PWN’s third annual flagship day to Celebrate and Honor Black Women in the HIV Movement has been expanded from a single day to Liberation Way, a series of events leading up to the big celebration on August 18th. The first of these events, House of Revolution: Understanding and Dismantling Anti-Blackness was held on May 17th and featured two amazing Black HIV activists, Kamaria Laffrey and Venita Ray, discussing their own experiences with anti-Blackness, performative allyship, and impostor syndrome, among many topics.

Part Two of House of Revolution will be held TODAY, Wednesday, May 24th. It will be a chance to discuss everything we heard from Venita and Kamaria in small facilitated groups, to get introspective about our own experiences, and name strategies for disrupting and dismantling anti-Blackness in the HIV movement and beyond.

Didn’t have a chance to catch House of Revolution Part One? Watch the recording and sign up for every event on Liberation Way!

This month we experienced the devastating loss of two powerful and beloved leaders in our movement, Tiffany Marrero and Rymsky Evans.

Tiffany Marrero (10/14/91-05/07/23) was an incredible presence and joy to be around. She lifted us up with her laughter, joy, radical authenticity, and her willingness to call things as they were. She was unapologetically Black, sex positive, and always unapologetically herself. Tiff was the uncontested crop top queen of our movement. We are holding our community close at this time- especially our beloved Dandelions. We love you, Tiff. Fly free.

Rymsky Evans (11/07/79 – 05/10/23) was a loving mother and fierce advocate for Black women living with HIV in the South. Rysmky proudly served as the first PWN State Lead for Mississippi as well as an advocate in our very first cohort of the HNP Advocates Project. She was a passionate organizer and had so many freedom dreams for her community of women living with HIV in Mississippi. She never failed to lead with love, to bring great energy and incredible vision to all of the movement spaces that she occupied. Her willingness to grow and learn in service of her community will be missed. She will be missed. We love you, Rymsky. Rest in Power.

Together, we will carry on their legacy to fight for justice and build power for women living with HIV, especially for Dandelions and those living in the South.

The Health Not Prisons Collective (HNP) is thrilled to announce the 2023-2024 HNP Advocates Project cohort. HNP Advocates are trained and coached to strengthen their participation in the HIV decriminalization movement, and receive stipends for their participation in the 14-month program. HNP Advocates participate in state HIV decriminalization coalitions, gaining  knowledge and expertise about the legislative process, learning to impact policy e at the state level, and strengthening their community organizing skills.

Congratulations to the 2023-2024 Health Not Prisons Advocates: Baile Martin (LA), Ernest Brown (SC), Kem Moore (IN), Kenya Moussa (PA), Lashanda Salinas (TN), Marnina Miller (TX), and Vanessa Slaughter (VA)!

PWN’s policy fellowship, a yearlong program, invests deeply to build a robust 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 non-binary folx living with HIV, through training, coaching, and real world practice in policy advocacy.

Congratulations to the 2023-2024 PWN Policy Fellows: Bleu Valladares (IS), Brielle Gillis (TX), Deborah Somoye (TX), Kineen Mafa (NY), Leah Freeman (TN), Marcella Zimmerman (MO), MJ Maestas (CO), Shekinah Rose (PA), Stephanie Knupsky (PA), and Yolanda Ross (TX)!

PWN-Pennsylvania members, canvassers and phone bankers threw down hard for the May 17th PA primary! We are so proud of our campaign teams who contacted 45,000 Black voters in North Philly, had 2,387 conversations with voters on the phones and knocked on nearly 3,000 doors. They also sent a staggering 90,000 text messages reminding folks to vote and providing critical voter education information! Congratulations to our community and amazing team. Now we’re getting ready for November 2023. General election, we’re coming for you!

Congratulations to May 2023 Shero of the Month, Myra Ann Franks of Alabama! Myra serves as outreach coordinator for Alabama’s PWN chapter and is extremely active in her community, fiercely advocating for reproductive justice, climate justice, LGBTQ+ rights, and more. Like she said in her interview, she wears many t-shirts but only one crown. 

We’re thrilled to bring back PWN’s Shero of the Month, now in an exciting new format–the interviews will now be hosted by the previous Shero of the Month, passing the torch from shero to shero and creating fascinating conversations between two PWN members that you won’t want to miss. This month’s interview was brilliantly facilitated by PWN’s most recent Shero, Melanie Reese of Maryland.

Congratulations to PWN’s Colorado chapter for some incredible and important victories to protect human rights this legislative session!

Colorado is a model for what is possible when the country is stripping away reproductive freedoms and becoming more violent against Black, Indigenous, Latinx, and people of color and LGBTQ+ folks. With leadership from PWN members, allies, and accomplices, Colorado is leading the way to strengthen abortion access, protect trans health, expand access to HIV medications, and even introducing bills that could help with gun control in the state.

The PWN Colorado chapter has been in the thick of what’s happening in the state to help inform and organize Coloradans to win on reproductive justice issues.

On May 9, the U.S. People Living with HIV Caucus, the Center for HIV Law and Policy, and PWN released How to Talk About Molecular Surveillance: A Guide for Advocates. The new advocacy guide serves as a roadmap for people living with HIV (PLHIV) and other advocates to navigate the serious issues with molecular HIV surveillance (MHS). It also provides a series of questions for people to ask while engaging with their state and local health departments, federal stakeholders, local elected officials, and community members.

The human rights and dignity of people living with HIV cannot wait. Be informed and prepared to navigate and speak out on these issues.