Advocacy day seeks participants
RALEIGH, N.C. — Equality North Carolina will hold it Day of Advocacy on June 19, 8:30 a.m.-2 p.m., at the Museum of Natural History, 11 W. Jones St.
The day will be filled with training sessions designed to hone skills in promoting statewide LGBTQ visibility and protecting North Carolina’s LGBTQ community. To join in, sign up online.
Participants will learn how to build and share their story and to communicate with elected officials confidently in live encounters at the North Carolina General Assembly. Afterward the new skills can be taken back to local communities in order to work on equality initiatives.
Contributions to the organization are being accepted, especially from those who will be unable to attend the advocacy day event.
info: equalitync.org.
Governor’s budget praised by NCAAN
RALEIGH, N.C. — NC AIDS Action Network has released a statement praising Gov. Roy Cooper’s 2018-2019 budget.
The budget unveiled a $9 million increase in funding for the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services to address the opioid and heroin epidemic, including specific language to fund seven staff members to address increased incidences of HIV and Hepatitis C associated with the epidemic.
“We applaud the Governor for including increased funding to address the increased rates of HIV and Hepatitis C due to the opioid and heroin epidemic,’ said Lee Storrow, network executive director. “We can end new HIV transmissions and cure Hepatitis C in our state, but only if we have the resources to do it.”
He added, “This budget appropriation is important because it helps set the tone for the budget debate in the North Carolina General Assembly. Though the budget passed by the Republican controlled General Assembly is likely to look different than the Governor’s, we know hepatitis and HIV treatment and prevention is a bipartisan topic that we can find support from both sides of the aisle. Last year, they legislature approved an appropriation of $600,000 to address Hepatitis testing and linkage to the cure, and we are hoping to build on that success in 2018. “
It is estimated that there are over 36,000 people living with HIV and over 100,000 lining with Hepatitis C in North Carolina. “We need increased state appropriations if we are going to end these epidemics,” Storrow concluded.
info: ncaan.org.
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Share your news with us
Does your organization or special interest group have events or great information to share with our readers? If so, be sure to send in your information to specialassignments@qnotescarolinas.com. In the upcoming months, we’ll feature one of you in our news notes section in each issue. Are you a part of a Meetup, Yahoo or Google group and do you do something that’s really newsworthy? Do you provide a service for the community or hold fundraisers for worthy causes? Do you educate the public about LGBTQ issues or concerns? Of course, this is only a sampling of things we are interested in. It’s the aim of these pieces to inform, enlighten and educate our readers about what we’re doing here in the Carolinas to champion LGBTQ rights, as well as offer resources for those who may be interested in what your group is doing.