We are Greater Cincinnati’s nonprofit devoted to positively changing lives in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Through HIV prevention, housing and care, our work to end the HIV epidemic is essential to a healthy community.
A free virtual educational event
Advocacy and Action: HIV Policy as Health Care
Medical progress to end the HIV epidemic is being thwarted by health disparities, limited access to vital resources, and punitive legislation. Advocacy plays a crucial role in driving policy changes to overcome these barriers.
As a community, public health workers and individuals impacted by HIV must be strategic and tenacious in challenging discriminatory practices, influencing legislative decisions and promoting equitable access to resources and care.
At Caraconference 2024 Advocacy and Action: HIV Policy as Health Care, speakers explored strategies for reducing disparities, amplifying voices and driving systemic change in HIV prevention and treatment. Watch the sessions and follow along with the Powerpoint slides below.
The HIV Stigma Index: Connecting the Dots
This session explores the history and utilization of the HIV Stigma Index in planning responses to new challenges around HIV prevention and care. Watch to gain an understanding of how HIV stigma impacts marginalized communities in unique and varied ways.
Fear to Empowerment: An Inter-generational Discussion on HIV
People living with HIV have unique and varying experiences which have been stratified by generations. Hear how our panelists have experienced change in their own perceptions and public perceptions of HIV through the generations and how this has impacted their advocacy efforts.
Self-Advocacy to Action
Advocacy, from the individual level to federal policy, is crucial to improve health outcomes. In this session, Caracole staff members examine self-advocacy in healthcare and the rights of people living with HIV and effective strategies for policy change.
Activating Peer Support Groups for Advocacy
This session explores how peer support groups at an HIV services organization have been utilized to meet their mission of broader engagement and advocacy in the community. Learn how engaging community members through empowering efforts such as self-advocacy fosters shared goals between individuals and organizations leading to policy change that reduces barriers.
The Promise of PrEP Versus the Reality of Access
Bio medical prevention methods for HIV hold incredible promise but access has not been equitable. The communities most at risk for HIV have the lowest rates of PrEP utilization due to medical mistrust and the medical system’s rigid requirements. Learn how community-based approaches help to combat medical mistrust and link the most marginalized communities to PrEP.
Meet some of the 2024 speakers (in alphabetical order).
Ryan Alvey is a dedicated advocate for the HIV+ community, with a deep commitment to education, support and the eradication of stigma associated with HIV/AIDS. Based in South Central Kentucky, Ryan has a wealth of experience in public health, substance abuse treatment and cybersecurity. He is currently a U=U ambassador, working tirelessly to spread the message that undetectable equals untransmittable, thus reducing stigma and empowering those living with HIV.
Ryan actively participates in the Sero Project Justice Institute and has been involved in creating the Positive Change Movement, aiming to reform HIV laws and policies in Kentucky.
A recipient of the Division of HIV Prevention’s ‘Excellence in Partnering (Domestic)’ award, Ryan’s efforts have been recognized for their impact on the community. He continues to leverage his lived experiences and professional background to advocate for meaningful involvement of people with HIV/AIDS (MIPA) in all aspects of decision-making processes.
Katrina Balovlenkov is a licensed clinical social worker and independent consultant with over 20 years’ experience as a consumer advocate, and respected public systems professional implementing best practices in HIV/AIDS, harm reduction, mental health, substance use, hepatitis, comprehensive sexual health care and LGBTQIA+ affirming care. Throughout her career, Katrina has worked with city, state and federal partners in various consumer advisory roles applying public health policies designed to address stigma, improve quality of care and health disparities.
Katrina has over 10 years of experience leading AIDS Service Organizations and divisions within Article 28 FQHCs and academic medical institutions and works as a subject matter expert providing technical assistance in curriculum development, capacity building assistance, evidenced based trainings, qualitative research, community needs assessments, grant writing and continuing professional education. In addition to being a professor of macro social work practice for Columbia University and NYU University, she continues to work directly with clients in the community as a licensed clinical therapist.
Carl Fox was diagnosed with HIV in 1985, during a time when the AIDS epidemic was at its peak and treatments were still in their infancy. He vowed to survive so he could testify to what people with HIV and AIDS encountered back then. Carl has witnessed the evolution of HIV care and the profound changes in both medical treatment and societal attitudes. His journey reflects resilience, courage and a deep commitment to advocating for those living with HIV. Carl is a participant in the federally funded TRAILBLAZER study, a cutting-edge clinical research initiative focusing on genetic engineering to potentially find a functional cure for HIV. The study is being conducted in collaboration with several institutions, including the University of Cincinnati. Over the decades, Carl has demonstrated remarkable resilience, proving that living with HIV is about more than just survival—it’s about leading a full and thriving life.
