Center Submits Proposal to Organize Capital Pride

On December 11, The Center submitted to the Whitman-Walker clinic one of three proposals to organize Capital Pride, DC's annual GLBT Pride Celebration. The other proposals were submitted by Westminster Presbyterian Church's Southwest Renaissance Development Corporation, a non-profit business set up to foster economic developement in low-income neighborhoods, and by a new entity called Capital Pride Alliance. Whitman-Walker's decision to withdraw as the event's producer was announced October 11. For more information, see this article in the Washington Blade.

12/13/2007 Community Planning Group Meeting Re-Cap

At Thursday's CPG meeting, members of the committee were provided the results of the DC Appleseed report. For more details, check out the blog by David. The next Report card will be issued this summer and will most likely measure the same content areas.

While at the HIV Prevention conference in Atlanta, GA, Tiffany West had the opportunity to exchange ideas with other jurisdictions regarding the development of the Community Services Assessment for DC. Bidding on the contract for the completion of the CSA will begin next year. The prevention plan will still be completed by the September/October timeline.

A. Toni Young also reports that at the UCHAPS meeting held during the prevention conference, there was discussion around the move to combining HIV, STD, TB and Hep bureaus within various levels of government within different jurisdictions. At the meeting, there was discussion around beginning to think of ways to prepare CBOs to increase their capacity to focus on more than one of the aforementioned health issues. The concern is that if local governments merge resources, that CBOs will be expected to increase their capacities, and that those who can not keep pace, may lose funding. Ms. Young also informed us that the CDC is releasing both the Latino and African-American Heightened Responses to HIV in cities across the US.

The CPG will be testing out a new meeting format that will increase CPG member activity in committee's as well as minimize volunteer hours, thus maximizing the productivity of the CPG. The CPG meeting will be still begin at 5:30, but the entire meeting time will be extended by 30 minutes. During the first 1.5 hours, the CPG members will meet with their committees, after which the full CPG will convene and go over committee reports. The new meeting format will begin in January, at which point it will be tweaked as needed (less time in committees and more time as full CPG or vice versa). Many of the CPG members present at the meeting expressed positive thoughts about the new plan as it will enable members who were not able to make committee meetings previously, to be able to more fully participate.

The next meeting of the CPG will be January 10, 2008 at 5:30 PM with various committee meetings to be held in various rooms (posted in the building lobby) of 64 New York Ave NE. The full CPG will convene at approximately 7:00 PM. All are welcome to sit on on both or either part of the meeting. Thank you.

Mayor Promises Continued Momentum as City Improves HIV/AIDS Report Card Grade

On Thursday, Mayor Adrian M. Fenty and DC Appleseed Executive Director Walter Jones released a third “report card” that assesses the government’s performance in 11 areas around HIV/AIDS in the District. As a follow-up to DC Appleseed’s August 2005 report, HIV/AIDS in the Nation’s Capital: Improving the District of Columbia’s Response to a Public Health Crisis, DC Appleseed has periodically issued report cards to monitor the District’s progress.

The District’s release of the 2007 HIV/AIDS Epidemiology Annual Report included the first-ever data on HIV in the District and updated AIDS statistics, earned the District an “A”. The report is also being praised as providing the city a critical tool that will be used for targeting a response.

“This is not a time to rest on our laurels and congratulate ourselves for our success,” said Mayor Adrian M. Fenty. “All progress is good progress, but we have much farther to go.”

The District’s Department of Health HIV/AIDS Administration (HAA) is developing and implementing strategies to meet the large scale of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Some of the District’s promising approaches include:

• Working to ensure that all medical providers are offering routine HIV testing and all hospitals have rapid testing available in their emergency rooms by 2009.
• Making local dollars immediately available for new comprehensive interventions as soon as Congress lifts the ban on syringe exchange services in the District.
• Increasing availability and education about condoms and planning to distribute three million by 2009.
• Reassuring District taxpayers that HAA has full accountability among its community providers with their services.
• Collecting accurate data on services and bringing in the technical expertise available from federal and other partners to work with providers.
• Working on interagency coordination with stronger agreements with sister District government agencies to mainstream HIV prevention, testing and linkages to care and treatment.
  Other areas that were highlighted include the commitment by top city leaders to reforms and the administrations continued HIV testing program and other HIV prevention services at the DC Jail.

