In 1992 I began my involvement with HIV/AIDS after my friends started dying of AIDS, at that time I was a mortgage banker. I started speaking out on the subject of HIV/AIDS as a volunteer with the Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association. In 1994 I became the Alaska representative with the National Task Force on AIDS Prevention. In 1995 I assisted the Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association with getting their first Men of Color Grant that increased their prevention staff from two to seven people and was hired as a prevention outreach worker until 1999. In 1999 I became a Housing Client Services Specialist with the Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association and the Alaska Delegate for the African American Men United Against AIDS Program with the CDC funded National AIDS and Educational Services for Minorities. Through the AAMUAA project I hosted the largest gathering of African American Gay men to address HIV prevention needs in Alaska. In 2001 I was nominated and elected to the Alaska Statewide HIV Prevention Planning Group on which I still serve today.
In 2002, I left my employment with the Alaskan AIDS Assistance Association and founded “HIV/AIDS Services for African Americans in Alaska”. Through this small capacity building business I registered the first African American Churches in Alaska with the CDC funded Balm In Gilead organization to mobilize black churches in the fight against HIV/AIDS. In 2003 as an advisory board member representing Alaska with Jackson State University and collaborating with a faith-based organization, Shiloh Community Development Incorporated hosted a HIV Community Mobilization training that resulted in the first grants being awarded to any African American organization in the state of Alaska!
I have been trained in the Fundamental of HIV Testing and Counseling Using the OraQuick Rapid HIV Test through the CDC and in Supporting Networks of HIV Care through the CAEAR Coalition Foundation as well as the HIV/AIDS Tribal Visions in Care through the University of Washington, Center for Health Education and Research Alaska Targeted Provider Education Demonstration Project. I have used my training in various ways and continue to do so today.
Also in 2003 I began my training with the Black AIDS Institute’s “African American University Program” after being awarded a Fellowship to attend. I graduated from that training in June 2005, third in my class which was the highest ranking of any male in that graduating class. Since 2003 I have written and managed two mini grants for two organizations, the Martin Luther King Foundation of Alaska and Shiloh Community Development Incorporated awarded through the HIV/AIDS Regional Resource Network that resulted in HIV testing, a care team and the development and broadcast of an HIV related video.
My current activities include coordinating local activities around National HIV/AIDS Awareness Day and the Balm In Gilead’s “Black Church Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS” as well as membership in the One Campaign, AVAC and the AIDS Treatment Advocates Coalition’s “Save ADAP Working Group”. The Save ADAP Working Group had a letter writing campaign in September 2005 to President Bush to increase ADAP funding in light of growing need. I am proud to say that I delivered enough letters to make Alaska the state that produced the most letters out of any state in the United States, although we have the second lowest population.
I have worked as a Case Management Specialist at RurAL CAP, (Rural Alaska Community Action Program) at its “Homeward Bound” program that serves chronically homeless alcoholics. I am proud to say that my employer received the 2005 SAMHSA Exemplary Program Award. We served an ethnically diverse population at higher risk for HIV/AIDS and had HIV positive individuals in the program, so I was able to serve those with HIV with their real life needs through prevention, treatment education and advocacy service. I was a member of the local planning committee for the “Embracing Our Traditions, Values and Teaching: Native Peoples of North America HIV/AIDS Conference that was held in Anchorage, Alaska May 2-6, 2006. In May 2006 I initiated and assisted in the coordination with the Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona, the United States-Mexico Border Health Association, National AIDS and Education Services for Minority and the Asian Health Forum to conduct the “ Collaborating Across Communities of Color” Community Planning Mobilization Town Meeting, held in Anchorage. Alaska. I serve on the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Foundation’s Advisory Board and as the Team Captain representing Alaska for NAPWA’s Positive African American Network
I am supporting myself working at the Anchorage Community Mental Health Services.
As you can see I have done the ground work associated with HIV/AIDS. I now need to go “high tech”. I am seeking to create and implement a digital version of our work for sustainability. I need digital devices such as an iPhone, and a website with blogs and podcast capabilities. I have extensive archives including music that I wrote, produced and recorded. Video archives that document my work over the last two decades, but I need to get them digitized. I hope that you or colleagues can sponsor me or use my work as a class/student project at the University of Michigan. The result could be a product that can prevent HIV/AIDS, provide treatment education to those infected and encourage younger Africans and African Americans to learn more about immunology, virology, microbicides, vaccines and other science–based approaches to fight HIV/AIDS.
In short I am committed to making a difference in our country and world in regards to HIV/AIDS and I am asking for your help.
Sincerely,
Hugh Brown III
HIV/AIDS Services for African Americans in Alaska
4314 Penguin Street #2
Anchorage, Alaska 99503
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hambrick Amanda on 05/15/2012
