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April 2004 On Monday, April 12, the National Organizations Responding to AIDS (NORA) coalition held its monthly meeting in Washington, D.C. The focus of this month’s meeting was important recent and upcoming events that impact the HIV community. The meeting featured three guests: Jodi Jacobson, executive director of the Center for Health and Gender Equity (CHANGE), Paul Feldman, director of Public Affairs for the National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA), and Brent Minor, a member of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA). The meeting opened with an informational presentation from Jodi Jacobson of CHANGE (Center for Health and Gender Equity), who discussed the upcoming March for Women’s Lives - a large-scale demonstration in support of reproductive freedom and justice for all women that will take place in Washington DC. on April 25 (for more information on the March, see the first item in the Announcements section). Ms. Jacobson provided a brief overview of the history and purpose of the March and of her own organization’s involvement. She explained that a number of advocacy groups have been working to get HIV related messages included in the goals and mission statements of the March. In addition, CHANGE is one of several groups sponsoring two HIV specific events in the days before the March. On Friday, April 23, there will be a workshop on the impact of U.S. policies on women’s reproductive rights, for which Marsha Martin, DSW, AIDS Action’s executive director, will be a panelist. The following day, Saturday, April 24, a demonstration will be held at 3:00 p.m. in Lafayette Park, which is across the street form the White House. The demonstration will focus specifically on the “Global Gag Rule” (a Bush Administration policy that prohibits agencies that receive federal funding for work related to international reproductive from discussing abortion) and it’s implications for HIV funding and policy. For more information about the March for Women’s Lives, visit http://www.marchforwomen.org. For more information about CHANGE’s HIV related March activities visit: http://www.genderhealth.org/. Paul Feldman, government affairs director of National Association for People With AIDS (NAPWA), followed Ms. Jacobson’s remarks with a presentation on AIDSWatch, which will take place from May 17-19. AIDSWatch is an annual advocacy event that brings community advocates from across the country to Washington, D.C. for advocacy training and visits to their elected representatives on Capitol Hill. During these visits, AIDSWatch participants, many of whom are HIV positive, will advocate for increased funding for federal HIV/AIDS programs. Mr. Feldman said that, this year, AIDSWatch organizers are particularly interested in ensuring that the offices of Congressional leaders and key appropriators receive visits from AIDSWatch participants. In addition, they are interested in reinforcing the idea that lobbying should not be a one-time activity; further, visiting Members of Congress in their district offices is just as critical to the success of an advocacy campaign as visiting them in their Washington, D.C. offices. NAPWA is continuing to look for support from other organizations that might be able to donate time and resources to AIDSWatch. Specifically, they are looking for help with scheduling Congressional appointments; a commitment to spread the word about the event through existing advocacy networks; assistance with locating and securing community housing for AIDSWatch participants who may have difficulty paying for a hotel. For more information about AIDSWatch, and to find out how to become involved, visit: http://www.napwa.org/AIDSWatch.html. The final speaker of the meeting was Brent Minor, a member of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS, who shared with coalition members his perspective on the PACHA meeting that was held March 29 and 30 in Washington D.C (for a full account of the PACHA meeting, see The Weekly Update issue from April 2). Mr. Minor began by noting that he was not an official spokesman for the Council, and thus his remarks solely reflected his own views. He then went on to provide an overview of the recent work of the Care and Treatment Subcommittee, which he chairs. He discussed the three motions that the Subcommittee brought before the Council in March: 1) a request that the position of Director of the White House Office of National AIDS Policy be filled as soon as possible; 2) a request that the Secretary of Health and Human Services gather information on how to resolve the current ADAP funding crisis and to make recommendations and report the findings back to PACHA within 90 days; and 3) a request that President Bush convene a White House summit on HIV and AIDS in 2005 and that he continue to highlight the current state of domestic HIV in 2004. The Subcommittee also proposed a set of “Guiding Principles and Core Values” for adoption by PACHA to guide all further Council work. Ultimately, the second and third resolutions passed; the first did not, and the Guiding Principles were tabled for procedural reasons. Mr. Minor then engaged in discussion with NORA members about the future directions of PACHA. One of the primary questions for the coalition was whether or not the Council will offer a series of formal recommendations on the 2005 reauthorization of the Ryan White Comprehensive AIDS Resources Emergency (CARE) Act. In responding, Mr. Minor said that the Council would like to develop such recommendations and that they are specifically interested in examining the issues of “core services”—what they are and how they should be provided for in the legislation. However, he also shared that there are differences of opinion within PACHA as to how active they can be on legislative issues. Another area of interest for NORA was the overall effectiveness of PACHA and whether or not the body is as active and influential as they once were. Mr. Minor expressed his view that “PACHA can be as effective as its leadership wants it to be,” and that the group has a responsibility to the community to respond to current needs. He also expressed his hope that the President will follow PACHA’s recommendation and hold a White House summit in 2005, which would be a critical step in reenergizing the domestic HIV conversation. Mr. Minor concluded by reminding NORA members that public feedback is important to PACHA and encouraged community members to take advantage of public comment opportunities at PACHA meetings. There are times when it may be difficult for PACHA members to raise certain issues, but when community members raise such issues, it creates the opportunity to discuss them. For
more information about PACHA, visit: http://www.pacha.gov. |
