Philadelphia FIGHT, a comprehensive health services organization providing primary care, education, research, and advocacy for people living with HIV/AIDS and those at high risk, will kick off AIDS Education Month 2018 (AEM) on Tuesday, June 5, 2018 with an Opening Reception and Awards Ceremony. AEM is a month-long series of events, including workshops, conferences, lectures, and concerts. The goal is to formulate and advance strategies for stopping the spread of the virus and reducing the stigma of HIV/AIDS in the greater Philadelphia area.
At the reception and awards ceremony, the 2018 Kiyoshi Kuromiya Award for Prevention, Treatment, and Justice will be presented to two community advocates. Elvis Rosado is the Education and Outreach Coordinator and case manager for Prevention Point Philadelphia; he has also taught kindergarten through 12th grade, covering everything from self-advocacy, to drug & violence prevention, to safe dating practices. Lee Carson is the Director of Public Health Management Corporation’s Philadelphia Area Sexual Health Initiative. Carson also serves on the faculties at both Temple University and the Community College of Philadelphia. Carson has also worked on behalf of LGBT elders in Pennsylvania and in the areas of HIV prevention and substance abuse rehabilitation in the LGBT community for many years.
Other free activities in and around Philadelphia planned for AEM include:
• Jonathan Lax Memorial Lecture, Monday, June 11, 6 – 8 p.m. (Invitation only)
• End AIDS: The HIV Prevention and Outreach Summit, Wednesday, June 13, 8 a.m.—5 p.m., Pennsylvania Convention Center, 13th and Arch Streets. Keynote speaker: Jesse Milan, president & CEO of AIDS United. Tracks include: Faith and Spirituality, Youth, Research and Treatment, The Cure, PrEP, Mental Healthcare and HIV, Homelessness and Housing, LGBTQ, Hepatitis C and HIV, HIV and Substance Use, HIV and Aging, and more. Featured workshops include: Cupcakes and Crucial Conversations; When housing is more important than medicine: LGBTQ Youth and the intersection of Housing and Health; Painting to Transform; Heroin and Fentanyl in Philadelphia: Weathering the Perfect Storm; Examining the HIV-HCV-Opioid Syndemic; Taking the Mystery Out of HIV Cure Research and more.
• Annual Gospel Concert featuring Jermaine Dolly, Saturday, June 16, 2 p.m., Yesha Ministries Worship Center, 2301 Snyder Avenue
• Faithful Teach Dinner, Thursday, June 21, 6 – 8 p.m., Relish, 7152 Ogontz Ave. (Invitation only)
• 3rd Annual Philly KIKI Ball, Friday, June 22, Philadelphia Ethical Society, 1906 Rittenhouse Square
• Hip Hop for Philly, Tuesday, June 26, featuring A Boogie wit da Hoodie; for more information, please visit www.fight.org/hiphop
• CCP Lecture, Wednesday, June 27, Community College of Philadelphia
The month will also feature other educational events, special events for target audiences, and major outreach to Philadelphians to get tested for HIV. For more information, contact Chip Alfred, Director of Development & Communications, at calfred@fight.org.
FIGHT’s goal is to end the AIDS epidemic within the lifetime of those currently living with HIV. Find out more about them at www.fight.org.
Reporting by Hank Trout
Hank Trout, Editor at Large, edited Drummer, Malebox, and Folsom magazines in the early 1980s. A long-term survivor of HIV/AIDS (diagnosed in 1989), he is a thirty-eight-year resident of San Francisco, where he lives with his fiancé Rick. Follow him on Twitter @HankTroutWriter.