PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2022
Contact: Nichole Benjamin
646 548 0100, ext. 222
Dr. Celeste Watkins-Hayes, researcher on racism and health, to provide keynote at the Iris House 17th Annual Women as the Face of AIDS Summit
Monday, May 2nd | 11:00 am – 6:00 pm EST
www.irishouse.org
New York, NY – On May 2nd, Iris House will host its 17th Annual Women as the Face of AIDS Summit, and for the first time in person since 2019. We will offer a hybrid model of the program to allow for in person and virtual participation. We expect more than 300 people from New York and other cities along the east and west coasts, to attend the all-day conference, where many of the participants, presenters, and speakers are women living with HIV.
As a thought leader in the field of women and HIV, our Summit draws participants and attendees from around the country and internationally. The 2022 Summit’s theme, “Racism: The Hidden Driver of HIV”, will explore the implications of intrinsic racial biases in healthcare, as well as the intersections of the COVID-19 and HIV viruses, plus the affects of substance use and mental health. We will feature a morning plenary by renowned American sociologist and scholar of urban poverty, Dr. Celeste Watkins-Hayes, Director of the Center for Racial Justice at the University of Michigan, and author of Remaking a Life: How Women Living with HIV/AIDS Confront Inequality (2019, University of California Press).
We will also highlight ViiV Healthcare during the symposium, as the corporation presents, From Risk to Reason – Reframing HIV Prevention and Care for Black Women. The Summit will include 12 breakout sessions by organizations including but not limited to, The Well Project; National HIV Aging Advocacy Network; NYC Department of Health, and Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
A highlight of the event is the presentation of awards to three trail-blazing women who have made extraordinary contributions to ending the AIDS epidemic. Marvelyn Brown, author, speaker, and HIV activist; Maria Mejia, The Well Project Ambassador and peer educator; and Masonia Traylor, Founder and CEO of Lady BurgAndy, Inc., will be celebrated for their activism and accomplishments.
BIPOC (black, indigenous, and people of color) women, in particular, continue to be a vulnerable population, and this event meets a great need in our community. Women’s health being at the forefront, while providing a space to create discourse around such issues, gives credence to this annual event.
The Women as the Face of AIDS Summit is produced annually by Iris House with the financial support of dozens of organizations, including government agencies, corporations, and community-based organizations. This year’s lead sponsors include the New York City Council, ViiV Healthcare, Gilead Sciences, Orasure Technologies, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Additional supporters include Mt. Sinai Institute of Advanced Medicine, Ryan Health, and Select Health, among others.
About Iris House
Iris House provides services for women, families and communities living with and affected by HIV/AIDS. In addition to providing family-center services that promote prevention, education and awareness, Iris House also offers practical services that address the day-today 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 life skills training. Since opening its doors in 1993, Iris House has assisted more than 2,000 individuals cope with HIV/AIDS and served tens of thousands in testing, outreach and prevention programs. In 2021 IH served over 7,500 individuals.
For more information on Iris House and Iris House Programs, please contact Nichole Benjamin, Director of Development at 646 548 0100 ext. 222 or [email protected]. More information may be found at www.irishouse.org. You may also keep up with us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
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Iris House Executive Director Chosen to Lead WORLD into the Future
Click below for the full announcement
Click below for the full announcement
Iris House in partnership with AHF opens new healthcare center in the South Bronx
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POZ Magazine published a great article about networks of organizations serving HIV+ women! Check it out here!
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On June 18, Iris House client and peer educator Linda M. joined nearly a hundred activists on the steps of New York City Hall to ask NY Mayor Bill DiBlasio to match New York State's commitment to Ending the Epidemic. Here is the text of her remarks above:
Good morning. My name is Linda M., and I am a client and peer educator at Iris House, a 22 year old organization founded to support women of color living with HIV. I am here today on behalf of women like me, and thousands more who cannot speak for themselves, to ask nicely and then to demand that Mayor DiBlasio include in his budget the New York City Council’s addition of ten million dollars to match New York State’s contribution towards the Ending the Epidemic Initiative set forth by the Governor in April.
