2-2-10: Ingrid Floyd: Women and Children First

by LaToya Johnson , a RealHealth web exclusive article. Read more.

Also featured an interview with Ingrid Floyd on Audrey TV: Talk with Audrey. Watch the video.

Iris House Executive Director Ingrid Floyd, receives the Community Board #10 Award of Distinction

on Friday, December 18, 2009.

View photos from the Awaken the Beauty Within Event.

Iris House would like to thank Christo and his staff for another great event.

Hear Iris House’s Executive Director Ingrid Floyd and Christo on air with Cindy Vero of KTU as they discuss the Awaken .

(C) Thomas Cantley Photography

 Iris House Featured on Channel 11 News on Monday, June 8th.  Click here to watch the clip.

Gay Men’s Health Crisis and Iris House Join Together to Raise Awareness of Sexual Health and Promote HIV Testing Among Women and Girls of Color

 

Organizations Announce Launch of Visibility Campaign - “HIV: We’re Not Taking it Lying Down” and Host Community Forum on Women and HIV featuring Dr. Monica Sweeney

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 New York, NY – March 19, 2009 – Gay Men’s Health Crisis (GMHC) and Iris House announced today that they have partnered to raise awareness of sexual health and promote HIV testing among women and girls of color with the launch of their public service campaign, “HIV: We’re Not Taking it Lying Down.”

 

“HIV: We're Not Taking it Lying Down” has a multi-layered message which speaks to the empowerment of women while recognizing the realities of the lives of women of all ages, including trauma, stigma and injustice.  Funded by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the campaign features panels on phone kiosks posted in locations throughout East and West Harlem, with a focus on neighborhoods and zip codes where HIV infections are disproportionately high among women of color.  Posters will be distributed in community-based organizations, clinics, businesses and other venues.  Ads also will be featured in local Harlem newspapers.

 

To mark the launch of the campaign, the Women’s Institute at GMHC and Iris House will host a community forum at St. Phillip’s Church in Harlem on March 23, 2009.  Keynote speakers will be Carol McClean-Long, M.D., HIV Medical Chief at Renaissance Healthcare Network, and Monica Sweeney, M.D., M.P.H., Assistant Commissioner, Bureau of HIV Prevention & Control, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.  Drs. McClean-Long and Sweeney will lead a dynamic and educational discussion about the impact of HIV and AIDS on women of color in Harlem, women’s sexuality and sexual health.  The forum will also include a special HIV 101 workshop and free, confidential HIV testing.

 

“We are so pleased to partner with our sister organization, Iris House, in an effort to raise awareness about the extent and urgency of the HIV epidemic on women of color in New York City,” said Marjorie Hill, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer at Gay Men’s Health Crisis. “This partnership is an extension of our great relationship with Iris House and a very natural collaboration. Specifically, GMHC’s Women Institute and Iris House have a powerful and symbiotic approach to HIV prevention for women and I am confident it will engage women in Harlem and yield results.”

 

Ingrid Floyd, Executive Director of Iris House commented, “Joining forces with GMHC's Women's Institute on this campaign adds a stronger voice to the need for services for women of color.  I hope that through this campaign we are able to reach women who generally do not see themselves at risk of HIV and encourage them to get tested and know their status.”

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HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) continue to rise at alarming rates among women and girls in New York City.  According to the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, one in three New Yorkers living with HIV is female and the neighborhoods with the highest rates of HIV diagnoses are in the South Bronx, Central Brooklyn, lower Manhattan and Harlem.  Approximately 90% of women living with HIV are black and Hispanic and the number of new HIV infections affecting the black and Hispanic female community is astounding.  In 2006, black and Hispanic women accounted for 58% of new HIV infections and 94% of new HIV infections in teenage females are in blacks and Hispanics.

About the Women’s Institute at GMHC 

The Women’s Institute at GMHC emerged from GMHC’s Women & Family Services department in December 2004 to address the increasing spread of HIV among women of color in New York City and beyond.  Guided by the leadership and voices of women living with - and impacted by - HIV and AIDS, the mission of the Women’s Institute is to develop, promote, model and share HIV and AIDS prevention and service programs that reach and support women and are effective and accessible.

 

Amplifying the impact of these interventions, we seek to challenge the social, economic and political systems that put women at risk and keep them from care and to advance progressive policy debate and systematic change toward that end.  For more information on the Women’s Institute, please visit www.gmhc.org.

 

About Iris House 

Iris House provides services for women, families and communities infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS.  In addition to providing family-centered services that promote prevention, education and awareness, Iris House also offers practical services that address the day-to-day needs and reality of living with HIV/AIDS.  Iris House provides nutritional counseling and meal programs, intensive case management, scatter site housing, mental health services and support groups, and job and life skills training.  Since opening its doors in 1993, Iris House has assisted more than 1,800 individuals cope with HIV/AIDS.  For more information on Iris House and Iris House Programs, please visit www.irishouse.org

Contacts: 

Burns McClellan, Inc.

Justin Jackson  jjackson@burnsmc.com or Michelle Szwarcberg mszwarcberg@burnsmc.com

(212) 213-0006

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Iris House is partnering with GMHC’s Women's Institute on the social-marketing campaign, HIV: We’re Not Taking it Lying Down which targets black and Hispanic women.  Public service adswill be placed in phone kiosks throughout East and West Harlem and in Harlem newspapers. Posters will be distributed at community-based organizations, clinics, businesses and other venues.  The We're Not Taking it Lying Down campaign speaks to the empowerment of women and girls.  The campaign will also present a Community Forum with guest speakers, Dr. Monica Sweeney the Assistant Commissioner for the Bureau of HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene and Dr. Carol McClean Long, HIV Medical Chief at Renaissance Healthcare Network.  The community forum will feature free onsite HIV testing and a Train the Trainer section for those wanting to learn how to teach others the basics of HIV.  The event will be held on Monday, March 23rd from 6 to 9 p.m. at St. Phillips Church in Harlem.  Contact Kenneth DeJesus, Director of Prevention at 212-423-9049 for more information.

