Click to watch Mark S. King’s amazing video of the Summit!


Have you heard? Positive Women’s Network-USA just celebrated our 10 year anniversary! True to form, we honored ten years of fierce leadership by and for women living with HIV (WLHIV) by convening nearly 350 WLHIV in the US South for 3 ½  days of intense skills-building for advocacy, movement building, and policy. This great 5-minute video by Mark S. King will give you a flavor of what happened at SPEAK UP! this year.  




#SPEAKUP18 officially kicked off on the evening of Thursday April 12th with moving tributes from indigenous women of trans experience from Hawaii and Arizona, honoring our ancestors and inviting us into the space. We co-created an altar and acknowledged the trajectory we have traveled as a community together over the past ten years, since PWN’s founding in 2008. Heard often throughout the Summit was the cry:  #10YearsFierce! To see the full program for SPEAK UP! click here.

Altar created at SPEAK UP! 2018 opening plenary

 

But even before the Summit formally opened, we spent a full day training more than 120 members in deeper skills through our specialized pre-Summit Institutes. 

12 PWN State Leads participated in a half-day training to learn to mobilize our base in states that do not currently have PWN-USA regional chapters.

45 women of trans experience participated in our daylong Trans Leadership Institute, organized in partnership with Positively Trans, learning data analysis and other leadership skills essential to activism and advocacy. 

30 PWNers from 15 states participated in a daylong Electoral Organizing institute designed to build our community’s capacity to participate effectively in the electoral process by learning to integrate voter registration, voter education and outreach into other community organizing and HIV outreach activities.
  
14 members participated in the PWN Spokesperson Training-an intensive one-day course in messaging and media skills.

And we kicked off Year 2 of our Policy Fellowship, with a full-day orientation for 19 PWN members accepted into PWN’s yearlong policy fellowship program.


Opening Plenary: The Power of Meaningful Involvement



The Summit formally opened on Thursday evening with an opening plenary moderated by Tiommi Luckett. The Power of Meaningful Involvement featured Octavia Lewis from Positively Trans, Tami Haught from the Sero Project, Pat Kelly from PWN-South Carolina, and Andy Spieldenner from the US People Living with HIV Caucus. Panelists discussed the importance of organizing as people living with HIV networks accountable to our constituencies.




“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives” – Audre Lorde

Friday morning’s plenary: Stories of Resistance: Visioning Our Collective Future featured opportunities for participants to reflect on individual and collective accomplishments since since our SPEAK UP! Summit in September 2016. We also released PWN’s new policy agenda and strategic plan, featuring elevated commitments to racial and gender justice; base building; member engagement; electoral organizing; and immigrant rights.

Friday’s lunch plenary: Federal Policy: Holding the Line, Protecting What We Have featured Cecilia Chung, Marcela Howell and William McColl and was moderated by PWN Policy Director Arneta Rogers. This discussion dove deep into an exploration of what’s worked to hold the line on the current administration’s repressive agenda; what’s at stake today; and how we can utilize lessons learned to simultaneously protect what we have and advance wins for our communities in the future.

Friday evening’s Networking Dinner gave participants the opportunity to network with folks from their state, get to know PWN chapter leadership, State Leads and members from their states, and learn about how to get involved in PWN’s national workgroups: Policy, Strategic Communications, and Organizing.



Saturday morning’s plenary session (re) Claiming Our Time: Building Power Beyond this Political Moment featured Kenyon Farrow, Malika Redmond, Monique Tula and Evany Turk. Panelists discussed the importance of 2018 as an election year and strategies to build long-term sustainable power for our communities.




Saturday’s lunch plenary, Let’s Talk about Sex: The Criminalization of Bodies, Labor, Dating and Intimacy looked at the policy and practice implications of PWN’s belief that women living with HIV have the right to do and not do whatever we choose with our bodies. This includes the right to erotic and enjoyable sex lives, to earn money from sex, and to create or not create families of our choosing. Panelists included Tranisha Arzah from BABES Network, Evonne Kaho from Love Me Unlimited 4 Life, Nina Martinez from the Georgia HIV Decriminalization Coalition, Cris Sardina from Desiree Alliance, moderated by PWNers Marnina Ross-Miller and Teresa Sullivan. 

Saturday evening’s 10 Years Fierce Dinner and Anniversary Celebration featured special guests Terry McGovern and Brook Kelly, both of whom have been instrumental to PWN’s success and continue to inspire us to dream bigger.


PWN founding members took the stage to rousing applause for their visionary leadership, and we honored Vanessa Johnson, PWN’s first Director of National Training and Leadership Development, for her lifetime work to mentor, uplift, nurture, and inspire women living with HIV. 

PWN’s original founding members receive a standing ovation for their vision and leadership.


“Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare” – Audre Lorde







Sunday’s closing plenary Resistance & Resilience: Caring for Ourselves and the Beloved Community in Challenging Times focused on self and community-care as leaders. We also heard report backs from affinity sessions and institutes held during SPEAK UP!

Over 40 breakout sessions were offered during the Summit, categorized into six tracks:

  • Advancing the HIV Research, Care & Prevention Agenda for Women
  • Building Leadership Skills
  • Organizing for Power
  • Policy, Advocacy & Action
  • Rights, Power & Justice; and
  • Strategic Communications for Leaders

“If I can’t dance, it’s not my revolution”  – Emma Goldman

But building movements is also about connection, inspiration, hope, and joy! And the Summit Hospitality Committee made sure we had plenty of opportunities to unwind. Morning yoga on the beach was a perfect way to prepare for the day’s activities. Arts, crafts, and mask-making provided an opportunity to flex our creative juices. Friday night’s pajama party winners showed us all how to step up our PJ game. And at Saturday evening’s Pink and Black party we cut loose on the dance floor to DJ Slide. 

We have many wonderful images capturing the sisterhood, solidarity and action of our participants at #SPEAKUP2018. Below are just a few of them. Check out official Summit photographer Johnnie Kornegay’s beautiful photos on PWN’s Facebook page.

Huge thanks to our sponsors: AIDS Healthcare Foundation, AIDS United, Amida Care, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, Elton John AIDS Foundation, Ford Foundation, Gay Men’s Health Crisis, Groundswell Fund, Housing Works, Levi Strauss Foundation, MAC AIDS Fund, National Minority AIDS Council, and ViiV Healthcare, to our incredible South Carolina host committee, our Hospitality committee, our many partner organizations who helped make SPEAK UP! possible, official Summit photographer Johnnie Kornegay and to our videographer, Mark S. King, who wrote this heartfelt and inspirational blog about his experience.

Even Myrtle Beach news station, WPDE came by to do a story!

Read what PWN Georgia State Lead Shyronn Jones had to say about her experience at the Summit. 

We can’t wait to see you at the next Summit!