(Participants of YAI 2009 Protest California HIV & AIDS funding cuts in San Francisco's Mission District.)

For five years the Campaign To End AIDS has had the vision to help develop the next generation of leaders who are committed to social justice and improving the lives of all people living with HIV & AIDS in America. The Youth Action Institute was created to help achieve this goal, one of the many activities that the C2EA Youth Caucus and its members are involved with across the country and around the world.

The application process for this year's YAI in Shreveport, Louisiana, July 27-July 2 is now open and available below in English and Spanish. Applications are being received until February 23 (January 23 for international applicants) and participants will be notified March 21 (February 26 for international applicants).

2010 YAI Application (English)

2010 YAI Application (Spanish)

Teens and young adults (16-26) from across the country and around the world will gather to strengthen their skill set and their commitment to address HIV & AIDS advocacy issues in their community. The Youth Action Institute will be a five-day, intensive, interactive, and hands-on advocacy, activist, and organizing training that will connect participants with strategies to create and develop advocacy networks that will tackle HIV & AIDS issues on the local and regional level.

Participants will develop skills, tactics, and strategies that can be implemented in their communities; fund-raising, issue development, outreach & organizing, media training, etc.

For additional information or questions regarding the 2010 YAI, please contact info@housingworks.org or call 1877 END AIDS (363-2437).

¿Habla usted C2EA? C2EA Puerto Rico is now up and running.

C2EA members from across the country have been very busy this Fall and it looks like there's no slowing down for World AIDS Day and beyond. Here are snapshots of some of the activities and organizing that has passed, ongoing and new C2EA advocacy network building, and previews of upcoming events.

Equality To End AIDS (E2EA); Hundreds of HIV & AIDS activists, allies, and loved ones huddled in the shadow of the White House on a chilly and damp Fall evening to demand leadership and urgency in the development of a national HIV & AIDS strategy and to reconnect the LGBT community to the larger HIV & AIDS activism.
Held during the weekend of the National Equality March, participants from all over the country and around the world danced, shouted, and swayed to powerful speakers and performers - many of whom are people living with HIV & AIDS - while remembering those before us, those passed, and urging those that will leads in ending this epidemic.

C2EA National Secretary and C2EA/Dallas member Marsha Jones looks on as Herbert Hodge opens the Dallas-area HIV & AIDS Community Discussion.

C2EA/ONAP HIV & AIDS Community Discussions; C2EA HIV & AIDS advocacy networks in Washington (NC), Dallas, Norfolk (VA), and Michigan, with collaboration from community partners and the Black AIDS Institute, have organized regional 'Community Discussions' to provide testimony to the White House Office of National HIV & AIDS Policy (ONAP). There has been great energy in creating venues that encourage participation and input from the grassroots community not on the original ONAP visitation schedule.
Most recently, dozens of women gathered in southeast Virginia to give testimony regarding women's and children's health issues and how those issues should be addressed within a comprehensive national HIV & AIDS strategy. On November 18, the Detroit metro area will host more than 100 participants from across the state of Michigan.

Building C2EA Advocacy Networks; Following in the footsteps of strong C2EA HIV & AIDS advocacy networks in Mississippi, Texas, and Virginia, new leaders have been emerging across the country as well as around the world.
Led by young activists Dy'ari Volumes, Carrie Rheingans, Ericka Florenciani, and veteran Roberto Archuleta, are developing networks respectively in New York City, Michigan, Puerto Rico, and Kansas City. Direct from participating as volunteer during the E2EA Rally & Vigil, C2EA Youth member is leading the new LGBTQQI Workgroup to tackle equality issues as it relates to HIV & AIDS.

People post their communities DEMANDS to be included in the national HIV & AIDS strategy on the C2EA booth at USCA in San Francisco.

World AIDS Day; From DC to San Francisco, C2EA members and allies will be marching and rallying with theme of 'Systems Failure' to define the current local, national, and global political and structural mechanisms that are charged with ending the HIV & AIDS pandemic.
Broken promise by President Obama on increasing global funding, lack of vision and leadership by city and state elected and appointed officials, mismanagement or misplacing of critical and life-saving funding and resources, among other things have led to an increase of infection rates, additional and unnecessary deaths, and a heightened urgency to develop and implement a comprehensive HIV & AIDS strategy on a levels.

C2EA at 5 Years; April 2010 marks the 5 year mark of The Campaign To End AIDS. People living with HIV & AIDS from every state and territory converged on DC in the Spring of '05 to 'Walk A Mile In My Shoes' and begin a journey whose only destination of ending the HIV & AIDS epidemic in this country and beyond.
Join the C2EA Outreach & Organizing Workgroup planning calls every other Monday afternoon at 2:30 est, using the toll-free number 1-866-394-9509, 9357895#. For more information on C2EA Workgroups or any events and activities occuring locally, regionally, or nationally, please contact info@campaigntoendaids.org.

