May 18, 2007
YOUNG AND RESTLESS?
 |
Delaware's stand-out AIDS activist Gibson |
Lolisa Gibson is only 20, but she's already comfortable standing in front of big groups of high school kids and explaining how safe sex can reduce their risk of getting HIV. It's the adults she has issues with. "The challenge is getting the schools to let us in!," she says. "Once we get in, it's easy to get the student's attention."
One reason Gibson, who works as an HIV prevention specialist at Brandywine Counseling in Wilmington, Delaware, is so self-assured and so savvy about HIV is that she attended last year's Youth Action Institute (YAI) in summer 2006. YAI is an annual youth activist training sponsored by the Campaign to End Aids (C2EA) where young people age 16 to 26 learn how to become fierce AIDS advocates and activists — like Gibson, who is coming back to help run YAI in 2007. "There's so much to learn and so many folks to meet. It's a great experience," Gibson says. There are still slots available for this summer's five-day training in Raleigh, North Carolina, which runs from July 4 to July 8. The deadline to apply has been extended to June 1.
At YAI, you learn about important AIDS issues and activism from people living with HIV, get to network with other young folks from around the country, and get the scoop on how to participate in grassroots advocacy and direct action, aka protests. Since YAI is about preparing youth for change in the real world, participants are asked to plan an eight-week project of their own design to build participation in C2EA — which is dedicated to ending AIDS worldwide — with the help of an AIDS organization in their hometown and YAI staff.
Gibson's project was ambitious: Get Delaware to make HIV education mandatory in public schools. Gibson had school-age kids fill out surveys about how much they knew about HIV and spoke to teachers, principals, and members of boards of education about her project. Her great job doing HIV prevention counseling for Brandywine took her away from her YAI-inspired advocacy, but she plans to go back to it. " Right now," she says, "schools only request that I speak when there's a dire emergency—like an outbreak of an STD. That needs to change."
Applying for YAI
Applying for YAI is easy: Fill out an application that asks for three short essays and an idea for a proposed post-YAI project. That proposal includes identifying a local AIDS service organization, community-based organization, religious institution, LGBT group or other organization that you hope to work with for the duration of the eight week project. Those selected to attend YAI are asked to raise $500 to offset the costs of the Institute and weekly stipends provided to participants during the eight-week projects. In the past, participants have held bake sales and car washes, asked their church for help and requested sponsorships from local businesses. Gibson says the hard work is worth it: "YAI is win-win, all around."
To find out more information and apply to YAI 2007, click here. Applications are due by 5pm on June 1.