REACH LA NEWS

Volunteers headed to N. Hollywood on Saturday, February 20, 2010 to facilitate HIV prevention games at the annual Oakwood School “Glove Affair” dance. The event draws youth from private schools through out Southern California who learn about HIV through REACH LA developed games like “Tongue Billiards” and “Condom Races.” Youth also learn about HIV transmission through needle sharing while REACH LA volunteers apply temporary tattoos. The activity that really gets youth thinking is REACH LA’s Fortune Telling booths where participants learn of their future through customized fortune telling cards. “The youth get really spooked when they learn about themselves and how they might be putting themselves at risk,” says REACH LA Ovahness Program Manager Greg Wilson, “the experience opens the door for the opportunity to talk about HIV prevention and risk taking which could save their lives.” REACH LA volunteers in attendance were Devaughn Sherman, Josh Wilson, Tim Ochoa, David Johnson, Michael Robeson, Malcolm Harper, Shawn Douglas, De’Shawn Jennings, Manuel White and REACH LA staff Carla Gordon, Greg Wilson, Sean Harris and Danielle Wondra.

REACH LA bids a fond farewell to Kafi Battersby after ten years of dedicated service and support. Kafi began her journey at RLA as an assistant in the computer lab in 2001. She quickly moved into a peer health educator position where she eventually became the program manager for the HIV prevention programs. During her tenure she provided risk reduction counseling to thousands of young women at sexual risk, hundreds of young gay men, volunteers and staff members. Kafi was instrumental in developing the Peer Health Advocates and G2G Leaders, “she was the role model that all of the leadership and current health programs were based upon,” according to Executive Director Martha Chono-Helsley, “Kafi’s dedication to REACH LA programs, staff and to her clients will be her legacy.” On behalf of REACH LA’s Board of Directors, Management Staff, Leaders, Peer Health Advocates, clients, and volunteers we wish Kafi all the best in her future endeavors.

Through the pouring rain, these dedicated young men made it to the first Ovahness Summit held at Plummer Park last Saturday. The Summit successfully brought together 50 young men of color to attend a series of roundtable discussions aimed at self empowerment, priority setting and health. Under the direction of Greg Wilson, the event was the brain child of the Ovahness Leaders, who in the last 9 months planned, trained and facilitated all of the roundtable discussions. Resources people from Childrens Hospital Division of Adolescent Medicine - Young United Men, HIV Youth Testing Collaborative and 3P Programs, AIDS Project Los Angeles, AmMassi Center and REACH LA were available to provide information not only about their programs, but were resources on spirituality, social service navigation, housing and transitional living and education. In addition to FREE HIV testing, LA County STD Program provided free screening for chlamydia, gonorrhea and syphilis. To cap off the day the Ovahness Leaders chose Justin Reed Early, author of the autobiographical book “Street Child: An Unpaved Passage” to provide a closing keynote address. The event was sponsored by a grant from the Colin Higgins Foundation. More pictures to come.

REACH LA’s Ovahness Young Men’s Leadership has been busy planning the first Ovahness Summit scheduled to take place Saturday, December 12, 2009 at Plummer Park in West Hollywood. The Ovahness Summit’s theme is Love Your Life! Live Your Life! - a belief that if you love yourself, you will take steps to keep yourself healthy. The Ovahness Summit will address concerns and issues that young gay men of color face and allow young men to empower themselves to love their lives and live responsibly. For more information contact Greg Wilson at 213-622-1650 x108. For more information click here.

REACH LA’s Greg Wilson graduated from the CDC/ASPH Institute for HIV Prevention Leadership in Atlanta on Friday, September 25. After nine months of intensive program development, organizational assessment and program intervention planning, it was time to present to a community panel consisting of leadership from the Centers for Disease Control, HIV/AIDS program leaders, activists and peers. Greg proudly presented a fund development plan he developed for REACH LA that would help to sustain program activity and make the organization less dependent on government funding. The presentation showed the ways REACH LA searches for “unrestricted” funding that would allow for creative outreach efforts that provided the means for HIV prevention intervention, development of community relations and provided sponsorship opportunities that contributed to program activities. Greg Wilson is the Ovahness Men’s Leadership Coordinator at REACH LA. Congratulations Greg on this great accomplishment!

