NMAC Training Center to End the HIV Epidemic in America (The Center) will act as an umbrella to NMAC’s training and leadership development activities. The Center is committed to working with and training health departments and community-based organizations about ending the HIV epidemic. We are committed to partner with government and non-government organizations, private sectors, health centers, hospitals and community-based organizations, health sciences and research institutions, and most importantly, community representatives within the movement.
The Center will serve as a principal vehicle of HIV public health education, advocacy, and training that will empower people at all levels of HIV leadership, engagement, and workforce. The Center will offer high-quality training, tools, and resources for thousands of HIV professionals engaged in the critical work of advancing public health and improving population health.
The Center Goals
- Building HIV prevention and care skills for workforce professionals using innovative training technologies as a platform for learning
- Ensuring that HIV public health professionals can access high-quality training, tools, and resources through the on-line learning navigator
- Leading training responses to emerging HIV issues
- Convening HIV change-agents and stakeholders to move the movement to end HIV as an epidemic
Our mission is to train the HIV workforce to end the HIV epidemic in America and to bring the voices of community to the important tables where decisions are made, particularly the voices of people of color living with HIV, transgender communities of color, black women, gay men of color and people of color on PrEP.
Vision – A well-trained HIV workforce positioned to end HIV as a national epidemic through the delivery of comprehensive training, leadership development, advocacy, and intentional engagement.
Impact – The Center is committed to take on the large and complex challenges needed to train the national HIV workforce to end the HIV epidemic in America. We are committed to be a go-to source of high-quality training for thousands of professionals across the nation.
Building Leaders of Color Living with HIV (BLOC)
Building Leaders of Color (BLOC) is NMAC’s national leadership training program. The program is funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) HIVAIDS Bureau (HAB),
The BLOC training program is for people of color living with HIV (POCLWH) of all ages. The program is designed to mobilize POCLWH to be actively engaged in the community planning process. The program looks to train POCLWH leaders on HIV service planning, the HIV Care Continuum, and service delivery systems of care. Graduates will help expand the capacity of HIV prevention and care service delivery systems – including Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program (RWHAP) providers, governmental agencies, and planning entities – to respond to the social and structural barriers to HIV prevention, care, treatment in their communities, and other mobilization efforts to address the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Goals.
BLOC targets POCLWH of all ages who identify as Black, Latinx, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, and Pacific Islander, with a special focus on transgender women of color living with HIV.
To do this work NMAC partnered with Positively Trans (T+), a program of the Transgender Law Center (TLC), the United States People Living with HIV Caucus (HIV Caucus), and Positive Women’s Network-USA (PWN).
Youth Initiative
NMAC’s Youth Initiative (YI) is sponsored by ViiV Healthcare and partnered with Advocates for Youth. The program aims to assist young leaders in the fight to end the HIV epidemic, in becoming more effective and informed health advocates, and empowering them to become more active in their communities. Each year the program selects 30 qualified youths ages 21-25, both living with HIV and HIV negative allies to build their capacity to partner with a local community agency. This partnership provides education for youth to influence HIV prevention and service delivery in their communities. Youth Scholars will take part in various events through their tenure including webinars and conference call to help further develop their skills and knowledge to prepare them to lead the efforts to end the HIV epidemic in their communities and across the country. Active youth scholars will be given the opportunity for onsite training during the USCA conference, where they will be able to meet the other youth scholars and have closed sessions targeted to youth empowerment and leadership development.
Growing Leadership Opportunities for Women
The Growing Leadership Opportunities for Women (GLOW) program provides a comprehensive educational program that trains and prepares women (cis and transwomen) who receive HIV services to be actively engaged in their community.
GLOW’s Goal is to create a community of empowerment surrounding Women of Color Living with HIV (WOCLWH) in the South and other disadvantaged communities throughout the United States, empower WOCLWH to seek and self-advocate for culturally responsive care, and allow WOCLWH to use their own access to their peers to address stigma, treatment concerns, fears, and treatment literacy.
The GLOW program is a non-HIV branded program. The program is non-branded to decrease the barriers of women to be engaged in meaningful HIV & STD education and prevention trainings without the barriers of stigma that can be associated to both HIV and STDs
Who are the GLOW Trainers?
GLOW Trainers are woman of color living with HIV, who were specifically selected to participate in a four (4) day training of trainers (TOT) and trained to provide community education training sessions for women not identified as living with HIV, but live in communities highly impacted by HIV.
GLOW Trainings:
- Create a community of empowerment for women in the South and other disadvantaged communities throughout the United States.
- Empower women to seek and self-advocate for culturally responsive care.
- Allow women to use their own access to their peers to address stigma, treatment concerns, fears, and treatment literacy.
- To connect women not identified as living with HIV to health resources of HIV/STD prevention they might not otherwise engage.
What is a GLOW Community Education Session?
GLOW Community Education Sessions are small gatherings of no more than 20 women who meet for 60-90 minutes to discuss and learn about important issues which can affect a women’s health including:
- Health Literacy
- Female Anatomy and Body Messages
- Healthy Relationships
- Sexual Wellness
These sessions are facilitated by women of color living with HIV. However, it is not required for the participants to be women of color living with HIV.
The BLOC program is based on two fundamental factors: the Denver Principles and the Meaningful Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS (MIPA). The Denver Principles are a Bill of Rights / Declaration of Independence for the AIDS movement written in 1983. The Denver Principles began: “We condemn attempts to label us as ‘victims,’ a term which implies defeat, and we are only occasionally ‘patients,’ a term which implies passivity, helplessness, and dependence upon the care of others. We are ‘people with AIDS.’ The Meaningful Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS (MIPA) is another important set of values put forward, demanding that people living with HIV be substantively engaged in policy and programmatic decision-making activities that impact our lives, and fairly compensated for our participation. Together, the Denver Principles and MIPA make demands of our allies, our institutions, our government and our communities.
The Building Leaders of Color program training has three (3) Regional three (3) day and five (5) day sessions. Training of Trainers (TOT) offers in-person interactive training that provides optimal opportunities for skill building, knowledge exchange, and networking for program participants focusing on community HIV leadership development.