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two-day learning experience
Policy, Power & Progress: The Fight Continues
In a time of uncertainty and change, protecting what we’ve built and sustaining progress takes people who show up, speak out and stay in the fight.
Caraconference 2026: Policy, Power & Progress brought together voices from across the movement to highlight the power of advocacy, the impact of smart policy and the collective momentum moving the HIV response forward—together.
Sam Rivera
Executive Director, OnPoint NYC
Sam Rivera is the Executive Director of OnPoint NYC and a deeply respected leader in harm reduction, public health and social justice. With more than 30 years of experience in social services, Sam has dedicated his life’s work to caring for communities most impacted by the criminal legal system, the War on Drugs, HIV/AIDS, mental health challenges, and overdose.
An Indigenous Afro-Taino/Borincua, Sam leads with heart, courage, lived experience and commitment. In 2021, he helped make history by opening the first two sanctioned Overdose Prevention Centers in the US—creating spaces rooted in dignity, safety and love. His leadership continues to shape public health policy through bold, community-driven solutions that center humanity first. Sam’s work has been nationally recognized, including being named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Most Influential People in the World in 2023.
Venita Ray
Executive Director, Black South Rising
Venita Ray is the Executive Director of Black South Rising, a Southern-based social justice organization committed to building political power across the Black South. She brings more than 30 years of experience working on a range of social justice issues.
She previously served as co-executive director of the Positive Women’s Network-USA, a national membership organization for women living with HIV, managed a leadership program for people living with HIV and founded the Texas Strike Force, a coalition focused on increasing state-level legislative advocacy.
Diagnosed with HIV in 2003, Venita is deeply committed to racial justice and to developing the leadership and meaningful involvement of people living with HIV in all decisions that impact the HIV community.
Meet some of our 2026 speakers (in alphabetical order).
Natalie Brooks is public health professional with nearly 10 years of experience, including 6 years working on the Ending the HIV Epidemic program at Columbus Public Health. She found her passion for sexual health while attending The Ohio State University for her undergraduate degree where she served as a student HIV/STI Test Counselor. To further her studies, she traveled, gaining international experience focused on addressing social determinants of health for marginalized groups and HIV prevention and care programming. Since earning her Master’s in Public Health in 2020, she has been committed to serving the Columbus community and enhancing programs across the HIV network.
Jaasiel Chapman is a native Cincinnatian who is dedicated to fighting for those infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. Currently, he works at Hamilton County Public Health as the EHE Program Coordinator overseeing the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative. His work there focuses on engaging and empowering community partners with resources and tools to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the Greater Cincinnati area. Previously, Chapman worked with IV-CHARIS, the only minority-run HIV/AIDS organization in the area and as a community educator for University of Cincinnati College of Medicine Infectious Diseases Research Center. Jaasiel attended the University of Cincinnati.
Zach Frye (he/him) is a Staff Attorney with the Hamilton County Clerk of Courts Help Center. Through the Access to Counsel program, Zach provides same-day representation in eviction court to Hamilton County tenants. Zach also provides limited legal advice to individuals without an attorney who have civil legal matters related to small claims court, debt collection, and rent escrow, among others. Prior to joining the Help Center, Zach served for five years as a Staff Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, focusing on eviction and foreclosure defense. Zach received his JD from Duke University School of Law in 2019, and an undergraduate degree from The Ohio State University in 2014. Zach is a member of the Cincinnati Bar Association and Ohio State Bar Association. In 2023, Zach was awarded the Professionalism Award from the Cincinnati Bar Association Young Lawyers Division.
JeMarr Jackson is a HIV Testing Coordinator at Caracole specializing in prevention and community outreach. In his role, he helps to change the lives of those who are living with HIV as well as work to ensure the prevention of HIV for those at high risk. A Cincinnati native, Jackson received his bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Cincinnati. At Caracole, he demonstrates his passion for those living with and at risk for HIV and exhibits the agency’s values through his work in the community. Prior to his work at Caracole, JeMarr also worked with various other populations, including homeless and at-risk youth.
Jada Hicks (she/her), Senior PJP Attorney at The Center for HIV Law & Policy (CHLP) , earned her Juris Doctor from North Carolina Central University School of Law, where she was certified in Civil Rights and Constitutional Law. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Criminology from North Carolina State University.
Prior to joining CHLP, she served as an inaugural Judicial Fellow for the Administrative Office of the Courts, providing independent and confidential legal research and writing support to more than 370 judges across North Carolina’s Superior and District Courts.