Until 1993, Kalee Garland didn’t know much about HIV except what she saw on television. That was the year she tested positive for the virus and received an AIDS diagnosis. She was 7 years old.
Unbeknownst to her family, Garland was born with the virus. She had acquired it from her mother, who until Garland’s diagnosis had been unaware of her own status.
With help from the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Garland’s parents enrolled her in two HIV drug clinical trials run by the National Institutes of Health. While both trials were hard on her young body, she fared slightly better in the second one.
As a youth, only Garland’s family and close friends knew she had HIV. It wasn’t until early adulthood that she began to publicly tell people that she was living with the virus.
At age 19, she became a counselor to young people impacted by HIV at Camp Heartland (now One Heartland) in Minnesota. It was the same camp she’d attended as a child. As a counselor, she talked about growing up with HIV.
In 2020, Garland took a leap of faith and created the Instagram account @aidsbaby86. In her first post, a two-minute video, she explained why she chose that name for the social media feed and shared what her life had been like as a person living with HIV.
Garland wants to continue working with children and to help those living with HIV transition into healthy adults as they age with the virus. To that end, she hopes to one day open a foster home for kids.
In the meantime, she will continue to be a cheerleader for the HIV community, speaking out for those living with the virus and amplifying their voices.
Zoey Peach is the prevention team lead and a health educator at Caracole, greater Cincinnati’s comprehensive HIV services organization. She has a special interest in clinical HIV medicine, trans and rural health. She is a 2016 graduate of Transylvania University with a degree in women’s and gender studies. Zoey has been working in the field of HIV prevention for six years in various community settings, from jails to churches.
Reilly has worked with the HIV+ community and in HIV prevention for 16 years. During this time he has provided testing and counseling services along with one-on-one and group work with those living with HIV. Reilly also spearheaded local syringe exchange efforts to better serve the community of those who inject drugs and was a driving force behind the 2014 Ohio law that allowed for syringe exchange/access throughout the state. He was voted “Advocate of the Year” in Citybeat’s 2011 Best of the City issue, received the Oscar Armstrong award from Public Allies in 2013, and The Cincinnati Exchange Project was awarded the 2015 Health Care Heroes award from the Cincinnati Business Courier. He is a fellow for Caring Ambassadors and also sits on the Ohio Health Modernization Movement steering committee. This is his sixth year leading Caraconference planning.
AKeem Rollins is a public health professional from Cleveland, OH with over 10 years of experience in sexual health education, HIV care navigation, and HIV prevention work.
Starting as a volunteer at 15 with The Street Crew, a group of young queer men who educated other queer men of condom use, STIs and HIV prevention, he went on to work in Kaiser Permanente’s education theater program as a teen, receiving formal training in STI and HIV basics to teach back to other high school students in 2005, 2006, and 2007. After, AKeem became a volunteer for Americorps’ City Year program and the LGBT Community Center’s presenting on sexual health, including condom demonstrations.
After a brief hiatus as an English Teacher and Special Education Intervention Specialist, AKeem returned to sexual health in 2016 at the LGBT Community Center of Greater Cleveland in their teen pregnancy prevention and sexual health education program, Recovery Resource’s Safe on the Scene program as an HIV test counselor, and eventually landed at MetroHealth, where he has been for 6 years, now the Lead PrEP Navigation Specialist.
When not engaging community members in PrEP education and navigation, AKeem works with the Rustbelt Center for AIDS Research as a Research Specialist and is currently completing his graduate degree in Health Policy and Management at Case Western Reserve University.
Ariel Shaw is an HIV Health Educator with Caracole. She is a 2020 graduate of the University of Cincinnati with a bachelor’s degree in Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Ariel has worked in the prevention field for almost 3 years. She spends her time working with colleagues to provide HIV-related services, such as HIV/HCV testing, Harm Reduction services, and education in the community. Much of her work centers around making sure gender diverse individuals within Cincinnati have access to the care they need and providing them with tools and resources needed.
LaShawna Whitehead is a mother of two girls and grandmother to two boys. She was a state-tested nurse aide (STNA) for 14 years before returning to college for an associate’s degree in Medical Billing and Coding. She also has experience as a receptionist and administrative assistant with Alternative Healthcare Training Center. Currently, LaShawna is an active member of the Humble Heart and Pozitive Attitudes support groups and serves on the NeighborHub Health Consumer Advisory Board.
Please contact our conference organizer Adam Reilly at [email protected].
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