The Board of Directors of the Metro DC Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender (GLBT) Community Center (The DC Center) are pleased to announce their first HIV/AIDS grant.
The National HIV Vaccine Research and Education Initiative Grant is designed to create a supportive local environment for HIV vaccine research by educating key communities about this research in areas where HIV vaccine clinical trials are ongoing or planned. The DC Center is one of several organizations that will be funded under this grant.
David Mariner, Executive Director of the DC Center stated: “This grant provides a unique opportunity to educate the GLBT community about the importance of HIV Vaccine research. We’ll be coordinating activities of this grant closely with our HIV Working Group.”
The DC Center will continue to work with the local community advisory board for HIV Vaccine Research, the Capital Area Vaccine Effort, and the Vaccine Research Center at the NIH. This partnership first began when The DC Center organized an educational event on vaccine research on October 1st, 2007 at Dakota Cowgirl/Titan Bar. More recently, the groups collaborated on a community update on HIV prevention research, under the direction of The DC Center’s Crystal Meth Working Group, which was held at the HRC Equality Center on May 14th of this year.
About The DC Center HIV Working GroupFollowing a December 4th Town Hall on HIV/AIDS, The DC Center launched their HIV Working Group in January of 2009. The HIV Working Group meets the fourth Wednesday of every month at the DC Center, and meetings are open to the public. The group, chaired by Daniel O’Neill, currently distributes over 2,000 safer sex kits each week. More information about the safer-sex kit campaign is available at the website
www.dctoolkit.org.
About The DC CenterThe DC Center’s mission is to celebrate, strengthen, and support community among the GLBT residents and organizations of Metropolitan Washington, DC. Programs of The DC Center include: Career Development, The David Bohnett CyberCenter, CenterArts, DC Crystal Meth Working Group, DC for Marriage, Elder Think Tank, GLOV – Gays and Lesbians Opposing Violence (a Task Force of The DC Center), HIV Working Group, OutWrite Author Series, and the Tobacco Working Group. The DC Center issues a weekly newsletter of GLBT community events and information. For more information and to sign up for our newsletter, please visit
www.TheDCCenter.org.
Help us Keep DC Safer over Labor Day Weekend. Join members of the HIV Working Group on Thursday, September 3rd at Motley Bar for another Packing Party. Volunteers will be assembling safer sex kits and enjoying great drink specials at Motley. 7:00 PM to 10:30 PM.
Metropolitan Washington Regional HIV (Ryan White) Health Services Planning Council, which serves people living with HIV/AIDS in the DC metro area, is looking for members to serve for three-year terms that will begin in March 2010. The Planning Council assesses the needs of people living with HIV/AIDS and allocates funds to meet those needs.
On September 16 and 17, there will be a training, Treating Tobacco Dependence in the HIV/AIDS Community, for medical/health professionals who treat or provide care for people in DC.
Please join us for the next meeting of the Capital Area Vaccine Effort(CAVE)on Wednesday September 9th at 7:00 PM. We'll be meeting at the DC Center, 1111 14th Street NW, Suite 350.
The DC Center's HIV Working Group TOOLK!T/FUK!T Campaign is expanding into two new locations. The TOOLK!T safer sex kits will now be available at Pulp (www.pulpdc.com) located at 1803 14th Street, NW and Commisary (www.commissarydc.com) located at 1443 P Street, NW. The TOOLK!T/FUK!T Campaign is now distributing over 2,000 safer sex kits each week. If you'd like more information, please click here to join the HIV Working Group Yahoo Group or send an e-mail.
National Gay Men's HIV/AIDS Awareness Day takes place on September 27th, 2009. This event was started by the National Association of People with AIDS.