Previously, Jada worked as an Assistant District Attorney in Pitt County, where she prosecuted cases ranging from drug offenses to DWIs.
JAYY the DJ is a DJ, community organizer, and longtime advocate for Black queer and LGBTQ+ communities. His first experience with ballroom was in 2006, but after moving to Cincinnati in 2010, he became more deeply connected to the culture and community. He joined the House of Ninja, where he began walking Hand Performance and Vogue Femme and developed a deeper appreciation for ballroom’s history, traditions, creativity, and sense of community. Years later, he joined the House of Revlon, continuing his journey within the culture.
As his involvement in ballroom grew, so did his work as a DJ within the scene. JAYY began traveling from state to state to DJ balls and events, taking him to ballroom communities in cities including Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Orlando, and throughout Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana. Being able to experience different scenes, houses, organizers, and communities firsthand gave him a broader perspective on ballroom and strengthened the relationships he built throughout the culture.
Those experiences—walking, DJing, and traveling within ballroom—ultimately helped inspire the creation of CincyVogue, a community-centered platform dedicated to celebrating ballroom and Vogue culture while creating opportunities for education, connection, and visibility. Through CincyVogue, JAYY has partnered with organizations and partners including Caracole, Equitas Health, Gilead Sciences and the Ohio Department of Health on HIV education, prevention, testing, and community engagement.
JAYY believes ballroom is not only a space for competition and performance, but also a powerful platform for advocacy, education, community building, and collective care. Outside of his community work, he has been a professional DJ since 2012, performing at hundreds of events across the country, including balls, Pride celebrations, concerts, clubs, weddings, and community events.
Today, JAYY continues to bring together his passion for music, ballroom, and community to create spaces where people can connect, celebrate, express themselves, and feel seen.
Jeniece D. Jones, MPA, JD, is the Chief Executive Officer of Caracole, Greater Cincinnati’s HIV services organization. With over two decades of experience in nonprofit leadership, public policy advocacy and race equity, she provides strategic direction to advance health equity and community partnerships.
Previously, Jeniece led the Public Justice Center in Baltimore and Housing Opportunities Made Equal (HOME) in Cincinnati, driving impactful policy changes in housing, civil rights, and eviction prevention. She also served as CEO of Community Shares of Greater Cincinnati, growing donor engagement by 68%.
A dedicated advocate for social justice, she has been recognized by the Cincinnati Women’s Political Caucus and the National Caucus of Negro Women. She holds degrees in Journalism, Public Administration, and Law.
Outside of work, Jeniece enjoys reading and writing speculative fiction.
Sean McCormick (he/him) is a Staff Attorney with the Positive Justice Project, an initiative of The Center for HIV Law and Policy, where he has focused on addressing the HIV epidemic, the overdose crisis, and other related health challenges through legal and policy solutions that center justice for people most affected by systemic oppression. Before attending law school, Sean worked to improve clinical care for people living with substance use disorders, HIV, and HCV, publishing his findings in eight peer-reviewed journals. After graduating, Sean advanced harm reduction and overdose prevention policies in the Chicago Department of Public Health through the CDC’s Public Health Law Fellowship. Sean frequently writes about and presents on effective strategies for ending HIV criminalization and other carceral approaches and implementing evidence-based public health solutions. He obtained his Juris Doctorate from the University of Illinois and Bachelor’s degrees in public health and Spanish from The Ohio State University.
Courtney McDermott is a Public Relations Specialist for Columbus Public Health, where she leads strategic communications and social media initiatives that connect residents with trusted public health information. With a background in broadcast journalism and public relations, she brings a passion for storytelling, community engagement, and developing campaigns that create meaningful impact. Courtney is currently pursuing a Master of Communication with a Strategic Communication and Digital Innovation Certificate at Ohio University.
Adam Reilly has worked in HIV prevention and with people living with HIV for more than 17 years. His experience includes HIV testing, counseling and both individual and group support services. A longtime harm reduction advocate, Adam helped launch syringe exchange efforts in Cincinnati and played a key role in the passage of Ohio’s 2014 law expanding syringe access statewide.
He was named “Advocate of the Year” in CityBeat’s 2011 Best of the City issue, received the Oscar Armstrong Award from Public Allies in 2013, and led The Cincinnati Exchange Project to win the Cincinnati Business Courier’s 2015 Health Care Heroes award. Adam is a fellow with Caring Ambassadors and serves on the steering committee for the Ohio Health Modernization Movement. He has led Caracole’s Caraconference planning for the past eight years.
