Advocacy
NC AIDS Action Network members flooded in-boxes in Raleigh with more than 11,000 letters to state elected officials about topics including HIV Medication Assistance Program funding, Medicaid expansion, youth access to HIV testing and treatment, and voting rights. More than 2,000 members signed the Cover Me petition to Governor Cooper asking him to make sure all North Carolinians living with or at risk for HIV have access to healthcare.
HIV Speaks on Jones Street, our annual North Carolina HIV advocacy day, brought more than 100 advocates from across the state to Raleigh for a day of learning, community-building, legislative advocacy, and action. NCAAN and the advocacy community secured full funding for the HIV Medication Assistance Program at the end of the legislative session, and defeated bad bills that would have restricted access to healthcare and limit civil rights for the LGBTQ community.
In 2017, the North Carolina AIDS Action Network and the advocacy community worked with the NC General Assembly to secure funding in the state’s appropriations budget for Hepatitis C treatment and prevention efforts.
Community Organizing
Volunteers across the state gave more than 1,000 hours of their time to outreach, phone banking, and data entry to keep our network of activists growing and connected. Over a hundred advocates came together at Building Power Across the Spectrum, our annual North Carolina HIV & AIDS advocacy conference held at Packard Place and the Holiday Inn Express Center City in Charlotte.
Volunteers contacted hundreds of North Carolina voters as part of nonpartisan get-out-the-vote efforts in the 2017 elections.
Communications Program
Speaking Positively Advocates and other members directly affected by HIV shared their stories through blogs, letters to the editor, and e-blasts, and spoke to reporters for news stories in Greenville, Raleigh, Durham, Asheville, and Greensboro.
More than 1,800 Facebook fans and 470 Twitter followers participated in educational, anti-stigma, and advocacy campaigns by engaging with posts and sharing content with tens of thousands of their friends.