The Mecklenburg County chapter of LGBTQ+ NC Democrats announced the results of its county commission scorecard, where candidates for local office were asked to fill a questionnaire regarding their positions on various issues the local queer community faces.
Six candidates — Arthur Griffin, Jr., Leigh Altman, Yvette Townsend-Ingram, Mark Jerrell, Laura Meier and Susan Rodriguez-McDowell — received excellent scores based on their responses, according to a release sent by the LGBTQ+ MeckDems.
Qnotes has collected answers for two questions from each candidate who scored excellent from this year’s report. You can read the full questionnaires from these candidates and more by going to the Mecklenburg Democratic Party’s website.
Q: What steps will you take (or have you taken) to ensure LGBTQ+ people are included in decision-making, including on advisory boards and commissions?
Arthur Griffin, Jr: Diversity and equity at all tables are critical to ensuring that we have the needed voices during decision making, specifically around policy. To create this pathway, respecting differences and authentic relationship building is key in also matching the needed skill set to the role. Having partnered with the LGBTQ+ community since the onset of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the early 80’s, as the Chair of the Health and Human Services committee, I have proactively built authentic relationships within the LGBTQ+ community with needed partners in this continued fight to eradicate this disease. During my first term, I worked collaboratively with Malcolm Davis, Chelsea Gulden, Dr. Allysha Maraugh-Bass at Duke University, and others to ensure meaningful access to quality healthcare.
Leigh Altman: We desperately need to people to step forward and offer themselves for service on our advisory boards and commissions. This is the link to apply: https://mecklenburg.granicus.com/boards/w/ba25d13a26a2ed22
It would be wonderful of LGBTQ+ Dems can help us disseminate this link and encourage members of the LGBTQ+ community to apply!
Yvette Townsend-Ingram: As an African-American female, I understand how critically important representation is in every aspect of protecting our Democracy and our human rights. I have worked intentionally to appoint LGBTQ+ representatives to boards such as the Community Relations Committee (CRC). I ensure that the community is aware of dangerous legislation that specifically targets LGBTQ+ youth like the Parent’s Bill of Rights. As well, my employer, JCSU has a program for young adults who have aged out of the foster care system. Many of these young adults identify as LGBTQ+ and thus we work closely with community organizations to protect and educate these young adults to give them better opportunities, job training, degrees, and employment. Representation takes many forms in our community and I will always ensure that our community operates with equity for LGBTQ+ people.
Mark Jerrell: As a member of the BOCC, I have been intentional about ensuring that our LGBTQ+ community are included in decision-making and has representation on advisory boards and commissions. I am also a strong advocate for measures related to diversity and inclusion, in addition to advocating for education and collaboration to ensure the issues experienced by the LGBTQ+ community are [substantially] addressed. I will continue to work to establish a culture of acceptance and respect (within the County) and hold organizations that want to do business with Mecklenburg County accountable to the same standard. Finally, I will continue to encourage and support policies and initiatives that address the needs of the LGBTQ+ community.
Laura Meier: I am proud of how the BOCC has recently adopted more inclusive language on its advisory boards/commission applications to include “nonbinary, third gender, prefer to self-describe, prefer not to say.” It’s important for me and for my colleagues to ensure we have ALL of the county represented on our boards. … One possibility to create more interest and gain more applications from the LGBTQ community is to be intentional when advertising for our boards and commissions by directly contacting various local organizations such as LGBTQ Democrats, the LGBTQ Chamber and the local chapter of the Log Cabin Republicans. We do often say that we don’t get enough applicants in general for various board positions. Not only advertising within our own social media and email networks, but directly contacting these and other organizations would be a win-win. I would definitely volunteer to make sure when there are openings, I alert the local LGBTQ organizations.
Susan Rodriguez-McDowell: One of the steps I have taken is when I chaired the Ad-hoc committee that reviewed and redesigned the County’s online application. Under my leadership we sought advice from multiple sources on how best to ensure that the language on the application is inclusive. For example, the choices for Gender are now: Male; Female; non-binary or third gender; prefer to self describe; prefer not to say. I was adamant in my advocacy for inclusion. In addition, all applicants are encouraged to reach out to commissioners to introduce themselves and explain why they would be a great candidate. In doing so, if an applicant disclosed to me that they are LGBTQ+ I would consider that as a very positive way to bring diversity to our advisory boards and commissions – which is one of our stated goals. Also, I have encouraged my friends and other members of the LGBTQ+ community to apply to serve! Lastly, I believe seeing and listening to the voices of the LGBTQ+ community is an important way to make sure that they are included in decision-making. It’s not about what I think is needed – it is about hearing them.
Q: How would you rate the County’s efforts in addressing rising cases of HIV/AIDS in Mecklenburg County? Please provide a rating of “Very Poor,” “Below Average,” “Average,” “Above Average” or “Excellent,” and why you provided this rating. Do you support expanding the”Getting to Zero” Campaign for Mecklenburg County?