Summary: DC Appleseed’s Third HIV/AIDS Report Card

	Grades From First Report Card	Grades From Second Report Card	Grades From Third Report Card
Leadership	B-	B-	B+
Interagency Coordination	N/A	C-	B-
HIV Surveillance & Data	Incomplete	B	A
Grants Management	B	B-	B
Quality Assurance	N/A	B-	B-
Rapid Testing	B	B	B+
Routine HIV Testing	C
Condom Distribution	D	D+	B
D.C. Public Schools	B-	C-	D
Syringe Exchange Services	B-	B-	B+
Substance Abuse Treatment	D+	D+	C+
HIV/AIDS among the Incarcerated	C+	B+	A
Website	B+	N/A	N/A

View the entire report card here.

New Health Education Guidelines Approved!

Thanks to everyone who showed up to testify in support of the DC Health Learning Standards. The DC State Board of Education approved the new standards last night. The Examiner Reports:

Thursday's vote follows a report by the DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice that said the lack of a comprehensive HIV-AIDS education program was putting District of Columbia students at risk.

The new standards cover such things as mental health, nutrition, fitness and sex ed. Officials say they are a crucial first step in addressing problems like D.C.'s high rate of HIV infection, as well as things like obesity and teen pregnancy.

D.C. health officials have said Washington has the highest AIDS rate among major cities across the country.

Of course this is the beginning, not the end of this process. We need a lot more from Michelle Rhee and the Department of Education:

We must go from having standards to enforcing them. According to the 2005 Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), a survey of DC Public School students conducted by the CDC and DC Public Schools, 17.5% of middle school students and 9.5% of high school students say they were never taught about HIV/AIDS in school. We must make sure that every student in DC public schools is taught about HIV/AIDS.

We need a timely release of the 2007 DC YRBS data from DCPS. While we got a preview of the data in September and were promised the data in October, we are STILL waiting for the release. This data would have greatly informed the DC Board of Education hearing, and it's very disappointing that we don't yet have it.

We need specific and measurable goals for DC Public Schools to monitor their progress on HIV/AIDS. We can do this by analyzing the 2007 YRBS data and setting goals for improvement when the YRBS is conducted again in 2009.

We need a commitment from DCPS to analyze the brand new data on lesbian, gay, bisexual, and questioning (LGBQ) that is included for the first time in the 2007 YRBS. DCPS has said they plan to do this, but again, it's been four months and we're still waiting. We need to know who is going to do this work, what specific health indicators they are going to analyze for potential LGBQ health disparities, and when it will be done by. Set goals. Assign responsibilities. Make it happen!

We need the DCPS Youth Risk Behavior Survey Advisory Committee to meet on a regular basis to be part of this process. The advisory board which is supposed to meet regularly hasn't actually met since October 2006. This is unacceptable.

We need Mayor Adrian Fenty to reject federal abstinence only funding, which requires us to spend matching DC tax dollars on abstinence-only-until-heterosexual-marriage programs which have been proven to be uneffective. A coalition of DC youth serving organizations has asked Fenty to join the eleven states that reject these funds.

January 24th: Home Ownership Workshop for People Living with HIV

Are you HIV positive and residing in the District of Columbia? Do you know that you may be eligible for up to $77,000 in downpayment and closing cost assistance if you are a a first-time homebuyer in DC? Do you know the advantages and disadvantages of homeownership? Do you want to learn more about the homebuying process?

If you answered yes to these questions, then you may be eligible to participate in the home prep program and learn how you can become a homeowner.

Housing Counseling Services, Inc. Home Puchase Readiness Empowerment Program (PREP) is sponsoring a workshop on Saturday January 24th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the Housing Counseling Services Training Center located at 2410 17th Street NW Suite 100.

Please call Jill Carmichael or Minerva Lazo from Housing Counseling Services, Inc at (202) 667-2681 for more information and to register. All classes are free but seating is limited.

HIV/AIDS Education in Washington, D.C., Schools Lacking, Other City Efforts Improving, Group Finds

Kaiser Daily: Delays in implementing a comprehensive HIV/AIDS education program in Washington, D.C., public schools are putting students at risk and undermining the city's efforts to fight the disease, according to a report released Wednesday by the DC Appleseed Center for Law and Justice, the Washington Post reports. The center has given the district's public school system a "D" grade for its lack of progress in providing HIV/AIDS education to students, according to the Post.