Click here to view the report of the National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awardness Day event held at city hall.

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9-29-08: Cable Positive, MTV & BET Networks to Hold Employee Volunteer Day at Local New York City AIDS Service Organization Iris House. Click here to see the release.

8-25-08: Nine leading national minority HIV organizations, Iris House, along with representatives from faith- and community-based organizations delivering HIV/AIDS services in communities of color throughout the United States, its territories and Native American reservations, convened at the Ford Foundation in New York City in August 2008. Together, the participants worked together to create a united voice in the development of public policy addressing HIV/AIDS in represent a powerful voting block that includes health care providers, clinicians, policy makers, historically black colleges and universities, and

that the next President be accountable for concrete progress on HIV/AIDS.  Click here to see the full details of what was presented to both Presidential Candidates.  A press release was distributed prior to the release.  Click here to see the release.

 

7-25-08: ABCNEWS aired two segments “AIDS saved my life” and “Divas: Black Women Living with AIDS” on Iris House. Please watch these segments here.  Make sure you click on ABC News Now, Faith Matters Now and look for the listed titles.

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7-17-2008: "Harlem's Iris House: Inspiring Women Worldwide" another article by Audrey Adams from Harlem News Group. Read more on this article by scrolling down to page 19.

6-26-08:  "Harlem's Iris House:Inspiring Women worldwide"  an article published by Audrey Adams.  Read more.

6-19-08:  "Clinic Helps Women Live with HIV" an article published by Voices from the Frontlines.  Read more .

5-18-08:  “Despite H.I.V., Fighting to Maintain Health and a Positive Attitude" 

Iris House was profiled in the May 18, 2008 Sunday New York Times. Read the article by clicking here. 

2-6-07:

"Safe Haven: A Champion for Women Living with HIV and AIDS continue to provide help and hope" by Rachel Grumman, a NY Post article published on February 2007. Click here to read more about.

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11-13-06: Diana L. Taylor, Superintendent of Banks

One State Street, New York 10004

Press Office: 212-709-1691                                                                    

FOR RELEASE: Monday, November 13, 2006

http://www.banking.state.ny.us                                         

Iris House Receives New York State Banking Department Grant for Financial Education Program

New York, N.Y.: The New York State Banking Department has awarded Iris House with a grant of $91,697.07 to fund financial education programming.  Iris House, a social and health center serving HIV-positive women and their families in New York City, will use this Banking Department grant to provide two financial life skills curriculums for their clients in New York City.

New York State Banking Superintendent Diana L. Taylor said, “With this grant, Iris House will be able to provide HIV-positive women and their families with financial life skills training.  The curriculums developed by Iris House will meet the spectrum of the needs of clients—from those with questions about retirement savings, to those who are struggling to cover basic costs—and will help all participants improve their financial management skills.  I am so pleased that we can enable such opportunities for financial education throughout New York State.

Iris House began conducting financial life skills training since the fall of 2005, and quickly realized a need for two separate, expanded curriculums to meet the differing educational needs of Iris House clients.  The Banking Department will fund the implementation of two sets of financial life skills classes.  One set of classes will teach basic financial life skills to low-income or unemployed clients who are struggling to meet basic survival needs or who are on the verge of financial distress.  A second set of classes will teach more advanced topics to clients who have somewhat greater resources and a grasp of financial management concepts but who have secondary financial issues, such as credit card debt.  The Banking Department grant will allow Iris House to provide its clients with personal financial management skills and the ability to stabilize and improve their financial well-being.

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The grant proposal submitted by Iris House was one of eleven selected from a group of more than 180 proposals submitted to the Banking Department.  On November 28, 2005, the Banking Department issued a Request For Proposals (RFP) for financial education training programs.  The Department dedicated a total of $1,000,000 to grants for organizations that provide sustainable financial education programs throughout New York State.  The funding comes from settlement agreements negotiated by the Banking Department in which proceeds are earmarked for consumer financial education. 

The RFP sought programs that would promote and enable financial literacy through creative and innovative initiatives in the categories of “direct provider” or “train-the-trainer”.  The former provides financial education directly to the public, while the latter is designed to train an educator to provide financial education directly to the public.  In response to the RFP, the Department received 151 direct provider proposals and 32 train-the-trainer proposals, for a total of 183 proposals. 

These awards are conditional subject to successful contract negotiations with the Banking Department and the approval of the Office of the State Comptroller.

The New York State Banking Department is the regulator for all state-chartered banking institutions, virtually all of the United States offices of international banking institutions, all of the State’s mortgage brokers, mortgage bankers, check cashers, money transmitters and budget planners. The aggregate assets of the depository institutions supervised by the Banking Department are more than $1.5 trillion.

In addition to regulating banking institutions, the Banking Department is active in informing and educating all New Yorkers on banking matters. To contact the Banking Department, please call 1-877-BANK-NYS or visit our Web site at www.banking.state.ny.us.                 

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Iris House: Ingrid Floyd, Executive Director

646-548-0100 x238

6-13-06: Read this article: "Iris House Cooks Up Good Nutrition For HIV/AIDS Patients" from NY1 News.

6-7-06: Newsday featured a wonderful article highlighting several Iris House's program participants read more.

5-17-06: featured an article about Iris House condom distribution program read more by clicking here

 

If you are a media outlet or reporter and want information and/or an interview contact the Development Director or the Development Coordinator at 646-548-0100.