Creating Your Vision

What is your vision for the campus and/or community?

Mary McLeod Bethune once said, “Knowledge is the prime need of the hour.” In this hour, her words could not be truer epsecially when speaking about sexual health education for young women who may be at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS and other STDS. In this day, the risk of acquiring HIV/AIDS infection is conflated with issues of domestic violence against women, the prevalence of sexual violence committed against children and women, the connection between traumatic sexual histories and future sexual risk behavior, poverty, gender inequality, and other social disiparities. In order to began to chip away at the mountainous issues concerning social disparities and health – I propose a series of preventative and empowering health education and awareness events and programs for the community by collaborating with TruthAIDS and by implementing the TruthAIDS’s model on sex education and empowerment. I would like to initially focus on youth and women.

I dream of an inner-city community where youth, particularly young girls, own their agency, have high self-esteem, are aware of social and health disparities, but are not crippled by the subjugation caused by gender or racial inequality. Furthermore, I envision an urban landscape where public health disparities, such as HIV/AIDS epidemic, are no longer fueled by social disparities in urban communities.

Sexual health disparities affect women across race, class, and age differences. Therefore a comprehensive and empowering program that offers awareness, education, and intervention strategies is needed. This program must also be sustainable and must illustrate a change in behavioral risks in the future.

Assessing Your Campus and Community

What campus/community problem does your blueprint address? What structures, practices and policies institutionalize the problem?

My campus has a weak relationship with the surrounding residents within the Harlem community. Campus members are often, although not always, apathetic to issues that effect the general Harlem or New York City community. By targeting an issue, such as HIV/AIDs and by targeting the social disparities that help proliferate the spread of the disease, Harlem residents and the campus community can create a coalition for change; for this issue effects all of us.

What communities will you work with?

• Campus community
• Local community

Setting Goals and Deliverables

• Goal 1: • Red Alert (Fundraising Concert): To increase awareness of HIV/AIDS or other STIs’ effect on women and/or youth in urban communities. To have a fundraising event (in the form of a concert) that will raise money for an organization that does research or programming for HIV/AIDS education, prevention and intervention. To have a fundraising event that will promote my blueprint for social justice and that will generally promote HIV and STI awareness. There will be information tables set up in the “red room” for participating organizations to illicit information about HIV and other STIs or to administer onsite rapid tests.
• Fundraising: Raise funds for an organization working in HIV/AIDS education, prevention and intervention
• Frequent HIV and STI Testing Opportunities: Get people to get tested through-outt the course of the Fall Semester (using free rapid HIV test on site @ the concert, having subsequent health events where students or community members can get tested)
• E-mail/Blog subscriptions:  To build an audience around HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and intervention strategies by attaining a list of persons willing to be e-mailed information and updates through-out the year (participants will sign up to receive e-mails). Participants will be given the option to also subscribe to the TruthAIDS website and blog.
• Goal 2: • Sister Circles for Change Conference (SC3): To empower young women. To teach young women about healthy life-styles. To have a small 1-2 day conference that will engage a small group of girls (no more than 30) in empowering educational activities for the attainment of physical, mental, and spiritual health. To form healthy relationships between groups of young women.
• Empowerment and Educational Tools will be provided during the Sister Circles for Change Conference.
• Harm & Risk Reduction
• Support Network: Girls will create a lasting support network by-way of peer participants and mentors.
• Goal 3: • Sustainability Initive (SI): To have follow-up workshops, oral/written history compilation, and “truth-circles” in the Barnard College, Columbia University, and Harlem community.
• Oral histories video/tape/book
• Study Guide on Healing by way of Story-telling; on sexual health & prevention teaching strategies
• blog/internet features

What is your primary approach? Idea Creation

Why did you choose this approach?

Due to the lack of a universal, well rounded, and empowering sexual health & life skills education class in public schools I wanted to create a blue print that would raise awareness about issues concerning social disparities and sexual health, to raise awareness about non-profit organizations that are working to resolve this issues, and to provide a space for young women to gain preventive educational tools that will help them counter sexual health disparities and help them teach peers.

I think that it is important to form coalitions with groups that are already doing this work so that we can be a force to change policies that keep this type of education and intervention outside of public schools or so that we can make this information more availability to young women outside of the school setting.

Did you have secondary approaches? What are they?

Advocacy and Activism - It is important to advocate for youth and other marginalize communities who suffer from the effects of health disparities as a result of social disparities such as poverty, violence, limited education, and lack of other resources
Network and Alliance Building - With the proliferation of various non-profit organizations, coalition building is important in order for us to make sustainable change

What will your tactics and activities be?

Currently I am still in the outreach and co-partnership planning phase.

Connecting Back to Vision

How does your strategy contribute to your vision for your campus and/or your community?

This overall strategies emphasizes the power of unity and alliance. The fundraising concert will raise awareness about how the HIV/AIDS epidemic in urban communities effects everyone, how social disparities contribute the the proliferation of many public health issues, that it is our social responsibility to eradicate such issues, and that there are numerous ways to help eradicate these problems -- everyone doesn't have to be an organizer!

Secondly, the conference will directly serve as a means to educate and empower young women. This conference will also test the power of early prevention programs for youth who may be classified as "at risk" for health disparities.

Lastly, this blueprint can be used as a future model for health awareness and education.

Resources and skills you will need

What skills do you need for this approach?

I will need enormous media, networking, and funding support. I've already begin to get some coalition support.