Norton to Begin Five Town Meeting HIV/AIDS Series- November 29, 2006
November 29, 2006
Norton to Begin Five Town Meeting HIV/AIDS Series on Eve of World AIDS Day to Make 2007 the Year to Eliminate the Spread of AIDS in D.C.
November 29, 2006
Washington, DC--As the city prepares to mark World AIDS Day on Friday, the Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that Dr. Marsha Martin, Director of the District of Columbia HIV/AIDS Administration, will join her at the Norton Clergy Town Meeting for ministers and church officials, kicking off a series of five community meetings entitled: "A Series of Frank Conversations by Us with Us: A Self Examination on the D.C. HIV/AIDS Epidemic," TOMORROW, Thursday, November 30, 2006, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in the 8th floor Rotunda of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Norton said, “We mark World AIDS Day here at the epicenter of the AIDS crisis in America, the nation’s capital. One day is not enough for the District, which has the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the United States. We will embark on a year-long series in a search among ourselves for a ‘cure’ for the civic and spiritual crisis in the African American community that allows residents to forego safe sex, pass this disease to spouses and friends, and fear getting tested.” The Norton series begins with ministers, who she says are in a special position to take the lead in the city’s efforts to prevent this preventable disease, help quell the spread of the virus and assist people in getting help.
The meetings that follow the Clergy Town Meeting will run through 2007 and will focus on the disease’s impact on the city’s men, women, and teens, ending with an All-City HIV/AIDS Town Meeting to Eliminate the Epidemic.
Dr. Martin will help set the stage for Thursday’s dialogue by briefly discussing the District’s breakthrough universal testing campaign, distribution of condoms and other preventive measures, and infection rates in the city and in the jails. Rev. Susan Newman, formerly the Senior Advisor to the Mayor for Religious Affairs, and currently Director of the D.C. branch of The Balm in Gilead, Inc., will give the invocation and benediction. The Balm in Gilead is a nationwide organization that works with black churches to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS through educational programs, training and centers for AIDS ministry. The public is invited to the Clergy Town Meeting as observers, but the dialogue for this town meeting will be limited to ministers, without any panel of experts or additional speakers. The discussion will focus on the roots and reasons for the epidemic, including ignorance of the facts, myths, homophobia, promiscuity, and fear of being tested, and the specific actions clergy, in particular, can take. Norton has invited a cross-section of ministers and church leaders who represent predominately African American churches to participate. City Cable Channel 16 has agreed to record the Clergy Town Meeting, allowing greater exposure as a result of repeat taped broadcasts, beyond those who will attend Thursday’s meeting.
Norton is launching this series because although the District has improved its HIV/AIDS services, the startling statistics are evidence that many residents lack basic information on the prevention, spread and treatment of the disease in order to protect themselves and their families.
“As respected leaders in the community, ministers are in a unique position to take the lead on issues such as prevention, testing and removing the stigma that keeps people from getting tested,” Norton said. Recently, she asked Congressional Black Caucus members to join her in taking an easily administered mouth swab test in a D.C. health care van that she invited to the Capitol grounds. (See Norton being tested at www.norton.house.gov.).
November 29, 2006
Washington, DC--As the city prepares to mark World AIDS Day on Friday, the Office of Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC) today said that Dr. Marsha Martin, Director of the District of Columbia HIV/AIDS Administration, will join her at the Norton Clergy Town Meeting for ministers and church officials, kicking off a series of five community meetings entitled: "A Series of Frank Conversations by Us with Us: A Self Examination on the D.C. HIV/AIDS Epidemic," TOMORROW, Thursday, November 30, 2006, from 6:30 to 8:30 pm in the 8th floor Rotunda of the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, 1300 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW. Norton said, “We mark World AIDS Day here at the epicenter of the AIDS crisis in America, the nation’s capital. One day is not enough for the District, which has the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the United States. We will embark on a year-long series in a search among ourselves for a ‘cure’ for the civic and spiritual crisis in the African American community that allows residents to forego safe sex, pass this disease to spouses and friends, and fear getting tested.” The Norton series begins with ministers, who she says are in a special position to take the lead in the city’s efforts to prevent this preventable disease, help quell the spread of the virus and assist people in getting help.
The meetings that follow the Clergy Town Meeting will run through 2007 and will focus on the disease’s impact on the city’s men, women, and teens, ending with an All-City HIV/AIDS Town Meeting to Eliminate the Epidemic.
Dr. Martin will help set the stage for Thursday’s dialogue by briefly discussing the District’s breakthrough universal testing campaign, distribution of condoms and other preventive measures, and infection rates in the city and in the jails. Rev. Susan Newman, formerly the Senior Advisor to the Mayor for Religious Affairs, and currently Director of the D.C. branch of The Balm in Gilead, Inc., will give the invocation and benediction. The Balm in Gilead is a nationwide organization that works with black churches to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS through educational programs, training and centers for AIDS ministry. The public is invited to the Clergy Town Meeting as observers, but the dialogue for this town meeting will be limited to ministers, without any panel of experts or additional speakers. The discussion will focus on the roots and reasons for the epidemic, including ignorance of the facts, myths, homophobia, promiscuity, and fear of being tested, and the specific actions clergy, in particular, can take. Norton has invited a cross-section of ministers and church leaders who represent predominately African American churches to participate. City Cable Channel 16 has agreed to record the Clergy Town Meeting, allowing greater exposure as a result of repeat taped broadcasts, beyond those who will attend Thursday’s meeting.
Norton is launching this series because although the District has improved its HIV/AIDS services, the startling statistics are evidence that many residents lack basic information on the prevention, spread and treatment of the disease in order to protect themselves and their families.
“As respected leaders in the community, ministers are in a unique position to take the lead on issues such as prevention, testing and removing the stigma that keeps people from getting tested,” Norton said. Recently, she asked Congressional Black Caucus members to join her in taking an easily administered mouth swab test in a D.C. health care van that she invited to the Capitol grounds. (See Norton being tested at www.norton.house.gov.).