Elisabeth Risch is the Executive Director of Housing Opportunities Made Equal of Greater Cincinnati (HOME). She started in this role in April 2022. She leads and oversees the organization’s mission to eliminate unlawful housing discrimination in the Cincinnati area. HOME advocates and enforces housing regulations for all protected classes to promotes stable and integrated communities. Under her leadership, HOME published the Roadmap for Increasing Black Homeownership in Cincinnati and Hamilton County, which has over 30 endorsing partner organizations and identifies six policy recommendations to increase and preserve Black homeownership.
Previously, she was the Assistant Director at the Metropolitan St. Louis Equal Housing and Opportunity Council (EHOC), where she managed fair housing and eviction defense programs and oversaw all programmatic operations. She led the agency’s fair housing education, outreach and advocacy work, including leading systemic investigations of housing discrimination and authoring widely circulated reports on issues of fair housing and segregation.
A nationally-recognized expert in fair lending and redlining, she helped found and led the St. Louis Community Reinvestment Alliance, a coalition working to hold banks accountable to investing in low income communities and communities of color, resulting in Community Benefits Agreements with banks that developed new products, services and investments totaling over $5 billion in impact. She is currently on the Board of Directors for the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC).
Elisabeth has a B.A. in Sociology and International Development Studies from Calvin College in Grand Rapids, MI, and a Masters in Social Work from Washington University in St. Louis Brown School of Social Work, where she concentrated on policy and social and economic development. A native of Cincinnati, she loves exploring neighborhoods, hiking, and being outside with her family.
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.
Joseph Ze Soza (he/el/we) is an advocate, creator and community organizer with an intersectional vision for social change. He is especially passionate about the lived equity of other LGBTQ Latin(e) individuals. He brings this passion to his current role as Advocacy Coordinator with Equality Ohio. In 2018, Joseph graduated from Malone University where he studied history, global-international studies and sociology. Additionally, he studied Mandarin and Chinese cultural history at the Dalian University of Foreign Languages, where he also taught English language. In 2019, Joseph was accepted into the Ohio Legislative Service Commission Fellowship program where he worked for the Senate Minority Leader Kenny Yuko, and later, for Senator Teresa Fedor where he served in a more permanent role as her legislative aide. Currently, Joseph is based in East Columbus where he enjoys the bridge-building work of connecting leaders with LGBTQ causes and community. He is an alum of the Columbus New Leaders Council. Additionally, he serves as a board member for Avanzamos Unidos, a branch of the Ohio Young Latino Network. Joseph is also a Modo-trained yoga instructor and facilitator of meditation and breathwork practices. In his own time,
Joseph enjoys writing, cooking, and participating in creative projects; including a feature in Carlos Motta’s multichannel sound installation The Columbus Assembly, which was supported by a Wexner Center Artist Residency Award. He is also a student of capoeira and music.
Dr. Tasha Turner-Bicknell is Professor and Director of Advanced Public Health Nursing DNP and Certificate Programs at University of Cincinnati. A harm reductionist, population health nurse, and former member of the board of directors for Harm Reduction Ohio, she has extensive experience in harm reduction including syringe service programs, overdose prevention, capacity building, mobile outreach, and legislative advocacy. She currently works to build the capacity for harm reduction service delivery in Ohio.
Dr. Paris Wheeler-McLeod is an assistant professor in Clinical Psychology at the University of Cincinnati. Dr. Wheeler-McLeod’s research agenda is focused on cultural and structural factors related to drug use disorders, treatment for drug use disorders, and associated health disparities. Her work seeks to identify cultural strengths that can facilitate treatment effectiveness, retention, and overall improvement of treatment approaches in the context of structural barriers that disproportionately affect Black Americans. At UC, she teaches a Community Research Capstone focused on instructing senior undergraduate psychology majors in the conduct of community engaged research methods.
Brady Wilson is an epidemiologist with Hamilton County Public Health. He is passionate about using data to better serve HIV prevention and care efforts. During his tenure as a master’s student at Wright State University, he researched how PrEP use interacts with risk factors for other sexually transmitted infections. Previously, he has worked on the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative as a linkage and reengagement coordinator and as a disease investigator for the county’s HIV/STI grant.
Please contact the conference organizer Adam Reilly at [email protected].
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