As Philadelphia gears up to celebrate June as LGBT Pride Month, it is also preparing to honor AIDS Education Month.
Philadelphia FIGHT will kick off AEM with an opening reception next week, which will be followed by four weeks of activities designed to educate and empower locals around HIV prevention and treatment.
All AEM events, including the opening reception, are free and open to the public.
The opening event will be held from 5:30-7:30 p.m. May 31 at The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 19 S. 22nd St., a new location.
The annual reception will include the presentation of the Kiyoshi Kuromiya awards, named for FIGHT’s founder, to Mazzoni Center education manager Louie Ortiz, Dr. Jennifer Cohn of the Infectious Diseases Division at the University of Pennsylvania and the AIDS Law Project of Pennsylvania.
This year’s slate of events will have a special focus on youth.
New to the AEM lineup is “Antidote,” a breakdance competition for teens put on by dance4life Philadelphia, which raises awareness of HIV prevention through dance.
The winner of the contest will receive $1,000, and all guests who receive an HIV test at the event or prior at the Youth Health Empowerment Project will be entered to win an Xbox 360.
“Youth are significantly affected by HIV, and we’ve identified this population as an area we need to concentrate on,” said FIGHT director of development and communications Mark Seaman. “We want to take education out of the classroom and put it in a new and interesting format.”
The contest will be held from 5-11 p.m. June 15 at Pine Street Community Center, 401 Lombard St.
The Crystal Ball, also designed to reach youth, will be held from 7 p.m.-midnight June 23 at University of the Arts’ Hamilton Hall, 320 S. Broad St., in collaboration with The Colours Organization. The event will include HIV testing and prevention messages amid the ballroom competition.
Seaman said last year’s ball, which returned after a hiatus, was a “phenomenal event,” drawing more than 800 guests.
Outreach will be done to other targeted populations throughout the month, with events such as the annual Faith Leaders and Community Summit, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. June 9 at DoubleTree Hotel, 237 S. Broad St.
Guests can take part in a number of panel discussions designed to explore the intersection of faith and HIV/AIDS communities, a topic that will be addressed by keynote speaker and former Philadelphia mayor the Rev. Dr. W. Wilson Goode.
FIGHT executive director Jane Shull said Goode has a long record of support for HIV/AIDS causes — including his mandate during his mayoral term that the Philadelphia prisons provide condoms.
“For a long time, we were the only county jail in the United States in which condoms were available to help stop the spread of HIV,” Shull said. “And [Goode] also insisted that we use city funds to fight the disease early in the epidemic. Before Ryan White funding was available, the percentage of funds that the city of Philadelphia was using to fight AIDS was higher than the percentage of funds being used nationally, and that’s because of him.”
Once he left city government, Goode, a longtime FIGHT board member, continued to bring HIV-prevention work to the pulpit in his role as a pastor, Shull said.
The annual Prison Healthcare and Reentry Summit is now in its 10th year, and this year will be held from 8:30 a.m.-5 p.m. June 19 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center, 12th and Arch streets.
Participants will include Philadelphia Prison Commissioner Louis Giorla and keynote speaker Dr. Howard Dean Trulear, director of the Healing Communities Prison Ministry and Prisoner Reentry Project at the Philadelphia Leadership Foundation.
The Convention Center will also host the 13th annual Prevention and Outreach Summit, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. June 14.
The conference will offer discussions and workshops for people of all interests — those living with HIV, physicians and health-care workers, researchers, prevention and outreach workers and others.
Among the invited guests are Dr. Kenyatta Gilbert, founder of the Preaching Project, and Timothy Brown, known as the “Berlin Patient,” who says he was cured of HIV after receiving bone-marrow transplants.
Seaman noted that, serendipitously, Wilma Theater is running “Angels in America,” which centers on the AIDS epidemic in its early years, throughout June.
From 7:30-9 p.m. June 25, the Wilma, 265 S. Broad St., will host a discussion about local HIV prevention and treatment efforts. The event will be moderated by William Way LGBT Community Center executive director Chris Bartlett and the city’s director of LGBT affairs Gloria Casarez.
Participants do not need to purchase tickets for “Angels in America” to attend.
The month will round out with the annual HIV Testing Day June 27 at locations throughout the city. People tested that day will be eligible to win prizes including an iPod Touch, a camera and a flat-screen TV.
For more information, visit www.fight.org/aem.