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Many members have requested educational materials to distribute to their congregations and communities, and as well as scriptural resources to guide sermons and discussions about HIV/AIDS. This month, Philly Faith in Action (PFIA) is launching new HIV educational materials. These resources include an informational brochure about Philly Faith in Action that includes facts about HIV/AIDS; a Christian scriptural resource guide; a pamphlet highlighting ways congregations can involved with PFIA; and church and mosque bulletin inserts with facts about HIV/AIDS.
These new materials are available for free online on our website. To request free hard copies of these materials, email us at phillyfaithinaction@gmail.com or call us at 215-990-3338.
This month’s newsletter also has some important news updates and includes dates for National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, National Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS, and National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
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| Philly Faith in Action: New Educational Materials |
Want to get involved with Philly Faith in Action but don’t know where to start? Are you already involved but looking for new angles to discuss HIV/AIDS with your community? Philly Faith in Action has new educational materials and scriptural resource guides. New materials include an informational brochure about HIV/AIDS and Philly Faith in Action, a Christian scriptural resource guide, pamphlets highlighting ways to get involved, and church and mosque bulletin inserts. Download these resources for free here, or request hard copies by emailing us at phillyfaithinaction@gmail.com or calling us at 215-990-3338. We will also soon launch a scriptural resource guide for the Muslim community. Mosque and Church Bulletin PFIA Informational Brochure
 
Christian Scriptural Resource Guide ”Ways to Get Involved’ Pamphlet
for Faith Leaders
 
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By: Keli Goff
From Martin Luther King Jr. and the fight for civil rights in the 1960s to Rev. Al Sharpton and the fight against racial profiling and police brutality today, members of the clergy have been key leaders in some of the black community’s most important battles. Yet there is one issue plaguing the community on which black pastors, as a whole, have not been perceived as leaders: the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Despite the fact that African Americans now lead the nation in new cases of the HIV virus, and the fact that AIDS is the third leading cause of death among black men and women ages 35 to 44, the issue has not been embraced as a priority social justice issue by many predominantly black churches. While black pastors, for instance, played key roles as visible and vocal champions of voting and voter access this election cycle, fewer have used their weight similarly to mobilize their congregations around the issue of HIV awareness, prevention and testing.
Phil Wilson, executive director of the Black AIDS Institute, told The Root that “black pastors are engaged more than they were in the past, but not as much as they need to be, given the disproportionate impact on our community.” But new research shows that they could be the key to overcoming cultural barriers to fighting the spread of AIDS in the black community.
Read the full article here.
Keli Goff, Photo Credit: The Root
The CDC released new data highlighting 21% decreases in HIV infection among African American women, and a 22% increase in HIV infections among young African American men who have sex with men.
 Spencer Cox, an AIDS activist whose work with a cadre of lay scientists helped push innovative antiretroviral drugs to market, creating the first effective drug protocols to combat the syndrome, died on Tuesday in Manhattan. He was 44.
Mr. Cox was a prominent voice in the fight against AIDS for more than two decades. After three years as a student at Bennington College in Vermont, he moved to New York. By 1989, at age 20, he had joined the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, better known as Act Up, the organization devoted to pushing government and private industry, often with demonstrations, sit-ins and other tactics, to dedicate more resources for AIDS treatment and prevention.
Photo: New York Times
Read the full article here.
GUANGZHOU, China – As he waited to give blood for an H.I.V. test one recent afternoon, Le, a 25-year-old marketing professional, explained why he was there. “I was aware of the consequences” of not using a condom, he said, “but somehow I didn’t know how to say no.”
 Le, a gay man who would give only his first name, was being tested at the Lingnan Health Center, an organization run largely by gay volunteers, whose walls are adorned with red AIDS ribbons and a smiling condom mascot. In the past, Le went to hospitals to be tested, he said, but the stigma of being a gay man in China made the experience particularly harrowing.
Photo: New York Times
“I’d always be concerned about what the doctors would think of me,” Le said. “Here we’re all in the same community, so there’s less to worry about.”
Le is one of thousands of gay men in this bustling city of 13 million people who are benefiting from a pioneering experiment that supporters hope will revolutionize the way the Communist Party deals with nongovernment groups trying to stop the spread of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
Read the full article here.
Philadelphia Inquirer: “Condoms for Free at 22 City Schools”
Coming over the holiday break to about a third of Philadelphia high schools: clear plastic dispensers chock-full of free condoms.
The dispensers will be placed in the 22 high schools whose students had the highest rates of sexually transmitted diseases, and condoms will be available to any student – so long as their parents did not sign a form opting them out of the program.
It’s a pilot designed to address “an epidemic of sexually transmitted disease in adolescents in Philadelphia,” said Donald F. Schwarz, the deputy mayor for health and opportunity. Since April 2011, the city has given away about four million condoms, and now, STD rates are falling.
Read the full article here.
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Looking for ways to get involved? Consider hosting testing and educational events at your house of worship on the following dates:
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day
Thursday, February 7th, 2013
National Week of Prayer For the Healing of AIDS
March 3-9th, 2013
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Thank you for your continued support of Philly Faith in Action.
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