A.G.Jr.: Based on the data available to me at this point, I would rate Mecklenburg County’s efforts in addressing HIV/AIDS Prevention and Care as “average.” I reached this rating by giving Mecklenburg County above average for making treatment available for newly diagnosed HIV cases and below average for creative intervention and prevention strategies to discourage behaviors associated with the acquisition of newly diagnosed HIV cases. Mecklenburg County’s HIV rate per 100,000 is twice that of the State of North Carolina and on average 70 percent of the newly diagnosed HIV cases are from the African American population.
We are the only county in North Carolina cited by the Centers for Disease Control as an “Ending the HIV Epidemic (EHE) site. Over the last 3 years we averaged about 278 newly diagnosed HIV cases per year.
L.A.: I would give Mecklenburg County a strong rating for the following reasons:
1) We have expanded access to PrEP and do a lot of work to make sure people are retained in treatment which is a critical prevention strategy.
2) We have robust community-based outreach, education and testing.
3) Our investments have continued to increase over time to the PreP budget so people who don’t have insurance can still access PrEP without finances as a barrier.
4) We’ve reorganized HIV/STD program to add staffing.
5) We have more money for PrEP than we have spent in the last two years. This means we still have capacity to support the health needs of more people.
6) We run an HIV case management program which is going well. In this program we have social workers who support people living with HIV to navigate the system.
7) However, there continue to [be] issues around social determinants of health that have a role to play impacting outcomes for people living with HIV, e.g. housing grants, rental assistance. In that regard, we have significant challenges which remain for us to overcome.
8) I’m glad that with the mpox outbreak, Public Health did a lot of intentional outreach and strengthened partnerships with grassroots LGBTQ+ service organizations in Mecklenburg County to provide service to the community.
9) I support ensuring our “Getting to Zero” program has the resources it needs to work as effectively and efficiently as possible.
Y.T.I: I would rate Mecklenburg County’s efforts as Average. There are several contributing factors for my rating of “Average”. The county’s Getting to Zero campaign planning stage began during an unfortunate time–the COVID 19 pandemic. Despite that fact, I believe the county did an admirable job of pivoting to Zoom meetings to keep conversations about the strategy from being dormant. However, it does not appear from current reporting, which I believe is lacking in transparency, that the county is on track to hit their self-imposed goals of the four key indicators by 2025. There should be clearly communicated benchmarks for each of the goals in the key indicators to diagnose, treat, prevent, and respond to the HIV pandemic. I do support the Getting to Zero campaign, but a good strategy is always flexible enough to pivot on areas where forward progress is not being made. In this case, I do not believe there is enough data to support whether the strategy has made forward progress.
M.J.: I am very concerned about the current efforts to address the rising cases of HIV/AIDS within Mecklenburg County. To date, I would have to say that our efforts have limited effectiveness and are producing below average results. Communities of color and socio-economically disadvantaged residents have been hit the hardest and continue to bear the impact in a disproportionate way. On balance, there are multiple factors that contribute to this rating and include elements such as available resources, prevention programs, education, access to care, testing and treatment. I emphatically support the “getting to zero” initiative and believe it is imperative that we increase collaboration with community partners, marketing efforts and investments in all the areas outlined if we are going to change our current trajectory.
L.M.: I am aware that the rate of positive testing for HIV is on the rise. I work closely with Kathy Ireland and the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation where we discuss this and how to address these concerns. There are several reasons including: the effects of the pandemic and the difficulty in offering tests, availability of testing, and lack of focus on specific communities seeing an increase. It is important that the county work with local community groups(people of color, different cultural groups, religious organizations) to provide opportunities for testing and programs oriented towards prevention. I believe that we have to expand access to PrEP particularly for the underserved and uninsured.
As a first-time candidate, I am committed to making HIV testing/programming a priority in my service to Mecklenburg County. I am not 100% comfortable in offering a rating at either end of the spectrum. Today, I believe Mecklenburg County is average in their services/outreach. I am doing my homework and will possibly offer a different rating once I am more comfortable in my knowledge and my ability to effect change.
S.R.M.: I would rate the County’s efforts as “Above-Average” while believing there is always room for improvement. There has been a lot of progress in the last 18 months with expanded access to testing, especially with the County’s partnerships with providers out in the community. The County’s “Let’s Get Checked” initiative with confidential, at home, free testing is a positive step. Also, we have expanded access to PrEP by opening a new clinic last year and we have multiple marketing campaigns targeting increased compliance for medication intake. Mecklenburg has the highest HIV burden in the state but we have a robust set of strategies investing more than $500,000 per year across efforts.
“Getting to Zero” is more than a campaign for Mecklenburg County – it is a framework, a roadmap for addressing HIV in the County. I support more aggressive implementation to make sure we reach our goals. I am glad that as a result of COVID, zoom meetings have allowed more community stakeholders to join the process and discussions, however It is definitely time for an update.