A National HIV/AIDS Prevention Policy Formulation and Education-Information Methodology Focused Primarily on African American Children and Women Related to Parenting Roles Kellogg Foundation Funding

The National Center for Health Behavioral Change is currently funded by the Kellogg Foundation to impact National HIV/AIDS Policy as it especially impacts Black women and children. The Kellogg Foundation funded project goals are as follows:

Project Goals

1) Utilizing an ecological, race, and family-focused perspective, the NCHBC, in collaboration with the Congressional Black Caucus and Health Braintrust, The Minority AIDS Initiative, The National African-American Drug Policy Coalition, The Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, The National Minority AIDS Council and other key organizations, will convene a national workgroup to develop an agenda for policy formation to address key issues for HIV/AIDS affected children and families.

2) Create a Workgroup Coalition consisting of representatives from agencies, coalitions, and other entities that are engaged in addressing issues relating to HIV/AIDS, family, community and child well-being, to provide input to the national workgroup, and develop and implement a national advocacy plan relating to HIV/AIDS affected families. 

3) Evaluate, critique and make recommendations to improve the effectiveness of Part F, and other relevant parts of the Ryan White CARE Act Amendments of 2009 to address the needs of HIV/AIDS affected families.

4) Improve the capacity of Headstart, Healthy Start, The Family Support Program, school health programs and other efforts to effectively provide family-focused HIV/AIDS prevention, support, and/or treatment services, through enhancement of relevant programming and legislation.

5)  Participate and support legislative efforts and activities that will facilitate financial and other key resources following the disease in terms of geographic location and affected populations.

The National Center for Health Behavioral Change has designed a National HIV Prevention Policy Formulation and Education-Information Methodology Focused Primarily on African American Children and Women Related to parenting Roles which will help to save lives and positively impact children whose Black mothers are infected with HIV which puts the children at a tremendous risk. This is a reality largely due to racism and structural disparity due primarily to race, SES-class  place and gender. This reality is all too often the reason why there are so many grandparents raising their grandchildren in Baltimore, Maryland and in urban and rural areas around the country. These social and economic justice issues must be raised and confronted with strong policy initiatives that will ultimately invest in human capitol, prevent more HIV/AIDS and expand and redirect the health and welfare dollars to those in most need. The federal funds-money must start to follow the disease.  The goals of our program at the National Center are as follows:

Goals:

1. Develop connected and Comprehensive HIV Prevention strategies that engage the needs of the whole person through greater allocation of resources from Ryan White Care Act 2009 reauthorization. The new policy coalition formed with the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies will frame this process and serve as the primary platform for execution of the strategy.
    
2. Orchestrate an agenda of policy formulation and development with coalitions interfaced with people with HIV/AIDS and the wide range of advocates, agencies and activists already engaged in this crisis.
    
3. Help create and sustain an ecological approach to the production of a comprehensive HIV Prevention Policy Agenda that emerges from an anti-racism stance and pro children agenda. Black women both from urban and rural areas in the South should receive more Ryan White funds that can be directed also toward prevention, both primary and secondary.
    
4. Reevaluate and further strengthen Part F, Ryan White: Minority AIDS Initiative with its emphasis on capacity building anchored to the increased prevalence of HIV emerging cases that have developed as discussed above and documented by CDC. Capacity building focused on the ability to influence and shape public HIV Prevention Policy and other cohort policies that are on the same orbital path.
    
5. Serve as education and information program which legislatively impacts HIV prevention such as Medicare, Medicaid and National Learning Act which will distribute educational materials and information to key legislative, executive and judicial branches of federal and selected state governments. Where indicated, incidence and prevalence drives HIV prevention information -education which will be widely pursued and targeted to the most vulnerable populations.

The progression of HIV/AIDS disease among the Black population, especially Black women is a crisis that the National Center for Health Behavioral Change continuously works to counter. Thus, through a system of partnerships and collaborations we have launched a campaign on policy change and public education/information and formed a National Workgroup-Coalition. This is what comprises an integral portion of our shared accountability to help define and deliver a National HIV Prevention Policy and Program.

Charge for the National HIV Prevention Policy Formulation and Education Workgroup-Coalition:

1) The Workgroup-Coalition serves as the policy analysis, advisory group of the Education Workgroup-Coalition and its member organizations as well as participating members, advising the Director/Principal Investigator on achieving the goals of the grant as enumerated relating to advocacy, policy development- impact and policy formulation.

2)  Develop strategies and tactics aimed at improving the lives of HIV- affected families utilizing multiply strategies, including participatory research, utilization of the media for public education,  implementing congressional briefing and supporting the work of relevant advocacy organizations and public agencies.

3)  Investigate and research innovative mechanisms to influence federal legislative policy formulation and implementation regarding HIV-affected families. This includes suggesting language for amendments to existing legislation and to proposed legislation.

4)  Advocate for regulatory changes in the administrative policies of agencies that do or can potentially address the needs of HIV-affected families.

5)  Identifying and engaging other groups, coalitions, key leaders and individuals that can be instrumental in influencing legislative and administrative policy regarding HIV/AIDS, including  the Ryan White Care Act, Healthy Start, Head Start, SCHIP and Medicaid.

