ROLE Models Project

04/10/2026

Today we recognize National Youth HIV and AIDS Awareness Day, a powerful reminder that young people are not just the future, they are the now.

Across our communities, too many young people, especially Black youth, continue to face disproportionate impact, limited access to care, stigma, and systemic barriers that make prevention and education harder to reach. This day calls us to do more than acknowledge the reality. It calls us to act.

We must create spaces where young people feel seen, heard, and empowered with accurate information, affirming resources, and opportunities to take control of their health. That means investing in culturally responsive education, expanding access to testing and prevention tools like PrEP, and dismantling the stigma that keeps too many silent.

When we center youth voices, we strengthen the movement. When we lead with compassion and truth, we change outcomes.

Let us commit to showing up, speaking out, and standing with our youth today and every day.

Because awareness leads to action, and action saves lives!!

04/01/2026

Today we honor Transgender Day of Visibility, recognizing the power, resilience, and brilliance of transgender and gender diverse communities, especially those who continue to show up, lead, and thrive in spaces that have not always been safe or affirming.

In the work we do across HIV prevention, health equity, and community engagement, we know that visibility alone is not enough. It must be met with action.

Trans communities, particularly Black trans women and femmes, continue to experience disproportionate impact related to HIV, stigma, and barriers to culturally responsive care. That is why our work must remain intentional, affirming, and rooted in equity.

Through initiatives grounded in culture, creativity, and community, whether in ballroom spaces, storytelling, or public health programming, we are committed to creating environments where trans individuals are not only seen, but supported, protected, and empowered.

Visibility should feel like safety. Visibility should feel like access. Visibility should feel like freedom.

Today and every day, we stand in solidarity. We honor trans lives. And we remain committed to doing the work.

💙🤍💗

03/21/2026

March 20th is National Native HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NNHAAD), an opportunity to raise awareness about the impact of HIV on Native communities and promote the importance of HIV education, testing, prevention, and care.

03/11/2026

Today we recognize National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NWGHAAD), a day to uplift the voices, health, and resilience of women and girls while renewing our commitment to ending HIV.

Women, especially Black women and girls, continue to face disproportionate impacts from HIV due to structural inequities, stigma, gaps in access to care, and social determinants of health. NWGHAAD reminds us that awareness alone is not enough. We must invest in prevention, expand access to testing and treatment, support PrEP and other prevention tools, and center the leadership of women and girls in the fight against HIV.

When women and girls have access to accurate information, quality health care, supportive communities, and stigma free spaces, they are empowered to protect their health and thrive. Ending HIV requires listening to their stories, amplifying their voices, and addressing the systems that shape health outcomes.

Let us continue to stand in solidarity with women and girls living with HIV, honor their strength, and commit to building healthier communities where everyone has the opportunity to live long, healthy, and fulfilled lives.

Together we move from risk to reasons, from stigma to support, and from awareness to action!

02/07/2026

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day

Today we pause, reflect, and recommit.

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is more than a date on the calendar. It is a call to action. It is a moment to confront the realities our communities face, to challenge stigma, and to strengthen the systems of care, compassion, and prevention that sustain us.

Black communities continue to carry a disproportionate share of the HIV epidemic, not because of who we are, but because of inequities that have shaped access to care, education, housing, and opportunity. This day reminds us that health equity is not optional. It is essential.

Awareness must lead to action.
Action must lead to access.
Access must lead to outcomes that affirm the dignity, health, and future of Black people everywhere.

We honor the advocates, clinicians, educators, and community leaders who have carried this work for decades. We uplift the voices of those living with HIV who show us daily what resilience, strength, and truth look like. And we recommit ourselves to building a future where prevention tools are accessible, stigma is dismantled, and every person has the opportunity to live a full, healthy life.

Know your status.
Protect your health.
Support one another.
End the stigma.
End the epidemic.

02/04/2026

Join us TOMORROW!!

02/04/2026

Happy Black History Month!!

Black History Month is more than a reflection on the past. It is a living, breathing reminder that Black history has always been central to the story of this country and the world. Our brilliance, resilience, creativity, and resistance have shaped culture, expanded freedom, and redefined what is possible, even in the face of exclusion and injustice.

This month invites us to honor our ancestors who endured, dreamed, and built paths where none existed. It also calls us to recognize the leaders, innovators, artists, healers, and everyday people who are making history right now. Black history did not stop being written. It continues in classrooms, boardrooms, churches, community spaces, laboratories, voting booths, and homes across generations.

As we celebrate its 100th year establishment, we are reminded that remembrance is not passive. What we choose to uplift, protect, and invest in today becomes the legacy we leave behind. Black history is not only something we study. It is something we live, shape, and pass forward with intention.

May this month inspire pride in where we come from, clarity about where we are, and responsibility for where we are going. Black history is American history. Black history is world history. And Black history is being made every single day.

01/02/2026

Happy New Year!!

01/02/2026

12/28/2025

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!!

12/22/2025

Wishing you a strong, peaceful, and productive start to the week! As we move through this holiday season, may your days be filled with gratitude, joy, rest, and moments that truly matter. Take time to breathe, reflect, and finish the year with purpose and grace.

12/22/2025

Ryan White did not ask to become the face of an epidemic. He just wanted to go to seventh grade.

In December 1984, doctors told Ryan, a thirteen year old from Kokomo, Indiana, that he had AIDS. He contracted HIV from contaminated blood used to treat his hemophilia. He was given six months to live.

Although doctors confirmed he posed no risk to others, his school barred him from attending. Fear outweighed facts. Ryan spent months listening to class through a phone line from his bedroom, missing the simple joys of school and belonging.

His mother, Jeanne White, refused to stay silent. She sued the school board for his right to an education. The response was cruel. Parents protested. Neighbors turned away. His paper route was canceled. Restaurants discarded dishes he used. Slurs were sprayed on their garage, and a bullet was fired through their living room window.

Through it all, Ryan remained calm and dignified. He said, “I have a disease, but I am not the disease.”

After a long legal fight, Ryan returned to school, but under harsh restrictions and constant harassment. The hostility continued until another shooting made it clear they could not stay.

In 1987, the family moved to Cicero, Indiana. There, students and school leaders chose education over fear. On Ryan’s first day, the principal publicly shook his hand. There were no protests. Just acceptance.

For the first time in years, Ryan had a normal life. He made friends, went to prom, earned his license, worked a summer job, and thrived. His story reached the nation, educating millions and changing how people understood HIV and AIDS.

Ryan lived five years beyond his diagnosis. He died on April 8, 1990, at eighteen years old. Months later, Congress passed the Ryan White CARE Act, now the largest federally funded HIV program in U.S. history.

Ryan’s greatest legacy was not a law. It was compassion. He helped transform fear into understanding and stigma into humanity.

He only wanted to be treated like everyone else. In fighting for that simple right, he changed the nation.

Ryan White lived eighteen years, but his impact will last forever.