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Excerpt from yesterday's AIDS.gov blog entry...
Earlier this week, Michelle Samplin-Salgado and I gave a workshop on using new media in response to HIV/AIDS at the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) annual Skills Building Institute for HIV Testing and Awareness Day Events and Campaigns. The Institute is part of NAPWA's "Mobilized to Succeed" initiative.
It was an honor to be with NAPWA, and with our colleagues from POZ Magazine, to learn alongside people who are living with HIV/AIDS and the organizations that advocate for them. There is no better voice in the response to AIDS than those who are living with HIV/AIDS themselves.
.....
It was exciting to see how quickly participants adopted the technologies during the training -- using new media to embrace the values of NAPWA's Denver Principles , a manifesto of self-empowerment written in 1983 by a group of people living with AIDS. The Denver Principles "demanded that the voices of people living with HIV be heard. It asserted the right of people living with HIV to participate in the decision-making processes--at all levels--that would fundamentally affect their lives."
What I love about new media is the way it parallels the Denver Principles. It involves peer-to-peer communication and networking, and asserts the importance of individual voices. New media, like the Denver Principles Project, uses the collective wisdom of the HIV/AIDS community to best respond to the epidemic.
Click here to read the full blog entry and see some of the videos made during the workshop.
Earlier this week, Michelle Samplin-Salgado and I gave a workshop on using new media in response to HIV/AIDS at the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA) annual Skills Building Institute for HIV Testing and Awareness Day Events and Campaigns. The Institute is part of NAPWA's "Mobilized to Succeed" initiative.
It was an honor to be with NAPWA, and with our colleagues from POZ Magazine, to learn alongside people who are living with HIV/AIDS and the organizations that advocate for them. There is no better voice in the response to AIDS than those who are living with HIV/AIDS themselves.
.....
It was exciting to see how quickly participants adopted the technologies during the training -- using new media to embrace the values of NAPWA's Denver Principles , a manifesto of self-empowerment written in 1983 by a group of people living with AIDS. The Denver Principles "demanded that the voices of people living with HIV be heard. It asserted the right of people living with HIV to participate in the decision-making processes--at all levels--that would fundamentally affect their lives."
What I love about new media is the way it parallels the Denver Principles. It involves peer-to-peer communication and networking, and asserts the importance of individual voices. New media, like the Denver Principles Project, uses the collective wisdom of the HIV/AIDS community to best respond to the epidemic.
Click here to read the full blog entry and see some of the videos made during the workshop.
I receive my HIV related services from one of the largest service providers in the New York area—
The Gay Men's Health Crisis, Inc. (GMHC).
I am stunned, if not outright enraged by the fact that one of the largest agency that provide HIV services and one who often touts that it is the first in everything has steadfastly refused to allow a designated CAB/Consumer/Client seat on its Board of Directors. Where is the accountability and transparency ? How can GMHC justify signing on to the Denver Principle Project and still have such a stances. We have passed resolutions after resolutions and still no response from the GMHC's Board. The latest recommendation of the Consumer Advisory Board (CAB) was overwhelmingly passed at the April's meeting of the CAB, in which the CAB had invited the GMHC Board to directly address the issue of “client representation” on the GMHC Board of Directors and that it be an official agenda item at the next meeting of the Board. Our request have felt on dead ears.
In response to the Board's none response, the CAB is currently in the process of acting on a series of recommendations that was presented by a committee of the CAB. The recommendations are that a campaign to petition the matter be started immediately; that a press conference be called by the CAB in June 2009; that a protest and rally be called to bring attention to the matter; and finally that the resignation of any GMHC Board member who doesn't support the CAB's position is demanded.
On another front, the PLWHA Advisory Group of the HIV Planning Council of New York (AG) met on Saturday, May 9, 2009 and passed its recommendations that speaks directly to the issue. The following recommendations from the AG came After a spirited debate on the Denver Principles with the main focuses being the input into the area of policy-making and the representation of client/consumers on all policy making bodies. The AG went on to approve the following recommendations:
That the PLWHA Advisory Group (AG) supports and endorses the Denver Principles (DP).
That the AG strongly recommends to the HIV Health & Human Services Planning Council
of New York to endorse the DP.
That the HIV Health & Human Service Planning Council of NY require (mandate) all its recipients of Title 1 (Ryan White Funding Grantees) to adhere to the Denver Principles.
Finally, once again we thank Charles King, Housing Work CEO, for having spoke up so forcefully at the AG meeting and for speaking truth to power. I urge all supporters, service providers included to take the lead and support our fight for a designated CAB seat on the Board Directors at GMHC. Your support can come in one of several ways, by going to our on-line petition to sign at http:www.thepetitionsite.com/ and search for “cabboardseat”, and to sign our organizational/individual sign-on letter that is being circulated.
J. Sellman, Secretary
GMHC Consumer Advisory Board
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/
http://www.denverprinciplesproject.ning.com
http://www.housingworks.org/news-press/detail/denver-principles/
http://www.napwa.org/denverprinciplesproject/denver-principles.shtml
http://www.housingworks.org/news-press/detail/how-to-renew-pwa-ownership-of-napwa/