6) Influence the movement of more funding and programs into HIV prevention. HIV is now a chronic disease and more emphasis must be placed on containment and elimination of this disease and not only on its treatment. We recognize that treatment is increasingly regarded by some as secondary prevention; however, funds need to be reallocated so that primary prevention can be utilized to eventually eliminate the disease.

The Workgroup meets once quarterly at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies in Washington, DC. Organizationally, the Workgroup is chaired by Congresswoman Donna Christensen Chairwoman, Congressional Black Caucus Health Brain Trust. Further, we enjoyed the services of Britt Weinstock, Director of Health Policy, at Office of Congresswoman Donna Christensen and has currently sixty (60) member organizations.  The individual members of the Workgroup consist of political scientist, lawyers, social workers, counselors, public health experts and other key professionals, representing national, state, and local entities, as well as community-based organizations. The Workgroup is staffed by the Director/Principal Investigator of the National Center for Health Behavioral Change, Dr. Jay Carrington Chunn, the Center’s staff and consultants. Preparation of policy analyses and policy formulation directives will be primarily developed by staff with full participation and input from the Workgroup-Coalition.

We are continuing to build our coalition base of approximately sixty (60) groups and organizations. We are working to expand that number to approximately ninety (90) before the end of this calendar year. This national diverse coalition will have potential and great impact in policy formulation through discussion with key members of Congress, legislative staff(s), administrative officials and influential community based organizations.

We plan to solicit from all of our coalition members their ideas and information regarding change in the Ryan White Care Act, the Health Care Reform legislation and related legislation needed to more astutely impact real need in local communities and neighborhoods. Our membership includes groups that are “on the ground” dealing with these issues including the Black Women’s Health Initiative, The Women’s Collective and LIGHT Health and Wellness Comprehensive Services which originated as the HIV/AIDS Pediatric Agency in Baltimore that continues to serve daily children and mothers with the active HIV/AIDS disease.

Our meeting held on March 3, 2011 was at the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies located at 1090 Vermont Avenue, N.W., Suite 1100 in Washington, DC. from 3:00pm-4:30pm. Many important topics were discussed such as the importance of educating those on Capitol Hill and the continued need for advancing the legislature process to inform and support our HIV/AIDS prevention and education  agenda. There is significant budget cutting due to the economy therefore; members of the Workgroup-Coalition have a real challenge due to the fact that almost every resource that is available to our policy formulation effort is potentially being cut. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention facing budget cuts are due to pressures on the President and his colleagues on Capitol Hill and they are now focusing more cuts on-top of the 12% of discretionary spending. Also, during this important meeting the Workgroup-Coalition organized a set of four Congressional and Legislative Testimony - Education Teams for HIV/AIDS Public Policy and the Strategic Areas of Focus. The Teams are as follows:

I.  Advocacy

Dr. Argin Hutchins, Assistant to the Director, National Center for Health Behavioral Change - Chairperson
Mr. Terry Brown Vice President Resource Development Baltimore Behavioral Health
Ms. Kate Farinholt, Executive Director, National Association for Mental Illness- Maryland
Ms. Rickeena Free, Consumer: Patient Services, LIGHT Health and Wellness
Ms. Alexandra Reitz, Youth Programs, LIGHT Health and Wellness

II. Care

Ms. Crystal Swann, Executive Director, The United State Conference of Mayors-Chairperson
Ms. Lela Campbell, NCHBC Research Fellow, Morgan State University, School of Social Work – Co-Chairperson

III. Prevention

Ms. Debbie Rock, Executive Director, LIGHT Health and Wellness – Chairperson
Mr. Scott T. Spencer, Associate Director, Advocacy and Influence, The Annie E. Casey Foundation – Co-Chairperson
Mr. Bryant Brown, Consumer: Vice President Behind My Eyes
Ms. Felicia Eaves, Program Director, The Joint Center for Economic and Political Studies
Reverend Anthony Evans, President, The Black Church Initiative
Ms. Delita Galanos, Youth Services Coordinator, Light Health and Wellness
Ms. Claudia Gray, Program Director, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
Ms. Ronneal Mathews, Senior Program Associate, Black Women's Health Imperative 
Ms. Rosemary Ramsey, Consumer of Services, LIGHT Health and Wellness
Ms. Maxine Robinson, Youth Programs Coordinator, The Women’s Collective
Ms. Valerie Rochester, Director of Program & Training, Black Women’s Health Imperative -  Co-Chairperson
Ms. Ashley Rock, Program Director, Institute of Human Virology, University of Maryland School of Medicine
Ms. Takira Stokes, Consumer: Patient Services, LIGHT Health and Wellness, President Behind My Eyes
Dr. Rena Boss-Victoria, Associate Professor, Coppin State University 
Mr. Gregson C. Francis, NCHBC Research Fellow, Morgan State University, School of Social Work

IV. Treatment

Dr. Lucy Perez, Senior Policy Analysis, National Center for Health Behavioral Change - Chairperson
Dr. Allison Awyun, Physician, The Johns Hopkins University Medical Center
Dr. Bertha Greene, Pastor, Covenant Baptist Church

Our last full meeting before the Fall, 2011 will be held on Thursday, May 26, 2011 and in this meeting we plan to mobilize our Congressional and Legislative-Education Contact Teams. The Legislative-Education Teams will remain active during the Summer of 2011 while the 112th Congress is in session impacting policy and services for HIV/AIDS children, families and communities.