REACH LA NEWS

Women & Girl’s HIV/AIDS Awareness Day was celebrated with a teach in , resource fair and free HIV testing on Friday, March 13, 2009 at the El Camino College Compton Community Educational Center. Around 150 women and girls took part in a variety of workshops, including topics such as the global and local issues on HIV, sex and sexuality from a cultural perspective, race and gender identity, prostitution, partner abuse, female anatomy, birth control, emergency contraception and self- esteem. Voluteer presenters from Black Women for Wellness, Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, YWCA GLA Sexual Assault Crisis Services, Women’s Leadership Project, Pacific Institute for Women’s Health and Charles Drew University generously donated their time and expertise to educate others at the event. In resource square, AIDS Research Alliance, Black Women for Wellness, National Council on Alchol and Drug Dependence. Planned Parenthood LA, South Bay Family Healthcare, Tarzana Treatment Center-Long Beach, Women Alive, Women at Risk and YWCA of Greater Los Angeles provided resource information to the event attendees. Volunteers from Women at Risk, Whittier Rio Hondo AIDS Project and LA County Office of AIDS Prevention and Policy provided 35 confidential one-on-one risk reduction counseling session. AIDS Healthcare Foundation conducted 32 free HIV and STD screenings throughout the afternoon. Many thanks go to the folks at El Camino College Compton Community Educational Center - Robert Butler, Dianne Collins, Valery O’Guynn, Brenda Donaldson, Jewel Hoof and Lisa King - for their tiredless support and dedication to this event.