As part of this year’s American Public Health Association annual meeting in Washington, DC, on November 3, join us for a Community Speak Out & Neighborhood March on HIV/AIDS.


Given that our nation’s capital has one of the highest AIDS rates in the country and as many as one in 20 residents are HIV positive, Creative Cause is promoting two events this weekend to inform and engage more people to Plant HOPE by seeing HIV Outreach as a Path to Empowerment. Community members will discuss the relationship between ill-health, HIV, and the many social disparities that exist in our nation’s capital.

Organized by the Metroplitan Washington Public Health Association and DC Fights Back, the event will bring together public health professionals attending the American Public Health Association annual meeting, community members, activists, and city officials. At noon, the march will start at the corner of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. SE, Washington, DC.

The goal is to raise awareness and decrease stigma and at the Speak Out, we will describe DC’s HIV epidemic, discuss what is being done to address HIV and what more needs to
happen. We will hear testimony from community members, listen to presentations from representatives of other States, and move towards consensus on action items that the District
of Columbia can take to help end new HIV infections.

On that day, you will have a chance to hear testimony from community members, representatives of other states to highlight successful prevention and risk reduction strategies and march through the Ward 8 neighborhood to raise awareness and decrease stigma.

Partners include the Black Young Public Health Professionals Network, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc./Xi Omega Chapter, Creative Cause, DC Commission for Women, and the Young Women's Task Force.

The Community Speak Out on HIV/AIDS will begin at 2PM at the Washington Highlands Library,115 Atlantic St. SW, Washington, DC 20032. By metro, take the Anacostia Metro Station (green line) and switch to the A4 bus to the Library.

If you plan to attend and want more details, register at www.marchonaids.eventbrite.com.

"Plant HOPE is an initiative of Creative Cause that began in April 2007 during Global Youth Service Day. It takes on many meanings but at its core lies individual and social responsibility. So for HIV and this event it means to reach out and educate ourselves and our community on HIV in order to achieve a path to empowerment," said Tambra Stevenson, founder of Creative Cause. Drop an email at info@planthope.org to support Plant HOPE in '08 and visit www.planthope.org.