Connecticut AIDS Resource Coalition

CARC's Director of Public Policy, Shawn M. Lang, was in attendance on July 13, 2010, at the White House as President Obama announced the launch of a National HIV/AIDS Strategy and was priviledged to shake the President's hand. Click here for complete details on the recently unveiled National HIV/AIDS Strategy.

We wanted to follow up with you post- AIDS Awareness Day. By most accounts, it was a highly successful day. Over 300 people descended upon the Capitol on a beautiful day to rally and meet with their state Representatives and Senators.

We had a bang up selection of speakers which included two poets, Michael Hawkins and Fredrick Douglass Knowles; Kaye White from AIDS Project Hartford, Charlinda from CT Children's Medical Center, representing the voices of youths and their families, and the AIDS LIFE Campaign co-chairs, Shawn M. Lang and Leif Mitchell. read more

We had folks from Bridgeport, Hartford, New Haven, Willimantic, Middletown, Waterbury, Meriden, New London, Manchester and Danbury (I hope we didn't leave anyone out!!). There were some glitches in terms of organizing in some areas, but we have some thoughts on how to shore up some of those. Overall, you all did an AMAZING job!! Thank you!!!!

Thanks to all who came up for the day and a special thanks to all of you who made appointments to meet with your legislators and for tracking them down throughout the day. It was an extremely busy day at the Capitol as legislators were in session, which on the one hand can make it easier to meet with them because they're there; but on the other hand it can make it more difficult because their occupied. We know that can be frustrating and cause folks to sometimes feel like their legislators don't care but we can tell you that your presence alone made a HUGE difference.

We got press from CT Now, channel 61 (thanks, Shelly Sindland), channel 30, the Waterbury Republican-American (thanks Jim Moore), The Day (thanks Ted Mann), and the Courant (thanks, Susan Campbell).

Click here to go to our FaceBook page for photos and videos from the day.

For those who didn't make it up for whatever reasons, or who didn't make the effort to meet with legislators we want to stress to you how incredibly important it is to do so. Shawn stayed there until 2:30 and over the course of the day heard from legislators whose constituents didn't contact them.They notice who IS there and who is NOT.

Post-rally, we were talking with a reporter and Senator Jonathan Harris stopped by to apologize for not making the rally. The reporter asked him if events like this were effective. He said, yes, they were and that the advocates (nodding to us) were also very effective. But, he said, what has the most impact is when people who are most affected by a particular issue meet with him. He said it can be easy to just read words on a page, or see numbers in a budget; but when you get to hear people's stories and struggles, it informs his (and other legislators) perspectives.

Shawn witnessed a particularly touching moment with the large crew from hard hittin' New Britain who met with Appropriation's Committee Co-chair, John Geragosian. He came out of the session and spent quite a bit of time with him. Shawn spoke with him afterwards, thanking him for his time. The folks at Someplace Special had all signed a card. He told Shawn that he keeps all of those cards and that he has them all in one place. A little goes a long way.

The session's last day is Wednesday, May 5th. They are nowhere near agreement on a budget. So, we'll be sending out an alert sometime next week urging you to contact your legislators again. For those of you who met with them, we'll be asking you to thank them for their time. And, we'll be asking ALL of you to urge them to prevent further cuts to the AIDS services (prevention), syringe exchange and AIDS housing funding line items.

Stay tuned for the alert next week. And once again, thanks for all you do.

The AIDS LIFE (Legislative Initiative and Funding Effort) Campaign - a program of the CT AIDS Resource Coalition - is Connecticut's only statewide group that focuses solely on all of the policy-related issues impacting people living with and at high risk for HIV/AIDS - from prevention and education, including needle exchange; to supportive services; to health care, such as Medicaid and CADAP; to housing.

In addition to our advocacy work at the legislature, members of the AIDS LIFE Campaign convene meetings with key state departments such as the Department of Public Health and the Department of Social Services to work with them on a whole host of issues ranging from contracts and timely payments, CADAP, Medicaid changes (e.g. prescription and provider visit co-pays), as well as federal issues such as the HOPWA (Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS) housing program, Ryan White funds, and other pertinent topics that arise.