Volunteer Opportunities: HIPS, Whitman Walker, Cherry Fund

Here are some great volunteer opportunities ahead.

HIPS Volunteer Opportunities
HIPS is seeking dedicated individuals to provide programmatic and administrative support to our Outreach, Hotline and In-House programs. Volunteers are needed both for daytime (M-F 10 – 6pm) and evening (10pm – 5 am) positions! Volunteers gain real-life experience in HIV prevention services, crisis counseling, health counseling and more. Volunteers are asked to make a minimum 8 hour a month, 4 month commitment to one of HIPS programs. Internships are also available. Interested applicants should email HIPS volunteer coordinator Keisha (volunteercoordinator.hips at gmail.com) for more information and volunteer application! The Fall Volunteer Orientation starts Sunday September 30th. Details at www.hips.org

WWC Legal Services: Become a Public Benefits Volunteer
Looking for a volunteer opportunity to help people living with HIV/AIDS in our community. Become a Public Benefits Volunteer and help people living with HIV/AIDS and other clients of Whitman-Walker Clinic with their initial Social Security disability applications. Join the Whitman-Walker Clinic Legal Services Program for the Public Benefits Clinic Volunteer Training on Saturday October 20th from 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM at the Whitman-Walker Clinic, 1407 S Street NW. For details, click here.

Cherry Fund Seeks Volunteers for Harlequin
On Saturday, February 23, 2008. The Cherry Fund will continue our tradition of giving back by hosting Harlequin, our masquerade ball at the Latham Hotel. The proceeds of this event will go to the HIV/AIDS Youth Service Community. There are many opportunities to volunteer and help make this event a success. For more information, click here.

Job Opportunities: HIPS, Prevention Works, and La Clinica Del Pueblo

Here are some recent job postings of interest. Please contact the agencies directly.

HIPS Program Administration Assistant: HIPS Program Administration Assistant provides administrative and logistical support to the Executive Director and Program Directors. The Program Administration Assistant provides general bookkeeping to the organization and ensures HIPS programs are well prepared to meet the needs of HIPS clients and stakeholders. Find out more at www.hips.org.

Pevention Works Clinical Supervisor: The Clinical Supervisor is responsible for managing the day-to-day activities of the FOCUS drug treatment adherence program for low-income residents of the District of Columbia who are current or former drug users, living with HIV infection, and struggling with their HIV care and/or treatment regimen. Find out more here.

La Clinica HIV Prevention Conselor (Bilingual): This position will conduct HIV prevention counseling, testing, and referrals in the District of Columbia. Find out more information here.

Darby Hickey Feature Article in CHAMP Newsletter

Local activist Darby Hickey has a great article in this month's CHAMP Newsletter. For those who don't know, CHAMP (Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project) is a very cool national project headed up by Julie Davids, which draws connections between HIV/AIDS, human rights, and struggles for social and economic justice.

Darbey writes about the lives of sex workers in DC and their efforts to organize, including efforts of local organizations like HIPS, La Clinica Del Pueblo, and Different Avenues.

click here to download the newsletter. Darby's article starts on page three.

HIPS Volunter Training on Saturday, May 12th

HIPS is seeking energetic, committed individuals interested in public health, HIV prevention, LBGT and sex work issues to fill Outreach, Hotline, and other program volunteer and internship positions.

HIPS' mission is to assist female, male, and transgendered individuals engaging in sex work in Washington, DC in leading healthy lives. Utilizing a harm reduction model, HIPS' programs strive to address the impact that HIV/AIDS, STIs, discrimination, poverty, violence and drug use have on the lives of individuals engaging in sex work.

HIPS volunteer orientation is a fun, interactive day that helps incoming HIPS volunteers understand and be able to effectively articulate HIPS philosophy, organizational structure, and programs, and ultimately prepare them to provide assistance to HIPS clients. Following the orientation, volunteers are prepared to enter day time programmatic volunteering or internships, or more extensive Outreach or Hotline training. Attendance at the volunteer orientation is mandatory for all volunteers. HIPS holds three volunteer orientations per year, generally in September, January and May.

