C2EA: A Formidable Contender Gears Up For 2007!

A Personal Note From: Michael Emanuel Rajner National Secretary - Campaign to End AIDS Telephone: (305) 677-3506 merajner@gmail.com C2EA: A Formidable Contender Gears Up For 2007! Success is defined and measured in many ways, for Campaign to End AIDS, 2006 was a pivotal year for C2EA and we could not have done it without the passion and support of our membership and partnership with national and international organizations. This summer’s Youth Action Institute 2006 played an instrumental role in the development of tomorrow’s leaders. National sponsors such as AIDS Foundation of Chicago, Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project-CHAMP, Housing Works, National Association of People with AIDS-NAPWA, Sexuality Information & Education Council of the United States-SIECUS, Treatment Access Expansion Project-TAEP and The Well Project helped mold the minds of the next generation of leaders. The institute provided young men and women (most living with HIV/AIDS) with the education and resources of empowerment to strengthen their leadership abilities. During this week long of discovery, young adults learned how to harness the power they possess and prepare them as the next generation of activists to END AIDS! We continue to receive progress reports on the continued success of these courageous heroes. AIDS Vote! (http://www.aidsvote.org/) was another exciting time where over several months we provided national grassroots activists with extensive “how to” educational materials. These materials focused on issues of voter registration, development of candidate questionnaires, engaging in petitioning, bird-dogging and actual AIDS Vote petitions to candidates for office to sign. AIDS Vote served as a valuable educational opportunity for elected officials and voters and urging lawmakers to embrace “universal access” to care, treatment and support services. With over 1.2 million people living with HIV/AIDS and far more affected by the virus in the United States, it a potentially large voting block of individuals. People with living with and affected by HIV/AIDS not only pay taxes, but we vote! Re-authorization of the Ryan White CARE Act was a very frustrating process for people who are dependant upon the CARE Act for services. We watched as organizations weighed in for a piece of the pie and focused more on the funding stream than the person who is struggles to access care, treatment and support services. C2EA took action and assumed a leadership role in organizing a National Town Hall where the most respected of AIDS Organizations collaborated and formulated a unified statement on reauthorization. The unified statement had a profound affect on Congressional staffers and the compromise legislation that was negotiated between both houses. The CARE Act has been authorized for 3 years, for the next three years we have a lot of work to accomplish to ensure for “universal access”. With continual cuts in funding for HIV education and prevention programs and requiring them to focus on “abstinence only”, it does not take a rocket scientist to understand why HIV-infection rates continue to escalate and local, state and federal governments limit access to life saving care, treatment and support services. Economic embargos or restrictions are placed on terrorist nations, not on a population in need – America, this is bad policy! C2EA made a loud and controversial presence at National Minority AIDS Council’s (NMAC) United States Conference on AIDS 2006 (Hollywood, Florida). We lead a group of inspiring young adults living with HIV/AIDS throughout the convention center as we engaged in peaceful demonstrations that amounted to respectful marching and chanting. The youth served as an inspiration to many conference participants and their actions were applauded by the several notable national leaders such as Paul Kawata; Executive Director of NMAC, some local public officials thought of it as us seeking “to create disorder by marching throughout the ballroom”. C2EA advocates youth to use their voice, be heard and be proud of the individual they are! They were not preaching to a choir, they are part of the choir playing their part. In November, as people in South Carolina living with AIDS on an the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP) waiting list started to die, C2EA organized mini-caravans to descended upon Columbia, South Carolina. Individuals traveled from New York, Georgia, Florida and Mississippi to unite in solidarity and demand that the state government take action to save the lives of our brothers and sisters whose lives are thought of as less deserving in the states budget! AIDS activists in South Africa organized a similar demonstration to coincide with our stand and fight for “universal access”. Our action has helped ensure that these peoples lives are considered as worthy of access to life saving medications! The night before our demonstration, several of us attended an event where former United States Senator John Edwards spoke and admired him how he had no problems saying the words HIV/AIDS. His leadership that night further empowered many of us for our journey the next day! In early December on the dawn of reauthorization, several members of C2EA joined at CAEAR Coalition’s table in Miami Beach, Florida and weighed in on reauthorization and the impact it will potentially have to those utilizing its services. As I sat at the table, I became frustrated that a few providers focused more on the impact reauthorization would have on funding streams rather than demanding more from a piece of legislation that was staled for over a year in Congress. Personally, I am grateful for the programs that exist in this nation. At NAPWA’s Staying Alive: Access Matters (New Orleans, Louisiana), members of C2EA were everywhere. We attended the conference with a strong presence to join and participate in this important consumer focused experience. It was an amazing time for people living with HIV/AIDS to learn and network in an atmosphere free of shame and stigma. We were able to be people living with HIV/AIDS that were proud of whom we are – people. Many of us had the opportunity to tour some of the most devastated areas impacted by Hurricane Katrina. Many returned from the tour speechless and wondering how and why our government allowed itself to turn a blind eye to the poverty that exists in this nation – we can do better, we can do a lot more! As I stood on the stage during Saturday’s lunch and spoke to the crowd of over 400 people telling them of the ADAP crisis in South Carolina, I am forever changed with the audience’s response. This was not preaching to a choir or to the converted, this was inspiring and teaching a population of individuals who care and who want to make a difference in the lives of many. Campaign to End AIDS provided attendees with an immediate action to take home and advocate. For many of us that give ourselves to Campaign to End AIDS, we live, breath and fight this virus everyday. We invite you to join the fight to End AIDS. Where there is social injustice, you can be assured that members of Campaign to End AIDS will soon organize and provide the leadership and the direction action when prescribed. For a nation with a thriving economy there is no excuse for people to be homeless, hungry, without or have inadequate medical care, treatment and social support services! Higher hopes and opportunities are in the horizon for 2007. Campaign to End AIDS has, and will continue to contribute positively to the AIDS movement - regionally, nationally and globally. Yours in the Fight!