"In the midst of this crisis, students should be getting information in school that will help prevent infection for the rest of their lives," the report said, adding that despite several school board resolutions for immediate action, "fewer and fewer" young people have received HIV/AIDS education in recent years. The group called on school board leaders and Mayor Adrian Fenty's administration to set strong standards and curricula on HIV/AIDS before classes start next fall. "The district's young people are entitled to nothing less," the report said.

Appleseed Executive Director Walter Smith said the report would have given the school system a failing grade if officials had not committed to making changes. HIV/AIDS education "simply wasn't made a high priority," Smith said. District School Chancellor Michelle Rhee in a statement released Tuesday acknowledged the issues. "Going forward," the school system is "committed to implementing comprehensive health curriculum that includes instruction on HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases," Rhee said. The school board is scheduled to vote on Thursday on the overall standards that will be the initial steps toward the health curriculum goal, the Post reports.

Other Evaluations

According to the Post, the school system's grade is a "glaring negative" in a report card that also reflects signs of improvement in the district's HIV/AIDS efforts. The group issued an "A" to two of the 12 areas evaluated in the report, and six other categories received their highest score to date. This is the third assessment that Appleseed has issued since March 2006. Appleseed said that the scores reflect the district government's success this year "in creating the beginnings of an infrastructure of a properly functioning public health system to address the epidemic, something lacking in the district for quite some time."

The most recent HIV/AIDS figures for the district found that almost 12,500 people were known to be living with the disease in 2006 and that more than 80% of several thousand new HIV cases since 2001 occurred among black residents, the Post reports. Although the figures "renewed criticism" of the HIV/AIDS Administration's prior handling of the epidemic, they represented an important statistical "breakthrough" for which Appleseed awarded an "A," according to the Post. The report also includes a number of accomplishments on disease surveillance by the HIV/AIDS Administration, such as fixing a HIV/AIDS case backlog and working with community groups, laboratories and doctors for better data collection. The report said that the improvement in HIV/AIDS surveillance "does not by itself advance the city's response to the epidemic" but provides "a much needed new tool for targeting that response."

The report also noted that the HIV/AIDS Administration now has more than four dozen hospitals, clinics, private doctors and not-for-profit groups doing routine HIV testing during medical care. In addition, the agency increased its distribution of no-cost condoms from 115,000 last year to a projected one million this year, and it responded quickly when groups complained about some of the condom packaging, Appleseed said. HIV/AIDS Administration Director Shannon Hader, who took office in mid-October, has pledged to triple the number of condoms distributed by 2009. Hader expressed satisfaction with the evaluation, adding, "It helps us to have another eye on what we're doing, to give us feedback."

The district's Department of Corrections received the highest score from the group. About 75% of inmates at the district jail are screened for HIV/AIDS on arrival, the Post reports. Beginning in January, HIV-positive inmates will receive a 28-day supply of antiretroviral drugs on discharge so their treatment is not interrupted. The two initiatives are "at the forefront of the nation," Appleseed's report said. "Enormous progress has been made," Susan Galbraith -- director of the not-for-profit Our Place DC, which assists women who have been incarcerated -- said (Levine, Washington Post, 12/12).

The report is available online (.pdf).

Dr. Hader to Speak at Stein Democrats Meeting

The Stein Democrats will be having a special meeting on Monday, December 17, 2007 at 7:00 pm at the John A. Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Room 120.

The guest speaker for the meeting is Dr. Shannon Hader, Director of the HIV/AIDS Administration. Please join us!

The Gertrude Stein Democratic Club is the voice of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Democrats in the District of Columbia. Stein Democrats recently testified at the State Board of Education on the proposed Health Learning Standards.

Happy Hour Benefits Us Helping Us: January 15th

The Cherry Fund will be hosting a happy hour on Tuesday, January 15th at Cobalt beginning at 6:30 PM. Cobalt is located at 1639 R Street, NW.

There is a $10 donation at the door, and all proceeds will benefit Us Helping Us.

Founded in 1985, Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc., is a community-based AIDS service organization committed to reducing HIV infection in the African-American community. Us Helping Us provides HIV counseling, testing, and referrals for everyone. Us Helping Us specializes in providing HIV prevention and support services to gay and bisexual men.

Since beginning in 1999, the Cherry Fund has donated over $750,000 to LGBT and HIV/AIDS organizations.

