HIV/STI Portfolio End-of-Year Reflection
Testing & Outreach
The constant changes in COVID-19 restrictions over the last year have created many barriers in our return to providing HIV and STI testing throughout New Orleans. Despite these challenges, with the help of our spectacular community partners, we were able to safely carry out numerous testing events and provide much needed resources to our community. We’d like to send a big thank you to our partners for showing a deep commitment to enabling access to HIV/STI testing during these turbulent times. With your help, we were able to provide testing at the following venues:
National HIV Testing Day with St. Thomas Community Health Center,
World AIDS Day with Xavier University, and
Multiple events with Urgent Care Eleven and El Pueblo NOLA - NOLA Village.
During the times of the year when it was unsafe to directly interact with our community, distributing HIV self tests enabled us to continue to help people know their status. This year we successfully distributed over 200 HIV self test kits and over 4,000 barrier methods through our partnerships with El Pueblo NOLA - NOLA Village, Cafe Reconcile, Liberty’s Kitchen and University Medical Center, and even by directly shipping many kits to community members.
Out of the Shadows
Out of the Shadows, a support group created to reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation for Black and Latinx women living with HIV, continued this year with 11 monthly support sessions for 17 participants. The support group sessions consisted of fruitful conversation and intentional goal setting with topics ranging from individual healing to community advocacy and leadership. They also included meditative and reflective questions to help ease the anxious thoughts that were arising for many due to uncertain social and political landscapes.
When we decided to switch over to virtual sessions due to COVID-19, Out of the Shadows continued to offer a healing space for women to come together and connect amidst the loneliness of the pandemic. We even added a monthly wellness session in addition to the regular support sessions that included mindfulness techniques, self-care tips and discussions and yoga practice. We were happy to receive feedback from the women in the group who expressed gratitude and joy for the extra sessions due to the difficult times of COVID-19, and we look forward to continuing to be in this supportive space with these women in the future.
Lastly, one of this year’s most exciting events was the launch of a new IWES film New Nickels, which explored the healing journeys of some of the women that participate in Out of the Shadows. With generous funding from Gilead and through support from the New Orleans Film Society, New Nickels is IWES’ newest documentary short, and it had it’s world premiere this November at the New Orleans Film Festival. Special thanks to everyone that came out to the screening, including some of the featured participants themselves, and if you’re interested in watching the film you can view it here, or if you’d like to set up a screening, please contact Iman Shervington.
MORE Project
The MORE Project is a partnership with the New Orleans Family Justice Center (NOFJC) that aims to support and reduce harm for women experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV)—specifically focusing on the link between IPV, HIV and trauma—while promoting positive social norms among men/boys to prevent violence against women and girls. Throughout the year we worked with NOFJC to develop a virtual mentor training for men who work with youth to teach the youth they serve about healthy relationships and to help them examine unhealthy gender norms. The virtual mentor trainings are available to view online, and you can email Brittney for more information or to find out how to access them.
This year we were also proud to launch the Mosaic Lab, an 8-month fellowship for males aged 14-21 to serve as community spokespersons and share their opinions about gender and masculinity. This Fall we successfully recruited 10 young men and conducted both virtual and in-person orientation sessions for them to get to know each other and start exploring the theme of “what it means to be a man.” In the new year, each fellow will have a short film created about him and his views on masculinity, and collectively the young men will also inform a narrative short film based on the same topic. Look out for updates on our Mosaic Lab Fellows, and let us know if you see them on a billboard around the city!
To get in touch with the HIV/STI portfolio, reach out to our Program Associates Meagan Dunham or Andrew Schwenk, or IWES Program Coordinator Brittney Durham.
