To celebrate 5 years of Gilead’s COMPASS Initiative®, the organization is uplifting select grantees who are working to address the HIV epidemic in the US South by highlighting stories from the community.
Gilead, which is the leading philanthropic funder of HIV-related programs, has released their “5 Years, 5 Voices” video series.
The series aims to shed light on the personal stories of five individuals who have been positively impacted by COMPASS. COMPASS (COMmitment to Partnership in Addressing HIV in Southern States) is a 10-year initiative dedicating $100+ million to the fight against the HIV epidemic in the Southern United States through partnerships with community-based organizations.
The 5 selected videos demonstrate how grantee programs and COMPASS’s four Coordinating Centers support individuals impacted by HIV, and work alongside their community to fight this epidemic. Watch them below:
Mississippi Delta, Mississippi
This video highlights Community Health-PIER, an organization in the Mississippi Delta committed to cultivating safe and equitable spaces for the area’s LGBTQ community and helping to reduce HIV-related stigma. As a COMPASS Initiative grantee, CH-PIER’s “Get to Know Me, Stop the Stigma” campaign is championing meaningful conversations that are leading to change in the community.
Atlanta, Georgia
VidAtlanta’s Vision Community Foundation is working every day to bridge the gap between the church and the LGBTQ+ community with the mission to spread a message of love and inclusion. As a Gilead COMPASS Initiative grantee, VCF provides access to important resources like mental health care and HIV testing. Their vision is to impact and transform the minority LGBTQ community through outreach, awareness and prevention. In this video, Bishop Allen shares how this work, rooted in faith and justice, is making a positive impact in the community.
Eagle Pass, Texas
Eagle Pass SAFE, is an organization in Southwest Texas that is making an incredible impact by providing essential services for the LGBTQ community. Their dedicated efforts ensure that individuals have access to critical resources, including healthcare services, mental health support, education and community outreach programs. By addressing these needs, Eagle Pass SAFE is playing a critical role in fostering well-being and inclusivity for all.
Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Transinclusive Group advocates to protect and defend equality for Transgender and LGBTQ individuals in South Florida by building trust and relationships with community providers to end discrimination, stigma and racial disparities. The video highlights the work they do to remove structural barriers to HIV care and treatment and improve overall health outcomes.
Wetumpka, Alabama
This video highlights Central Alabama Alliance Resource and Advocacy Center (CAARAC), a local Alabama organization providing HIV prevention programs and healthcare services to seven of the most vulnerable counties in the state. Hear from Shakita Brooks Jones, the Executive Director of CAARAC, about the community she and the organization are building and the positive impact the COMPASS Initiative has had on her work.
According to Darwin Thompson, the Director of Public Affairs at Gilead Sciences, “Nearly 500,000 people in the U.S. South are living with HIV, and Black Americans make up 42% of new diagnoses. In Tennessee, Black people account for 58% of new diagnoses. This is unacceptable. We’ve also seen a sharp increase in attacks against the LGBTQ community and other communities at risk of HIV.”
He explained that, “We believe that ending HIV will take more than medicine. The greatest impact comes in improving access to care and empowering local advocates who are on the ground treating their communities. COMPASS was born directly out of listening and learning about how to remove the barriers to end HIV, addressing the social, cultural and professional inequities. We’ve built a powerful network of local leaders across the South and reach 93 million people on social media.”
Gwendolyn Clemons and son Davin Clemons, who hosted a pop-up church with Jon Batiste at the Something in the Water festival last year in Washington, DC
Gwendolyn Clemons, the Executive Director at Relationship Unleashed, a Memphis based COMPASS grantee, made a statement about the initiative saying, “This is personal to me. I lost a sister to HIV and never want another family to suffer. We started this work through our church, to reach people where they were in a way that was fun and rewarding for the entire community, especially for the Black LGBTQ community. The work to end stigma around HIV is a labor of love for us. Through COMPASS our work has bridged the divide between the church and the HIV community. Once a month we host a pop up church to teach our community about HIV as part of a broader effort to ease stigma and make the people we love feel seen.”
To honor the fifth anniversary of the Gilead COMPASS Initiative® and measure its impact, 16 peer-reviewed articles appear in Meharry Medical College’s Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved. Advocates detail the programs they’ve implemented over the past five years to address the HIV epidemic within their communities. Meharry is an HBCU based in Nashville, and host of the COMPASS 5 Year Anniversary Commemorations this weekend.
One article, Popular Culture and Shaping HIV Perception, describes how advocates including GLAAD worked with notable names like Lil Nas X to elevate facts about HIV in the news and entertainment worlds.
“What they’ve done is truly remarkable, and their articles underscore the profound impact that community-based organizations can have in ending the epidemic,” said Dr. James Hildreth, Meharry Medical College President.
“Their efforts put racial justice front and center in the fight for better HIV advocacy. There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach to local HIV efforts, and these pieces demonstrate how these community and regional organizations across the U.S. South are meeting their communities where they are and empowering individuals through education, training, and compassion,” Dr. Hildreth said.
Jon Batiste with Bishop O.C. Allen, senior pastor and Executive Director of The Vision Community Foundation, a Gilead COMPASS Initiative® grantee in Atlanta, elevating the message of U=U. Effective treatment of HIV suppresses the virus to be Undetectable and therefore Untransmittable, U=U.
For more information about Gilead and the COMPASS Initiative®, visit www.gileadcompass.com.