For more information, visit the HIPS website

Washington Grantmakers

This announcement comes from the Washington Grantmakers Blog:

The Washington AIDS Partnership, a project of Washington Grantmakers, recently announced a significant investment of national funding in the Washington, D.C. region. The National AIDS Fund and Johnson & Johnson are supporting a second set of grants to address the needs of women and girls susceptible to contracting HIV/AIDS. Of the nine grants announced, two grants totaling $318,000 will go to the Washington AIDS Partnership on behalf of Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive and La Clinica del Pueblo, two of the Partnership’s long-time grantees. The “GENERATIONS II: Strengthening Women and Families Affected by HIV/AIDS” grants go to support community-based organizations that are developing innovative interventions or adapting proven prevention models for specific populations of women and girls at high-risk for infection.

Guess Who is Coming to DC?

My old friend Kirk Read is coming to town and he's bringing some interesting folks with him. Kirk is part of the Sex Workers Art Show, which is a collection of nine performers (who somehow fit into two vans) currently on a thirty-one city tour.

They will be performing in DC on February 14th at the Rock and Roll Hotel, so mark your calendars now. The performance that evening will benefit HIPS in DC.

The show is an eye-popping evening performance art created by people who work in the sex industry, to dispel the myth that they are anything short of artists, innovators, and geniuses! The show features burlesque, spoken word, music, and multimedia performance art. Intelligent and hot, disturbing and hilarious, the performances offer a wide range of perspectives on sex work, from celebration of prostitutes' rights and sex-positivity to views from the darker sides of the industry.

This year's incredible lineup of performers includes international burlesque sensation Miss Dirty Martini; acclaimed Whitney Biennial artist Julie Atlas Muz; author of Happy Baby and My Girlfriend Comes to the City and Beats Me Up Stephen Elliott; stripper historian and burlesque professor Jo Weldon; member of the internationally renowned Japanese performance collective Dumb Type, Cono Snatch Zubobinskaya; enigmatic operatic musician Reginald Lamar; feminist smut purveyor and queer film star Amber Dawn; filmmaker and performer Bridget Irish; tour founder and ringmaster Annie Oakley; and of course my friend and award-winning author of How I Learned to Snap Kirk Read.

NIGHT STOP: Youth AIDS Team Film Series

This Thursday, please come join the Youth AIDS Team for a film on HIV/AIDS in Mozambique, followed by a panel discussion. The film "Night Stop", produced by Mozambican director Licinio Azevedo, describes the spread of the HIV/AIDS epidemic along a long-distance trucking route in Mozambique called the Corridor of Death. It showcases the lives of the prostitutes who attempt to make a living by catering to truckers who stop at an overnight truck stop.

The film will be followed by a panel discussion with HIV/AIDS experts from the World Bank and representatives from local DC organization HIPS - Helping Individual Prostitutes Survive.

Thursday, January 18th
12:30pm-2:00pm
701 18th St., NW
Room J1-050

RSVP to Emily Horgan: ehorgan@ifc.org

Drag Kings, and Glass Eaters, and Burlesque Artists ... Oh My!

Join me tonight at the Palace of Wonders and show some love for HIPS. HIPS and Palace of Wonders present to you The Most Eclectic and Unique Show in DC.

For those of you who may not know, HIPS assists female, male, and transgendered individuals engaging in sex work in Washington, DC in leading healthy lives. Using a harm reduction model, HIPS’ programs strive to address the impact that HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections, discrimination, poverty, violence and drug use have on the lives of individuals. A suggested donation $10-15 will benefit this important work.

The Most Eclectic and Unique Show in DC
NOV. 16th, Thurs, doors open at 7pm
Palace of Wonders ~ 1210 H St, NE
Drink specials! Raffle!

~Featuring~
Aerialist performance by Moira!
Burlesque by Thrill Kill Jill!
A straight jacket escape by Mab!
Drag king show by E-Cleff!
Glass eating and hula hooping burlesque by Miss Joule!
Drag queen performance by Alley Cat!
Lip sync performance by Dejavu!
Belly Dancing by Miasia!