Community Corner
Spelman Women's Research & Resource Center Hosts AIDS Panel Discussion and PBS Documentary Viewing March 1
WHAT:
When AIDS first entered the American consciousness, it was considered a gay White man’s disease. Some 30 years later, that erroneous assumption, along with silence and the labeling of AIDS as a stigma, has allowed the virus to permeate throughout the Black community. A viewing of the PBS documentary “ENDGAME: AIDS in Black America,” hosted by the Women’s Research and Resource Center, delves into the impact of these factors on the prevention and intervention of the disease.
Following the film screening on Friday, March 1, in Cosby Auditorium, Marionette Holmes, Ph.D., C'90, Spelman assistant professor of economics, in collaboration with Beverly Guy-Sheftall, Ph.D., C'66, director of the Women’s Research and Resource Center, will moderate a panel discussion that includes two individuals featured in the documentary: Robert Fullilove, Ed.D., associate dean of community and minority affairs and professor of clinical sociomedical sciences, Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, and Dr. Earl Joyner, physician, DeKalb County Jail. Also taking part in the panel discussion are Shanebrae Price and Masonia Traylor with SisterLove Inc., a nonprofit AIDS prevention organization.
“ENDGAME” also highlights how the lack of HIV prevention programs within the penal system created a high-risk HIV-contraction environment. According to the Department of Justice, research has shown HIV is 2.5 times more likely to occur in the prison population than the average population.
Find out what's happening in Cascadewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
One HIV prevention option being investigated is access to public housing for those who have cycled through the penal system and homeless shelters. Holmes is conducting research, funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, to estimate the HIV risk and associated costs of not providing public housing to individuals who have been incarcerated numerous times. Her project collaborates with researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health who are investigating the sociological aspects of access to public housing for formerly incarcerated and homeless individuals. Their joint research results will assist with budgetary decisions made about public housing in New York City and has the potential to serve as an intervention model for other urban areas like Atlanta.
The event is free and open to the public.
Find out what's happening in Cascadewith free, real-time updates from Patch.
For more information, call 404-270-5625.
WHO:
The film screening and panel discussion are sponsored by the Spelman College Office of the President, the Women’s Research and Resource Center, the Office of the Associate Provost for Research, Social Justice Fellows Program, UNCF/Mellon Programs, and Morehouse College Public Health Sciences Institute.
WHEN:
Friday, March 1, 2013
5:30 p.m.
WHERE:
Spelman College, Camille Olivia Hanks Cosby Academic Center, 350 Spelman Lane,
Atlanta 30314
For visitors using GPS navigation systems, the following address will bring you directly to the entrance of Spelman College: 440 Westview Drive, S.W. Atlanta, GA 30310.