With 80% of New York State’s HIV cases within the borders of New York City, matching the state is the LEAST our City should do. New York City is ground zero of this epidemic in the United States, and as a community, need to come together and take the steps necessary to show our leadership and give the rest of this country some hope. Our community came together and demanded a task force to address this issue and we got it. 63 of our leaders, including Iris House executive director Ingrid Floyd, came together, listened to their clients, listened to their front line workers, listened to medical professionals and put together a list of recommendations.
Ideas are great, Mr. Mayor, but we need money to make them happen. A blueprint is a great start, Mr. Mayor, but just like you can’t build a building from its blueprint without money, we can’t build this initiative without money either. Ten Million Dollars. It sounds like a lot, but that’s less than a dollar and a quarter for every person living in New York City, and here’s mine. Ten Million Dollars.
It sounds like a lot, but it barely registers against the one hundred and seventy BILLION dollars traded on the New York Stock Exchange EVERY DAY, but you have to get that from them. Ten Million Dollars. It sounds like a good start to me.
This blueprint will help my friends and I eat, sleep, get to our doctors, and have peer support. It will help find people who don’t know their HIV status – and we all have one – and learn what it is. It will help young men and women who depend on survival sex for basic necessities have protections in place to help keep them HIV negative, or connect them to care if they’re positive.
Our demands are simple: meet or exceed the state’s commitment for ten million dollars in funding next year, and keep meeting it until we End this Epidemic. Mr. Mayor, Madame Speaker, honorable members of New York City Council, my name is Linda Malloy, and I don’t like being HIV positive, but knowing that you have the power to help me, to help my sisters in the struggle, and help my daughters and granddaughters from needing to worry about the struggle is why I come to you today. Thank you.
Good morning. My name is Linda M., and I am a client and peer educator at Iris House, a 22 year old organization founded to support women of color living with HIV. I am here today on behalf of women like me, and thousands more who cannot speak for themselves, to ask nicely and then to demand that Mayor DiBlasio include in his budget the New York City Council’s addition of ten million dollars to match New York State’s contribution towards the Ending the Epidemic Initiative set forth by the Governor in April.
With 80% of New York State’s HIV cases within the borders of New York City, matching the state is the LEAST our City should do. New York City is ground zero of this epidemic in the United States, and as a community, need to come together and take the steps necessary to show our leadership and give the rest of this country some hope. Our community came together and demanded a task force to address this issue and we got it. 63 of our leaders, including Iris House executive director Ingrid Floyd, came together, listened to their clients, listened to their front line workers, listened to medical professionals and put together a list of recommendations.
Ideas are great, Mr. Mayor, but we need money to make them happen. A blueprint is a great start, Mr. Mayor, but just like you can’t build a building from its blueprint without money, we can’t build this initiative without money either. Ten Million Dollars. It sounds like a lot, but that’s less than a dollar and a quarter for every person living in New York City, and here’s mine. Ten Million Dollars.
It sounds like a lot, but it barely registers against the one hundred and seventy BILLION dollars traded on the New York Stock Exchange EVERY DAY, but you have to get that from them. Ten Million Dollars. It sounds like a good start to me.
This blueprint will help my friends and I eat, sleep, get to our doctors, and have peer support. It will help find people who don’t know their HIV status – and we all have one – and learn what it is. It will help young men and women who depend on survival sex for basic necessities have protections in place to help keep them HIV negative, or connect them to care if they’re positive.
Our demands are simple: meet or exceed the state’s commitment for ten million dollars in funding next year, and keep meeting it until we End this Epidemic. Mr. Mayor, Madame Speaker, honorable members of New York City Council, my name is Linda Malloy, and I don’t like being HIV positive, but knowing that you have the power to help me, to help my sisters in the struggle, and help my daughters and granddaughters from needing to worry about the struggle is why I come to you today. Thank you.