Prevention Justice Mobilization: Stopping AIDS Through Unity and Action

“What do we want? EFFECTIVE PREVENTION! When do we want it? NOW!” shouted HIV/AIDS, women rights, and faith-based advocates as they marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to join a World AIDS Day rally at the White House. as they marched down Pennsylvania Avenue to join a World AIDS Day rally at the White House.

On Friday, November 30, nearly 200 activists—including community members, students, and people living with HIV and AIDS—brought together local, domestic, and global demands for critical changes to U.S. HIV and AIDS policies. Those rallying called upon the government to cut the red tape on HIV and AIDS programs, with particular emphasis afforded to prevention programs at home and abroad.

The rally-goers, armed with posters and giant scissors with messages like “Sex Education Saves” and “Cut the Red Tape on U.S. Global HIV Prevention,” weren’t the only people making demands of the Administration. Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington D.C.’s non-voting delegate in Congress, issued powerful words to President Bush as part of her address to the crowd.

Read the rest of Kimberly Whipkey's post on the Prevention Justice Mobilaztion's website

Voice of America Report: HIV in DC

Just days before the international observance of World AIDS Day December 1, a new report by the government of Washington, D.C., offered some grim statistics. One in 50 people in the nation's capital has AIDS. One in 20 is infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. The city has the highest HIV infection rate in the nation. City officials are calling it a "modern epidemic."

When Washington, D.C. mayor Adrian Fenty came into office last January, he made HIV/AIDS his number one public health priority. He reaffirmed that commitment this week with the release of the city's first annual Epidemiology Report. "It's the first time the District of Columbia government has its own statistics on the infection rate and, most importantly, it will allow us to do something about it."

continue reading at Voice of America.

DC Must Watch Needle-Exchange Closely

From Kaiser Daily: Washington, D.C., Mayor Adrian Fenty and other district leaders should "remain vigilant" as the Senate this month likely will vote on a $21 billion appropriations bill that would lift a ban on city funding for needle-exchange programs, Grant Smith -- legislative assistant for the Office of National Affairs at the Drug Policy Alliance -- writes in a Washington Post letter to the editor in response to a Nov. 30 Post editorial (Smith, Washington Post, 12/4).

The House in June passed the appropriations bill after lawmakers voted to remove language that prevents the district from financing the programs. The ban was first imposed under a federal law signed by former President Clinton in 1998 that prohibits the district government from using local tax money to fund any organization that operates a needle-exchange program. The House has added the ban each year to the district's appropriations bill (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/2).

According to Smith, the bill has "languished in the Senate since July." District leaders should be aware this month, "when the Senate will be in a rush" to pass the bill, Smith writes, adding that the Senate "should reject any last-minute attempts to restore the ban." Only after President Bush "signs the bill can the district focus on delivering on its promise to infuse critically needed money" into needle-exchange programs, Smith writes, concluding, "We cannot afford to assume Congress and the president will do the right thing" (Washington Post, 12/4).

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton

Here is a great Al Jazeera English piece on the World AIDS Day protest at the White House.

Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton tells the President to "get serious." She goes on to say that the Republican led Congress had "knowingly killed men, women, and children," by denying the District the ability to fund syringe exchange.

DC Fights Back Co-chair George Kerr tells the President to "look in his own backyard."

Marriage Equality for the District of Columbia

It is extremely rare that I do a blog post that is not specifically about HIV/AIDS in the District of Columbia. I hope you'll allow me a little freedom as I do so now to tell you about an important event happening this Thursday in the Wilson Building.

DC for Marriage, and The Center DC are working together to organize a town hall on Marriage Equality in the District of Columbia. The event takes place Thursday, December 6th at 7:00 PM in Room 412 of the Wilson Building, 1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Co-Sponsors of the event include The Gertrude Stein Democrats, the Gay and Lesbian Activist Alliance, the Sexual Minority Youth Assistance League, AQUA DC, and DC Black Pride.

The clear majority of our City Council supports civil marriage rights for same-sex couples. In fact, only three city council members, all of whom are up for re-election in 2008, are not on record supporting marriage equality. Mayor Fenty has sent mixed signals on the issue, while he has stated his support for marriage equality, many members of the community are upset and disappointed that Mayor Fenty has not fulfilled his campaign pledge to release an important legal opinion on the matter.

