Prevention, treatment and justice will be at the core of Philadelphia FIGHT’s AIDS Education Month activities this June.
The 17th-annual affair will feature community discussions, socials and summits meant to target populations hardest hit, and those least informed, about HIV/AIDS.
This year marks the 30th anniversary of the start of the AIDS epidemic, and FIGHT director of education Juliet Fink said recent studies on treatment will be the topic of conversation at many of the forums.
“It’s an incredibly interesting time right now in the AIDS world because research has shown that there are ways that we really could end this epidemic, and the focus right now is putting resources toward that goal,” she said.
The 2011 AIDS Education Month reflects the significant growth the event has seen since its inception, said Fink, who predicted at least 5,000 people will be reached by the month’s events.
Because of increased support from corporate sponsors, FIGHT has also been able to ramp up its marketing presence, said director of development and communications Mark Seaman, adding AEM is being promoted through bus-shelter signs in Center City, on SEPTA buses and subways, through radio public-service announcements and with a PSA on NBC that includes Mayor Nutter.
The 12th annual “Beyond the Walls” summit on prison healthcare and reentry, 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. June 21, will be held at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, as it outgrew its former venue at Temple University.
An ending plenary session on “education not incarceration” will close the summit, which Fink noted “is timely considering the budget cuts to education and the increase being put toward building jails.”
Two other public summits will be held during the month — the fifth-annual Youth Outreach, Education and Empowerment Summit, from 11 a.m.-6 p.m. June 4 at Gershman Hall, 320 S. Broad St.; and the 12th-annual HIV Prevention and Outreach Summit, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. June 15 at the Convention Center, 13th and Arch streets.
The youth summit will be followed by the Crystal Ball, put on by The Colours Organization and FIGHT, which will encourage HIV testing in the ballroom community.
New to the summit lineup is the Faith Leaders and Community event June 11. The initiation-only event will allow religious leaders from the region to share best practices for confronting HIV/AIDS with their congregations.
“Every year we’ve had a number of events targeting faith-based leadership and we decided to bring all of those events into one day this year,” Fink said. “We know that there are people living with HIV that we can provide support and treatment for, but we can’t provide them with spiritual healing, and that’s what many people are seeking.”
This year, FIGHT will also take a new approach to community-education events.
Each year FIGHT staffers conduct educational events at sites throughout the city — including rec centers, churches, rehabilitation facilities and other institutions that may not have HIV-specific programs, but often serve clients who could benefit from proper HIV/AIDS education.
“Our goal is to provide basic information that can dispel myths about HIV. Last year, we reached about 2,300 people with these community presentations,” she said. “And this year we’re bringing out a mobile lab with us to several locations and focusing on how to tell myth from fact as it relates to online information. It’s still HIV 101 but as we enter this digital world, we want to make sure people are getting accurate information from the Web.”
FIGHT will also be working directly in local communities to promote HIV testing, with a goal of at least 1,200 tests in June.
The month’s events will kick off with an opening reception from 5:30-7:30 p.m. June 1 at Independence Visitor Center, Sixth and Market streets.
During the reception, FIGHT will present the annual Kiyoshi Kuromiya Awards, in honor of FIGHT’s founder, to Jay Blahnik, Dr. Debra D’Aquilante and Gloria Casarez.
“This year’s awardees are an eclectic group but I think they all really uphold Kiyoshi’s legacy,” Fink said. “Jay Blahnik started the House of Blahnik, which is the first ballroom house to be devoted to HIV prevention. Dr. D, as she’s known, is the HIV doc in the jails and is really a lifeline for many people there. And Gloria,” the mayor’s director of LGBTQ affairs, “has really been a huge support for the community. So we’re really excited about this year’s awardees.”
For more information and a full listing of AEM events, visit www.fight.org.
Jen Colletta can be reached at [email protected].