We're Here, and We're Fighting

Housing Works has this great blog post about the birth of the Campaign to End AIDS Metro DC Chapter.

After meeting for several months now, we've met all the criteria to become an official chapter. We jumped the last hurdle at our last meeting when we elected co-chairs. Our amazing co-chairs are Larry Bryant and Danielle Pleasant. Here's an excerpt from the article:

"Once it starts mobilizing area PWAs, the D.C. C2EA folks will address head-on their city's out-of-control epidemic and push for a state of emergency to be declared there. The District's HIV rates rank among the worst in the nation with an estimated one in 20 of the city's 500,000 residents infected. The annual rate of new AIDS cases is ten times higher than the national average.

The city's response has often been weak and bungled, with understaffed and poorly coordinated efforts, especially in programs servicing the city's youth and at-risk groups. A top priority for C2EA D.C. is to ensure that the position of director of HIV/AIDS administration at the Department of Health is filled.

Pleasant also wants to make a big push for HIV education in schools. "We need it starting at a young age. Our kids are having sex at 13 or 14, if not younger, and they're putting themselves at risk for STDs and HIV. Schools want to teach health, but they don't want to talk about sex or HIV," she says.

Get involved! Please join us for the next meeting.