EQUALITY TO END AIDS TO FEATURE PERFORMERS AND SPEAKERS LIVING WITH HIV

“Young LGBT people attending the National Equality March need to continue the fight against HIV/AIDS” says Cleve Jones.

Diagnosed in 1987, Singer/Entertainer Sherri Lewis will host the 'Equality To End AIDS' Rally & Vigil

As tens of thousands of LGBT Americans and their allies converge on Washington DC October 9-11 to march for equal rights, they also will remind the nation and the LGBTQ community that the HIV & AIDS epidemic is not over as well as remember the more than half a million Americans who have died from the disease.

The Equality To End AIDS rally and vigil will take place Saturday, October 10, the day before the massive Equality March. Equality To End AIDS will be held from 5:30 to 8:30 pm on the Ellipse, in front of the White House, and feature an inspiring roster of speakers and performers (mostly HIV+), culminating in a candlelight vigil.

“The weekend is about achieving full equality for LGBT Americans. We need to use that political power to remind the country that the AIDS epidemic continues. A great many young people will attend the march; we need them to continue the fight against HIV/AIDS,” said Cleve Jones, the founder of the NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt and one of the National Equality March organizers.

Gay and bisexual men are now 50 times more likely to acquire HIV than those any other group. Among young gay men, HIV infections increased an astonishing 12% each year from 2001 to 2006; the only demographic group to see an increase in infections during that period. Even though treatments have extended life for many people with HIV, recent research indicates that, on average, people with HIV live 21 years less than their HIV-negative counterparts.

“Many of our most energized LGBT activists are too young to remember the devastating impact AIDS has had on the gay community. We must re-engage the larger LGBT community in AIDS activism,” said Charles King, President and CEO of Housing Works, which is the fiscal sponsor of the rally and vigil. “Ending the HIV pandemic is an issue of justice that must be their fight as well.”

Speakers and entertainers at the rally will include singer/actress Sherri Lewis, former Miss America Kate Shindle, members of the Diva League (as seen on America’s Got Talent) on and Inner Light Ministries Choir, San Francisco Human Rights Commission Chairperson Cecilia Chung, Shawn Decker’s Synthetic Division, poet Brandon Plain, gospel rap artist Desencé, singer/songwriter Dudley Sanders, POZ Magazine founder Sean Strub, Rev. Elder Nancy Wilson, Bishop Rainey Cheeks and DJ Stone. Many of the speakers and performers are people living with HIV.

Who's who?: The Campaign to End AIDS in collaboration with Housing Works, Broadway Cares/Equity Fight AIDS, Westminster Presbyterian Church, More Light Presbyterians, OD/More Light Presbyterians, AIDS Action, The Human Rights Campaign; The Afiya Center, D.C. Fights Back, SisterLove, Southern AIDS Coalition, Positive Advocacy Caucus, Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP), Bailey House, Health GAP, National AIDS Housing Coalition, Metropolitan Community Church, Inner Light Ministries, AIDS Action in Mississippi (AAIM), Connecticut AIDS Residence Coalition (CARC), NYC AIDS Housing Network (NYCAHN), International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC), Lifebeat, Cable Positive and Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC), National Association of People with AIDS (NAPWA).

Media Contact: Diana Scholl; 917-402-2576; D.Scholl@housingworks.org

Organizer Contact: Christine Campbell; 202-409-9786; Campbell@housingworks.org.

January 21-24 Atlanta, Georgia

“Stepping Forward, United!” is our charge! During the 2010 conference, there will be a sense of unity among our diversity that will prove to be a powerful force to be reckoned with. Take notice of how our younger leaders are maturing and stepping into more prominent leadership roles. And as this new generation of leaders comes with inspiring innovative ideas, we all must embrace change and the sense of rejuvenation. We are moving in the right direction and we must all remain focused on the horizon ahead. Let us continue to work together, more harmoniously, towards our goals. Without doubt, we can remove HIV/AIDS and other health disparities from our community.

For more info and register, please go to http://www.naesm.org/www/events.html.

January 25-27 Washington, DC

For the first time in the history of this epidemic, community based organizations, health departments, direct service providers, researchers, advocates, public health representatives, people living with HIV/AIDS and many others have come together to develop the Latino/Hispanic AIDS Action Agenda, a national health and prevention policy document that responds to the crisis.

For more info, go to http://www.latinoaidsagenda.org

February 11-12 Los Angeles, California

In these unsettled times, the onus is on us – as a community - to push forward, to take advantage of new breakthroughs and face hurdles with intelligence and resolve. We gather for two days in Los Angeles, to learn about the opportunity that lies before us, and how we can capitalize on this critical moment in American history to show each other that we have the willingness and capacity to improve the livelihoods of those most in need of us. We hope you will join us.

For more info and to register, please go to http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Summary.aspx?e=42183421-0046-485b-bd67-07038890e811.