South Side Help Center( SSHC ) and AIDS Healthcare Foundation ( AHF ) will salute 20 Gay & Same Gender Loving men for their advocacy and promotion of the overall health and well-being of gay men and HIV/AIDS awareness, prevention and treatment during its first annual "20/20 Salute to 20 Gay & Chicago Same Gender Loving Men with Vision
This event will be free. In 2008 the National Association of People with AIDS ( NAPWA ) launched this observance day to recognize the disproportionate impact of the epidemic on gay men.
The event will be held Tuesday, September 27, 2016 TIME: 8 - 10 p.m. at The Promontory in Hyde Park, 5311 South Lake Park.
Confirmed honorees to date include:
Erik Glenn, Executive Director, Chicago Black Gay Men's Caucus
Keith Green, Community advocate, educator, researcher and spoken word artist
Arick Buckles, Illinois Alliance for Sound AIDS Policy
John Sykes, MSW, LCSW, Psychotherapist, According To Sykes, LLC
Sherman Bryant, Co-Chair, Chicago Black Treatment Advocates Network
Art Simms, "Chat Daddy" Host & Executive Producer of "Real Talk", WVON
Ben Montgomery, Retired U.S. Congressional Staffer
Bruce C. Edwards, M.A. Coordinator Consumer Engagement, HIV Chicago Department of Public Health, STI/HIV Division
Sanford E. Gaylord, ŽRegional Resource Consultant, Region V at ICF International / U.S. Department of Health and Human Service
Charles Nelson, South Side Help Center, MSM Project Director
Serette B. King, CDC Project Manager at Howard Brown Health Center
Louis O. Spraggins, Communicable Disease Control Investigator 2, Thresholds
About South Side Help Center
For nearly 30 years, South Side Help Center has provided critical services for HIV-positive individuals. Initially founded in 1987 with the goal of educating the African-American religious community so it could be sensitive to the needs of people dying from HIV/AIDS, SSHC's services have evolved beyond HIV prevention to include direct care services and a comprehensive range of Youth and Capacity Building programs that serve minorities at greatest risk. According to the Healthy Chicago STI/HIV Surveillance Report, Fall 2011, Fig. 2., P #8, Chicago's South Side has a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS. SSHC connects its HIV-positive clients to free medical services through its recent affiliation with AIDS Healthcare Foundation ( AHF ), and is expanding its capacity to provide additional critical and much-needed services to the community at large.
