The HIV Prevention
Justice Alliance
is a national network
of over 70 groups building a unified, effective movement for HIV prevention
in the United States.

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is building a locally rooted national movement at the intersection of
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Looking Back on a Year of Success

Calling for the 3 "R" of HIV prevention justice: Resources for more prevention programs, Research for more prevention options, and Reality-based prevention policies, CHAMP closed out 2007 with a noisy and loud march and rally in the home city of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia. Coincided with the National HIV Prevention Conference, CHAMP and our allies organized the Prevention Justice Mobilization (PJM), with over 350 endorsers and numerous events around the country and in Atlanta. The PJM is the culmination of nearly 5 years of CHAMP's existence, bringing together a powerful blend of policy analysis, research advocacy, community organizing and mobilization to demand more attention be paid towards the escalating HIV epidemic, both here at home and around the world. More on the PJM here.

This past year, CHAMP scaled up our outreach and education efforts, spreading our message of prevention justice at conferences and meetings around the country. We've met countless number of amazing activists and allies working in the diverse and progressive movements we call prevention justice. While it is always a challenge to find time to build coalitions and bridges beyond our over committed and over worked existence, we are grateful and energized by people's willingness to join us in unity and shared their commitment in ending this epidemic.

At the nexus of prevention research and policy advocacy, CHAMP's Strategy Lab for HIV Prevention continued through monthly conference calls to increase the knowledge and understanding of prevention science. From community leadership training and strategic goal setting to pro-active campaign development and policy advocacy, the Strategy Lab has increasingly been recognized as a forum for nurturing new ideas and fermenting constructive and insightful debates.

2007 call topics included: critical analysis of new CDC prevention policy proposals such as routine HIV testing; gender and sexuality issues in the research and roll out of new technologies such as the HPV vaccine; new global findings such as male circumcision and their potential translation into U.S. policies; prevention methods innovated by people living with HIV, such as "sero-sorting" (in which people alter sexual behavior based on the real or perceived serostatus of their partners); and creating strategies to confront racial disparities in HIV prevalence, particularly among African American gay men and other men who have sex with men, and African American women.

Recognizing that people living with HIV/AIDS and community activists have been at the forefront of every battle in the fight against AIDS – and that we need more options than condoms or a far-off vaccine for HIV prevention – CHAMP initiated an unprecedented coalition effort to improve HIV prevention research by organizing two intensive briefing, skills-sharing and strategy training in Los Angeles in February and Atlanta in December. Research Advocacy for HIV Prevention brought together research, policy and grassroots community leaders to share information and perspectives on HIV prevention research within a social justice framework, arming communities impacted by AIDS in the United States with the information and skills to be effective HIV prevention research advocates. Summaries and presentations from the workshop are documented on our website.

Strategy Lab also produced and widely disseminated an educational briefing paper in English and Spanish, How did circumcision prevent HIV in clinical trials in Africa… and what does it mean for the United States? The briefing paper helped domestic activists, advocates and service providers respond to questions and concerns about the reporting of the trials and their applicability (or lack thereof) in various communities here in the United States, articulating concerns about overlooked issues on rates of circumcision by race as well as sexual orientation issues in a country where most cases of HIV are transmitted from men to men.

Recognizing our growing national profile, CHAMP continues to find new ways of engaging people who have joined our network. While communication via email can provide quick and easy access to information, it is limiting in being a primarily one way communication medium. In 2006, CHAMP initiated a new series of national teleconferences design to provide a forum combining information sharing with interactive discussions on current topics in HIV prevention, as well as skills building workshops on activism. Offered twice during one day to maximize the number of participants, 11 teleconferences were conducted, reaching 438 attendees.

The Politics of HIV Prevention is our New York City based community forum series. To date, CHAMP has conducted ten forums during the grant year. Held monthly at the Lesbian & Gay Community Center, each forum has averaged nine co-sponsoring organizations and 63 attendees, with productive discussions that link audience members focused on HIV/AIDS, reproductive health, prison reform, LGBT issues, and racial justice. The content and presentations of each forum are fully documented on our website.


Other articles in this issue: