We are honored to share photos with you from this year's annual reception, "A Passion For Living" which took place at Arena Stage on Saturday October 13th. With 196 people in attendance, this year's event  which is held to raise crucial funds for Us Helping Us' prevention programs and services, also honored specific individuals and businesses for their commitment to fighting the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The 2012 Honorees were:

Founders Award – Dr. Mayer, Dr. Koblin, Dr. Wheeler and the HPTN 061 Study Team

Thurlow Tibbs Award –  ABilly S. Jones-Hennin and Sheila Alexander-Reid

Chairman’s Award – K&L Gates

Volunteer’s Award – Ronald Morgan

Ron Simmons heads Us Helping Us for 20 years

This month marks Ron Simmons, Ph.D, 20th year as the head of Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc. Us Helping Us began as a self-help support group for black gay men living with AIDS founded in 1985.  At that time there was no treatment for HIV/AIDS and Us Helping Us advocated a holistic approach to health maintenance that incorporated the mind, body and spirit. Dr. Simmons, a member of the group, volunteered to be the executive director in the summer of 1992. The Board of Directors changed his title to President/CEO in 2003.

Under his leadership, Us Helping Us grew into the largest AIDS service organization in the metropolitan area specializing in HIV prevention and support services for black gay and same-gender-loving men.  Us Helping Us also serves heterosexual men and women, and transgender individuals, providing HIV testing, STD screenings, mental health services, case management, and treatment adherence services.

Simmons legacy at Us Helping Us is one of accomplishments: from launching the nation’s first “Down Low Help Line” targeting black heterosexual men who have sex with men; to airing the first radio commercial targeting HIV-positive black gay men; to being the first black gay AIDS organization in the country to purchase a building for its headquarters and service facility.

Be The Generation Bridge Project

Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc., (UHU) is a partner in the Be The Generation Bridge Project.  Given the disproportionate rate of HIV infection among Black gay men, it is imperative for Black gay and Same-Gender-Loving men to be aware of biomedical HIV prevention research, and become involved in clinical trials for biomedical prevention and vaccine research.

In summary, UHU’s objectives for the project are: a) To provide education/updates and training sessions about biomedical prevention research to its staff, volunteers and/or clients; b) To train “opinion leaders” who will disseminate biomedical prevention research information through conversations with other members of their social networks; c) To sponsor public events that focus on PrEP or treatment as prevention; and d) To train 10 young Black gay men in viral media production to produce and disseminate viral video messages about PrEP, treatment as prevention and clinical trial awareness.

For more information about HIV vaccine research and other biomedical HIV prevention strategies, how you can support these efforts, and the ongoing commitment of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), visit their website: Be-The-Generation.

Us Helping Us’ Initiation of National Dialogue on a
‘Paradigm Shift” in HIV Infection Declared a Success

Us Helping Us, People Into Living, Inc. (UHU), a community-based AIDS organization in Washington, D.C., has declared a success in its January 2011 launching of a national dialogue about a “paradigm shift” in HIV infection among black gay men.  UHU decided to initiation a dialogue when a 2010 District of Columbia behavioral surveillance study found that black gay men were reporting more condom use and less sexual risk behavior than white or Latino men yet they were disproportionately infected with HIV. The traditional theoretical model of a positive correlation between HIV risk behavior and HIV prevalence was not true for black gay men.

“Us Helping Us believed that the study showed a major shift in the dynamics of HIV infection among black gay men that could have a profound impact on effective prevention in the United States,” said Ron Simmons Ph.D., the president/CEO. “We thought it important to bring this issue to the public’s attraction because black gay men were being demonized for becoming HIV-infected through greater risk behavior when they were really engaging in less risk behavior.”