Checking In

It’s been a rough couple of days at NMAC. Multiple family members of staff have passed and, as you can imagine, we are devastated (please read Ace’s story about his family). As we learned during the HIV epidemic, the work continues.

Mark your calendars for the weekly NMAC check-in. This week we are meeting on Thursday, April 9, at 10 AM and 2 PM ET. You will need to register in advance:

10 AM (Eastern) Registration
2 PM (Eastern) Registration

Last week we ran out of slots, so this week we’ve doubled the number of openings.

Special Guests

This week’s special guest is Harold Philips from Health and Human Services. Harold is the Chief Operating Officer for the federal effort to End the HIV Epidemic (EHE). Harold will talk about EHE efforts while being physically distant. In addition to Harold, we will also be joined by Moises Agosto, Tara Barnes-Darby, and Ace Robinson from NMAC. Moises will address long term survivors and what they should know about COVID-19, Tara will answer your questions about the 2020 United States Conference on HIV/AIDS, and Ace is going to talk about his recent article in The Body “African Americans Are Bearing the Brunt of the Coronavirus Pandemic-Including My Family in Albany Georgia.”

Follow-Up PPP

We will also follow-up on last week’s discussion about the CARES Act’s Paycheck Protection Program and the messy roll-out of the program. As we mentioned last week, many banks were not prepared for this program and the roll-out has left many nonprofits frustrated and concerned. The initiative will run out of money and not everyone will benefit. It is critical that you get your application in as soon as possible.

2020 USCHA

We have not made a final decision about the 2020 United States Conference on HIV/AIDS. The meeting is in October and we want to share our thinking and hear from you. Many meetings are going to a virtual format. Do you think that would work for this meeting? NMAC is very committed to Puerto Rico and we are looking at a Plan B which is to push the meeting to the spring of 2021; however, we want to hear your thoughts.

Long Term Survivors

We invite all people living with HIV/AIDS to join the call and share their experience of living with HIV during COVID-19. I know this is something that HHS and HRSA are tracking. Please join the call to share your concerns with Harold. It’s too soon to have real scientific studies, so we are looking for anecdotes for how PLHIV are coping.

 

Go-To Meetings

NMAC uses Go-To-Meetings for these hangouts. After you register, please follow the instructions and download the software in advance of our check-in. It will take a few minutes to get set-up and the check-in will start and end on time.

Format
Since there are hundreds of people in the meeting, it doesn’t work to have an open mic. Participants will be asked to write their questions or make their statements in the question section of the go-to-meetings tool kit. We will talk everyone through the software to help get you familiar with this program. The purpose of NMAC’s hangouts is to end the isolation of COVID-19, answer questions about pressing HIV issues, and figure out the best ways to use distant learning during these troubling times.These are uncertain scary times. Our hangouts are a place to check-in with your movement. They will happen weekly until we go back to work. We will start and end on time. Thank you for your efforts to end the HIV epidemic. COVID-19 may have forced the “pause” button, but our work is far from finished.
Yours in the struggle,
Paul Kawata