI, Chair-HIV Modernization Movement-Indiana

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.

Panelists: Robert Suttle, Assistant Director, SERO Project; Evany Turk, PWN-USA Membership Engagement Coordinator

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.

Panelists:  Bonetta Spratley, PWN-USA South Carolina; Barb Cardell, PWN-USA Colorado; Rebecca Wang, PWN-USA Legal Fellow (Moderator)

Over the past couple of days, the Administration has taken some actions to undermine the Affordable Care Act. Are you wondering what exactly is changing? Want to get your questions answered? Join this webinar, co-organized by AIDS Alabama, AIDS Foundation of Chicago, AIDS United, Positive Women’s Network, and Treatment Access Expansion Project.

This webinar was a detailed (and timely) refresher on political systems, structures, designed to provide advocates with tools to effectively engage in existing systems and to consider which systems may need to be dismantled to benefit our communities.

Presenters: Waheedah Shabazz-El, PWN-USA Regional Organizing Director; Kamaria Laffrey, Coordinator, Florida HIV Justice Coalition; Venita Ray, PWN-USA Board Member

Join us for a conversation about how to effectively leverage your vote and get your community involved this election cycle! We’ll be discussing tactics and tools to elevate issues for candidates, including bird-dogging and candidate questionnaires, the importance of down-ballot races, get out the vote (GOTV) and working at the polls.

Presenters: Kalpana Krishnamurthy – Forward Together Tami Haught — SERO Project, Iowa resident, and intractable bird-dogger Patrica Clark – PWN-USA Michigan member and candidate for Kalamazoo County Commissioner Loren Jones— PWN-USA Board Member, PWN Bay Area member and election poll-worker