BLACK LIVES MATTER

Today and every day forward CCHE is committed to joining in the fight against hatred and injustice.
The subjugation and abuse of Black bodies is deeply ingrained in every institution, including our own, of this country and is experienced daily by the Black community. 
We know that there are thousands of individuals like Tony McDade, George Floyd,Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Philando Castile, Natasha McKenna, Ezell Ford, Trayvon Martin, and Emmett Till who have been murdered at the hands of the police and whose names will never be spoken nor brought to justice. We will say their names and hold up their memories.
We will work to dismantle systems that many of us within our institution benefit from, and we will continue our work to eliminate the barriers our Black LGBQ and TGNC communities face.

Click “Black Lives Matter” for tangible next steps.

Staff Spotlight :Darjai Payne

Darjai responded: “My mom inspires me most in life; I am the only child, and she has always told me that it’s just me and you. Even when she was working at night, she made time for me to be a productive child. She showed me how to be a woman. She is my complete best friend.” Skating and reading bring Darjai comfort; it is her outlet from stress. Much appreciation to Darjai for doing this interview, and allowing us to know her better as a person, ally, and advocate to the Black LGBTQ community

Staff Spotlight :Ellen Almirol

“Jeanette Webb holds a smile in her voice and wears her heart on her sleeve. She is firm in her truth that hope is an infinite resource and never truly can be lost.”

Staff Spotlight :Jeanette Webb

“Jeanette Webb holds a smile in her voice and wears her heart on her sleeve. She is firm in her truth that hope is an infinite resource and never truly can be lost.”

Staff Spotlight : Leticia Boughton Price

“Leticia extends herself to support coworkers that are in need of emotional support as well. She is a comforting force and mentor to clients and even some coworkers when in crisis or to hold a space to debrief. Leticia is empathic and believes that her empathy is what invigorates her desire to help others.”

Staff Spotlight : Dr. Russell Brewer

“My passion is looking at how we can address some of the social/structural barriers that impact people’s ability to access care, to stay in care, and to achieve viral suppression if they’re living with HIV.”

Staff Spotlight : Rey Flores

“You’re not going to be perfect, nobody’s going to be perfect.”

Staff Spotlight : Anu Hazra

“Being anti-racist is a very active stance to take” Anu says. It’s asking yourself to breakdown and challenge your understanding of race and ethnicity. How do you engage and interact with the world with an anti-racist lens? Anu says “It’s not easy”.

Staff Spotlight : Britt Hodgdon

“How do we help people who have been so hurt by systems, impacted by systems that traumatize, and systems that introduce people to other traumas?”

May Spotlight : Zanariah (Zizi) Phillips

“My calling is to work within my community and for my community, because I see how normal it is for us to be stigmatized and outcasted just for existing.” Zanariah (Zizi) Phillips (she/her & they/them) proclaims while sharing her story of how she arrived at CCHE.

November Spotlight : Karen Lee

The gratitude we have for the little things we do will help us not take any semblance of regular life for granted after the pandemic. “We should appreciate the small things” Karen says. They aren’t guaranteed.

October Spotlight : Patricia Braboy

“I want and I hope that I can be there for somebody even if I don’t know them.”. Patricia has been a face of positivity in every role she occupies…

September Spotlight : Linda Walsh PEDS

“I think that are is the blessing of the long-term nature of our relationship in my experience has been the most rewarding for me.”

August Spotlight : Joel Jackson

“Not everybody is on the same level when it comes to issues of Oppression.”
“every individual has their own way of making sense of the world.”

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Community Spotlight : Mekiye

“This month’s spotlight will be featuring a person with a courageous and empowering story. The person will be referred to as Anonymous. He is a Queer male who is 33 years of age. He discovered that he was HIV positive in 2012. He contracted the virus from his monogamous partner of three years. He was aware of his boyfriend’s status. At the time Anonymous was experiencing homelessness. He had become homeless based on his lifestyle and lack of support with finding who He was as a Queer Male. At this time anonymous partner was housed based on the fact that He was HIV positive; because of anonymous love and need for housing, rendered the tough decision for Anonymous to tactfully contract HIV in order to succeed life as a homeless person navigating temporary resources for places to get sleep and eat consistently. After a year of unprotected sexual endeavors, anonymous finally became reactive of the HIV virus. He soon navigated housing, and was luckily still in the demographics to qualify for housing in 2014. “

Community Spotlight : ” “

“This month’s spotlight will be featuring a person with a courageous and empowering story. The person will be referred to as Anonymous. He is a Queer male who is 33 years of age. He discovered that he was HIV positive in 2012. He contracted the virus from his monogamous partner of three years. He was aware of his boyfriend’s status. At the time Anonymous was experiencing homelessness. He had become homeless based on his lifestyle and lack of support with finding who He was as a Queer Male. At this time anonymous partner was housed based on the fact that He was HIV positive; because of anonymous love and need for housing, rendered the tough decision for Anonymous to tactfully contract HIV in order to succeed life as a homeless person navigating temporary resources for places to get sleep and eat consistently. After a year of unprotected sexual endeavors, anonymous finally became reactive of the HIV virus. He soon navigated housing, and was luckily still in the demographics to qualify for housing in 2014. “

Community Spotlight : Alexis Martinez

“Alexis is also inspired every time she sees resources for housing and employment for transgender women become more accessible! She is motivated by her daughter, partner, and granddaughters. “The sin of Slavery is what continues to corrupt the American dream” Alexis shared with me. “

Community Spotlight : Jama Shelton

“! Jama is also truly inspired by everyone that they meet. True Colors United works through several focuses; the most important focus is to create welcoming spaces and housing for youth. They also offer training, advocacy, and fellowship building. Another focus…”

Community Spotlight : Vic Motherwell

I asked Vic if they could change anything about the community; what would those things be? Vic’s response was changing the systems that effect the LGBT community negatively…

Community Spotlight : Mekylah

“I didn’t want her to be ashamed of me, but I knew she would love me no matter what. I was surprised that she let me dressed the way I wanted because she always wanted me to wear purses and really girly clothes.”

Community Spotlight : Honoring Long Time Survivors of HIV

” I don’t even recall how I found The Village, but I am forever grateful!”

Community Spotlight : Bonsai

” I don’t even recall how I found The Village, but I am forever grateful!”

October Community Spotlight : Tynetta Hill-Mohammad

They continue by explaining that this can look like fighting for police abolition and the abolishment of prisons, while also “understand[ing]  that we have to like dismantle these systems that are funneled and fueled so much by the money that we create as through capitalism right off and then disseminating it across the board.”

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Welcome To

The Chicago Center for HIV Elimination

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CCHE seeks to eliminate new HIV transmission events over the next 30 years (from 2011 to 2041) by using network science to target and integrate prevention as well as create structural and community-specific interventions.

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