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SUPPORT | EVENTS | MOSAIC TILES | |
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Mosaic Initiatives
Since 2006, The Centers for Disease Control has been encouraging medical providers to offer HIV-testing to ALL people ages 15 to 65. The Mosaic Initiative has been promoting that all people “Know Your Status” since we started as an organization in 2005. HIV-testing is the opportunity to move all of us closer to the truth in our own lives and in the world, and it is the opportunity to become informed about the importance of compassion and education. It is the one step that all of us can take to break down the deadly stigma that separates “us” from “them”.
The projects that The Mosaic Initiative has been involved in and continues to promote include:
HIV-Testing Clinic held in partnership with West Chicago School District #33 in June, 2008. Among the people who got tested include Mayor Mike Kwasman, law enforcement and school personnel. We are in the planning stages for holding a clinic in May, 2009 to promote testing and education for families.
In September, 2008, we coordinated the inclusion of local HIV-information, including offering HIV-testing in partnership with the DuPage County Health Department as part of First Presbyterian Church/Glen Ellyn’s hosting of “Step Into Africa”, World Vision’s traveling HIV/AIDS display about AIDS in Africa. In addition, Mosaic volunteer Lois Johnson participated in the Prayer Vigil, reminding people that AIDS is local as well as in far-away places. What we observed is that while hundreds of people toured the display and participated in a “mock” HIV-testing clinic, only one person actually got tested. The stigma is clearly going to be hard to overcome, but it is something we will continue to promote.
We have started to do education in private schools in Washington DC. This work is interesting in that the level of education and action is not as great among these “liberal, secular” schools as they think it is. This work is an example of how we really must work together, but too often people choose sides (politically, religiously), and may then sit righteously in judgment, lamenting “only if others would change” this would go away. Our experience is that the paradigm of “us/them” is what really needs to change.
In October, 2008, we co-facilitated an “HIV and Ethical Dilemmas” workshop for the National Institute of Mental Health in Providence, Rhode Island.
We are working with a Chicago-area university to develop a mini-semester program for May, 2009 that looks at HIV internationally, nationally, and locally, with an emphasis on local involvement and effective advocacy.
The hardest thing about stopping the spread of HIV is getting culture to think about prevention and education for all of us, not just the highest risk. It can be frustratingly slow, but it is vital if we are going to be successful in slowing and then stopping this preventable condition from continuing to spread at the increasingly alarming rates.
IF you are involved in an organization, and would like some resources to help engage your group in HIV-education with a vision for prevention, please contact us.
We also have “KNOW YOUR STATUS” Brochures available—ideal for doctor’s offices, health centers, and community centers. Contact us for more information
The three initiatives of The Mosaic Initiative include:
Educational and Advocacy Initiatives, with a simple message of “Know Your Status; Don’t Get It! Don’t Spread It!” is at the core of this initiative.
Community partnerships and collaborations are the arenas where we take this message to engage in education and advocacy, including secondary schools, colleges, universities, faith organizations, philanthropic organizations, and businesses. In unison, we advocate that the core to successful prevention will be that all people know their status, and there is visibility in the broad community, including print and internet dating services. The commitment is to fill all the gaps left by dwindling and increasingly- restrictive government-funded prevention programs.
The most
often overlooked bit of information that we strive to insure, is that
all people know the four body fluids that transmit HIV - blood, semen,
vaginal secretions, and breast milk." Scholarship Initiatives that provide hope and educational opportunities for those impacted by HIV/AIDS. The work of prevention is not only about education, testing and advocacy. It is mostly about hope – hope that we can end the HIV/AIDS pandemic, hope that our lives have meaning, and hope that we can make a difference. For this reason, The Mosaic Initiative is establishing a scholarship for people disabled by HIV/AIDS who have demonstrated a desire and commitment to returning to work in some capacity. Based on the results of a survey of how to best meet the need, the dollar amount of these scholarships will be based on the needs of the recipients (between $250 and $1000) in order to complete an education degree or trade/profession certification. For the first year, we have a goal of offering $2500 total.
The current plan is to have applications available in September and awards announced on World AIDS Day at our Prayer Breakfast.
Opportunities for volunteer involvement include: · Fund raising/donating · Participation on a committee that oversees the application process · Participate in the selection process · Serve as a mentor/contact to recipients · Participate in the October Ecumenical Youth Bike Ride (a portion of the funds raised will support these scholarships) · Serve on the World AIDS Day Prayer Breakfast committee, integrating scholarship awards into the event · Attend the World AIDS Day Prayer Breakfast in honoring the recipients
Not only will this help to create opportunities for the recipients, but they will be symbols and a message of hope for what is possible to the greater community – that having HIV/AIDS need not limit one’s life, merely point it in a new direction.
Kenya Initiatives which seek to provide hope, encouragement and relief in Africa through ongoing efforts that allow local residents to develop year-round community development programs highlighted by an annual mission to Kenya. The mission to Kenya uniquely emphasizes connecting people with HIV from the local community with rural Kenya to creatively combat the HIV/AIDS pandemic, transcending borders and boundaries that currently divide rather than unite us all in a common mission to end the spread of HIV.
Please contact brad@mosaicinitiative.org for more information about our Volunteer Programs.
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