“Freak Show,” hosted by “Party Monster” icon James St. James has released it’s latest on-line episode “James goes to the Ovahness Ball.” Shot at REACH LA’s Ovahness Ball 4: L’Acte Finale, James meets and greets Los Angeles and New York’ s house/ball icons, legends, statements and stars. Viewers get an up close view of the art of voguing by New York legends Luis Xtravaganza and Derrik Xtravaganza. Ovahness Leader Devaughn Sherman is featured explaining the ball’s HIV prevention education intent while commentator Jack Mizrahi encourages the audience to get a free HIV test at the event. The show captures the excitement of fierce runway battles and the audience’s love of all things ballroom. Check out the “Freak Show” episode “James goes to the Ovahness Ball”…

REACH LA’s Greg Wilson was honored at the Wellness for Life Black Men’s Health Conference on August 8th at the Wilshire Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. The conference and the award was presented by In The Meantime Men’s Group. Greg was honored for his commitment to combating HIV in the LA community. Greg is the Assistant Manager of the Ovahness Young Men’s Health Programs. In additional to risk reduction counseling and HIV testing, Greg has managed the Ovahness Young Men’s Leadership team which provides leadership training in HIV advocacy, community moblization and peer education. Greg has worked closely with the House/Ball community as a key member of the House of Ultra Omni and principal organizer of the GAATES Foundation, a new non-profit focusing on the needs of at-risk youth in urban areas. Greg works closely with the LGBTQ Youth Advocacy Coalition, Connect to Protect Coalition and the LAGLC’s Jeff Griffith Youth Center. Currently Greg is a scholar of the CDC’s AIDS Institute for HIV Prevention Leadership.

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday, July 25, 2009

Categories are posted on myspace.com/ovahness

REACH LA is proud to announce that Francisco (Frank) Armenta, 20, REACH LA’s own Ovahness Leader, has received the 2009 Courage Award by the Colin Higgins Foundation. Frank is one of three national winners who will be honored at the Trevor Project Gala in New York City on June 29, 2009.

Battling homophobia on a daily basis in East Los Angeles, Frank was routinely called a “faggot” throughout high school. After being kicked out of class by a teacher for “gay” artwork on his binder, Frank called a parent-teacher meeting, only to learn that his Mexican-Catholic family would not stand up for him due to their embarrassment that he was gay. This experience fueled him to become an activist, spanning from collaborating with the GSA to design a new web-based campaign, ”Be An Ally”, to support gay youth at his predominantly Latino high school, to becoming the youngest certified HIV Counselor and Tester in LA county. Through his activism to increase youth HIV testing, Frank has been able to provide invaluable recommendations to key policy makers on best practices for treating queer youth of color during the testing process. Currently, Frank works at REACH LA as a Social Enterprise Assistant and Peer Health Counselor, and continues to fuse his passion for graphic art design with his activism by creating all the electronic and print media for the Ovahness program serving queer young men of color. He also helps support other community LGBT youth groups such as Connect to Protect by creating original designs for their marketing materials and media campaigns.

Ana Lopez, REACH LA’s former Outreach Coordinator, also received the Courage Award honor in 2006.

LBGTQ YOUTH VIDEOS @ MEDIA STUDIES SPRING SCREENING

WEDNESDAY MAY 6th at 6:00PM
BROAD PERFORMANCE SPACE
PITZER COLLEGE • 1050 N. MILLS AVE • CLAREMONT • 91711

MEDIA ARTS FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE PRESENTS
Student lead media in community projects

The Pretty Boy Empire - Video Letters to ObamaThese video letters were created at the first ever Gay Youth of Color Inaugural Ball in Los Angeles - featuring LGBT Hip Hop artists, including Melange Lavonne, Deadlee, and Last Offense
MASJ student: Rebecca Nachison
Pretty Boy Empire - Project Adviser: Maurice Lopez
(aka the Pretty Boy King of Hollywood)

Unheard Voices of Transgender Youth
A series of short videos by transgender youth of color about issues of self-esteem, spirituality, social stigma and “clocking”. Produced in collaboration with Children’s Hospital Transgender Youth Program.
MASJ Students: Ivana Horvat and Hannah Fox
CHLA Project Adviser: Bamby Salcedo
Participants: The CHLA Transgender Youth Risk Reduction Program.

The REACH for OVAHNESS Talk Show
Two episodes of a new talk show made for and by young black gay men about issues that are important to this community.
MASJ students: Paul Bergman and Jacqueline Legazcue
REACH LA Project Advisers: Tyrone Carter, Greg Wilson, Chris Blades, and Kafi Battersby.
Community Guests/Show Hosts: The Young Men’s Ovahness Leadership Team from REACH LA - Kyle Butler, Stephan Daniels, Devaughn Sherman, and Robert Howell

ALSO AT THIS EVENT - REACH LA’s YOUNG MEN’S OVAHNESS LEADERSHIP TEAM will be selling cool t-shirts and canvas bags designed in-house by the REACH LA Social Enterprise Team to raise money for their youth HIV prevention program.

For more information about this event contact:
Gina Lamb lambgina@yahoo.com