Of course moving this issue forward is complicated. It's not just about our city government; it's about the ever-interferring presence on Capitol Hill. We will have a chance to discuss all of these issues on Thursday. And former DC Shadow Representative Sabrina Sojourner will be facilitating what is sure to be an interesting discussion about when and how to move forward. Sabrina Sojourner, like many of us, have a personal stake in this matter. Sabrina and her partner Letitia Gomez were recently featured in a Washington Post Article which discussed their retirement plans and touched on the extra challenges they face as a same-sex couple.

Please make plans to join us Thursday night and support civil marriage rights for all in the District of Columbia.

Eleanor Holmes Norton Reaffirms Commitment to Needle Exchange

From Kaiser DailyDel. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) recently said that needle-exchange programs in Washington, D.C., should receive public funding in an effort to reduce the spread of HIV, the AP/NBC4.com reports (AP/NBC4.com, 11/28). Norton's comments follow the release of a report earlier in the week that called HIV/AIDS a "modern epidemic" in the district with "complexities and challenges that continue to threaten the lives and well-being of far too many residents." According to the report, almost 12,500 district residents were known to be living with HIV/AIDS in 2006. Thirty-seven percent of HIV cases were transmitted through heterosexual contact, compared with 25% that were transmitted among men who have sex with men (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 11/27).

According to Norton, the report did not mention a congressional ban that prohibits the city from allocating public funds for needle-exchange programs. The ban likely will be overturned soon, the AP/NBC4.com reports. Although the report did say that injection drug use was the second-most common mode of HIV transmission in the city, it was "misleading" by focusing too much on sexual transmission of the virus, according to Norton (AP/NBC4.com, 11/28).

Related Editorial

"Among the tragic data" in the report, the "statistic on" injection drug use is the "most infuriating" because needle-exchange programs -- the "tool needed to slow transmission of HIV by this route" -- are banned from receiving public funding, a Washington Post editorial says. Norton and Rep. Jose Serrano (D-N.Y.) "succeeded in getting the ban eliminated" in a House appropriations bill earlier this year, the editorial says, adding that the district is "waiting for the Senate to approve on an omnibus spending bill, which could happen next month." The "longer the district is denied the freedom to use its own money to help its own residents, the more lives will be needlessly put at risk," the editorial concludes (Washington Post, 11/30).

Metro Weekly Profiles Khadijah Tribble

Metro Weekly has a great article online profiling Khadijah Tribble. I had the chance to meet Khadijah over coffee a few months back, when she was starting as Interim Director of Pediatric AID HIV Care. It's great to learn more about the important work she's doing.

December 1, World AIDS Day, will again mark that sad anniversary that, while a time to tout advances such as an entirely new class of HIV/AIDS medications, primarily reminds Washingtonians that HIV/AIDS is the millstone around our collective neck as we drown in an epidemic. Data released by the Mayor Adrian Fenty's Department of Health on Monday, Nov. 26, doesn't offer much succor.

According to the new HIV/AIDS report, HIV-positive children continue to be born in the District -- nearly a tenth of the country's pediatric AIDS cases in 2005 -- while some states have successfully used medication to eradicate mother-to-child transmission. Nearly 40 percent of new HIV infections are transmitted through heterosexual sex, though sex between men still accounts for 27 percent of new infections. Pointedly, black women, who are 58 percent of the District's female population, account for 90 percent of new female HIV infections in D.C. Possibly the most important point -- and the one everyone was likely expecting -- is that the nation's capital leads the country with its rate of AIDS cases: 128.4 per 100,000 people, versus the national average of 14 cases per 100,000 people.

continue reading this article at Metro Weekly

American University Students Dance to Fight HIV/AIDS

Dancing for six hours straight in a college-campus building might sound like a bizarre way for college students to spend a Friday night. But this World AIDS Day at American University in Washington, D.C., students danced to support children living with HIV/AIDS at American University's first Dance Marathon, a fundraiser to benefit the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. The Foundation is a global organization that seeks to prevent pediatric HIV infection and to eradicate pediatric AIDS through research, advocacy, and prevention and treatment programs.

continue reading this article on the Huffington Post

Short Video of DC World AIDS Day White House Protest

On the eve of World AIDS Day, community members draped Lafayette Park with red tape to symbolize the political obstacles that prevent an effective response to the HIV/AIDS crisis locally, nationally, and internationally. The HIV advocates pictured below engaged in civil disobedience to call attention to their demands.

Here's a short video clip. If you can' see the video where you are reading this, click here.