PWN is turning 16! We’ve come a long way since 2008, when 28 diverse women leaders living with HIV came together to form a network to strengthen the strategic power of all women living with HIV in the United States.
Join us to celebrate sixteen years of herstory, sixteen years of wins, and sixteen years of sisterhood. We’ll be walking down memory lane, looking forward to what’s next for PWN, and dancing the night away!

Join our Sweet 16 celebration on Friday, June 21st at 7PMET/1PM HT! Register below or watch the celebration live on Facebook!

Congratulations to PWN-USA’s Policy Fellows Class of 2024! Join our virtual graduation June 28th at 4PM ET/10AM HT to help us celebrate the incredible work our fellows have done this past year.

PWN’s policy fellowship is a year-long program designed to build 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 folx living with HIV, through training, coaching, and real world practice in policy advocacy. 

Register with the button below or watch us live on Facebook!

🏆 Policy Fellows Class of 2024 🏆

Deborah Somoye (She/Her)

Kineen Mafa (They/She)

Shekinah Rose (All Pronouns)

Yolanda Ross (She/Her)

Marcella Zimmerman (She/Her)

Brielle Gillis (She/Her)

Bleu Valladares (They/She)

Stephanie Knupsky (She/Her)

MJ Maestas (She/Her)

Leah Freeman (She/Her)

It’s that time of year again! PWN-USA is seeking motivated individuals to work as door-to-door canvassers and to make phone calls for the upcoming general election. This campaign will focus on getting out the vote and building political power, focusing on issues like Reproductive Justice, Harm Reduction, Get Out The Vote and more. 

These are temporary, part-time positions paid hourly.  

Canvassers (We are only hiring Canvassers in PA and CO) walk door-to-door in North Philly and Denver neighborhoods to talk to voters and are paid starting at $25/hour. Canvass shifts are typically 3-5 hours on evenings or weekends. 

Phone bankers make phone calls to voters, Phone shifts are typically 3 hours and will run three days a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday ($20/h).

Please note that women, people of color, & LGBTQ+ candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.

The PWN Texas Strike Force (TSF or Texas Strike Force), with support from the Health Not Prisons Collective, hosted an in-person strategy session in April to bring together HIV advocates across Texas and create a long-term plan that invests in the well-being of people living with HIV and ends the practice of criminalizing people living with HIV.

PWN-TX also hosted an in-person training event June 14-16 to talk about healing justice, organizing for power, criminalization and violence, and vision boarding.

Congratulations to our June 2024 Shero of the Month, Marcya Gullatte (she/her) of Alabama!

Marcya, who has been living with HIV for 30 years, joined PWN-AL in 2022 and in 2024 started her leadership role as Co-Chair for her chapter. The Denver Principles and Meaning Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS (MIPA) are foundational to her advocacy work that started in the 1990s.

Collaborating with her chapter and partner organizations, Marcya advocated for people living with HIV to be involved in the planning and execution of HIV Advocacy Day at the AL state capital. She draws motivation and inspiration from her parents who were committed to helping their community, Black leaders and inventors, and long-term survivors in the HIV community. 

This interview was hosted by our PWN-USA Communications Director Victoria Siciliano (she/they/ella) of AL. Listen to the full conversation by clicking below! We are so proud to honor Marcya as our June Shero! 💐

📚 HUGE congratulations to Brooke Davidoff, PWN State Lead for Missouri, for authoring a centerfold article in The American Academy of HIV Medicine’s HIV Specialist Magazine! Read PrEP Navigators & Women’s Health now!

🤩 Shout out to THE legend herself, Waheedah Shabazz-El, founding member of PWN-USA, for being honored as THERA’s Community Champion! 🏆 

🔥 We are extremely grateful for Kenya Moussa (she/her), Co-Chair of PWN-PA & Health Not Prisons advocate, for testifying on behalf of her chapter and the PA HIV Justice Alliance against HIV criminalization! Watch her testimony here!

🏆 Congratulations to Brielle Gillis (she/her) from PWN-TX for being honored at the 25th Annual Grace Project Conference for Women Living with HIV with an award for her advocacy!

🤠 Shout out to PWN-USA collaborating with Center HIV Law & Policy, The SERO Project, The Well Project, & International Community of Women Living with HIV – North America to host an engaging and informative institute at SYNC 2024 following the connections between HIV criminalization and molecular and other systems of surveillance and control.

• #HIVResists April Monthly Policy Update 
• #HIVResists May Monthly Policy Update
• PWN Commemorates Juneteenth: Black Folks for Palestine
• “My New Motto: SHOW UP & SHOW OUT” by Lashanda Salinas
• “Coalition calling for change to HIV/AIDS penalty laws” on 21 WFMJ (05/20/24)
• CDC Publishes New HIV Surveillance Reports (05/21/24)
• “Breaking barriers and taking names: Meet the Asian trans powerhouse shaping the nation” by Reckon News (05/30/24)
• “Advancing Reproductive Justice for Families Affected by HIV: A Call to Action” from TheBody Pro (05/09/24)
• “HIV Is Not A Crime – Except It Is!” from Thought Catalog (06/12/24)

• “News Release: New York Legislature, Governor Hochul Poised to Pass Dramatic Change Undermining Patients’ Ability to Test for HIV on Their Own Terms” – PWN-USA Co-Sponsored Press Release (05/02/24)
  • Featuring Elder Antionettea Etienne, Co-Chair of the New York State Chapter of PWN-USA
• “US pediatricians reverse decades-old advice against HIV-positive mothers breastfeeding” from AP News (05/20/24)
  • Featuring Ci Ci Covin
• “Uplifting Asian and Pacific Island Communities: A Conversation with Keiva Lei Cadena” from AIDS United (05/23/24)
• “Two Survivors of HIV Criminalization Talk About Their Experiences and Advocacy” by Elena Ferguson, JD, Marnina Miller, & alex aphroditus (TheBody – 05/28/24)
  • Featuring PWN members Lashanda Salinas & Marnina Miller

If you’ve been to a PWN celebration in the past few years, then you’ve grooved to the song stylings of our very own DJ Big Sal, a.k.a. Sallie Thomas – the decriminalization specialist on our policy team. Now she’s bringing you a song selection to get your joy on! DJ Big Sal’s song of the month is….