JOHNSON CITY – A National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day Community Forum will take place this Thursday at 7 p.m. in the Martha Street Culp Auditorium of the D.P. Culp University Center at East Tennessee State University.
This forum, which will be facilitated by Dr. Sheila Dennie of Focus Inc., Nashville, is sponsored by the Northeast Tennessee Minority Health Community Development Coalition (MHCDC) and ETSU's office of multicultural affairs, in partnership with the Tennessee Minority Initiatives Project.
It is part of "a nationwide community mobilization effort to emphasize the 'State of Emergency' of HIV/AIDS among African-Americans," according to organizers, who point out that "AIDS is the number one killer of African-American men and women ages 25 to 44."
Earlier that day, display tables will be set up in the Culp Center from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. with information available from the Northeast Tennessee MHCDC, Project HOPE and the Northeast Tennessee Regional Health Office.
National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a project of the Community Capacity Building Coalition (CCBC), a group of national organizations funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) through the National Minority AIDS Initiative to provide capacity building assistance to community-based organizations and stakeholders involved in HIV/AIDS prevention. National organizations partnering with CCBC for this event include the CDC, NAACP, Health Resources and Services Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, National Alliance of State and Territorial AIDS Directors, Office of the Surgeon General, and others.
For more information or for special assistance for persons with disabilities, call the ETSU office of multicultural affairs at (423) 439-4210 or Betty Hill Goah at 434-0270.