Archives 2021

The Community Education Group is hiring the following positions:

Accounting & Finance Manager

Appalachian Partnership Fund Manager

Deputy Director

Equity, Inclusion, and Access Program Associate

Executive Assistant

General Intern

IT & Web Development Contractor

Social Media Specialist

West Virginia State & Local Policy Associate

West Virginia Project Manager

West Virginia Program Associate

The Community Education Group is pleased to announce that we have been awarded $3.5 million by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to provide testing and vaccination services for COVID-19, Influenza, HIV, and Viral Hepatitis.

CEG will be releasing more information as it becomes available. In the meantime, please check out our press release:

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This week’s #PeopleWorthKnowing video interview features Dázon Dixon Diallo DHL, MPH, Founder and President of SisterLove, Inc, established in 1989, the first womxn’s HIV, Sexual and Reproductive Justice organization in the southeastern United States.

Dr. Diallo is a recognized visionary and advocate in the struggle for human rights, sexual and reproductive justice, and the fight against HIV with, and on behalf of, communities of womxn and girls living with HIV and those affected by HIV and STIs transmission.

She is a proud member of In Our Own Voice: National Black Women’s Reproductive Justice Agenda Partnership, where she advocates for sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice in public health and prevention policies and programs. Dr. Diallo is a co-chair for the Act Now End AIDS National Coalition. She is a member of several bodies of influence including the Women-At-Risk Subcommittee and the Scientific Advisory Group of the HIV Prevention Trials Network, UNFPA Global Advisory Council, the Women’s Research Initiative (WRI) and a founding member of SisterSong Reproductive Justice Collective.

In 2020, Diallo was appointed to the IAPAC-Lancet HIV Commission on the Future of Urban HIV Response. She is the creator and convener of the Prevention Options for Womxn Advocacy & Research (POWAR) Partnership and WomxnNOW! Institute for SRHRJ for Girls & Womxn of African Descent worldwide.

She has achieved a deep reach with a diverse community of listeners for 28 years, as producer and host of a weekly radio program focused on black womxn, called “Sisters’ Time/WomxnSpeak” on WRFG 89.3FM in Atlanta and wrfg.org. Dr. Diallo holds a master’s degree in public health from the University of Alabama at Birmingham (C’97) and bachelor’s degree from Spelman College (C’86) in Atlanta. In 2012, Dr. Diallo had the distinct honor to receive an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from her alma mater, Spelman College.

Learn more about SisterLove, Inc. below:

Join West Virginia’s Director of HIV Prevention & Care, Shawn Balleydier, as he and #CEGInWV Founder & Executive Director, A. Toni Young, discuss increase #HIV testing in West Virginia in honor of #HIVTestingDay

For Immediate Release

Community Education Group Issues New Report Warning of Addiction/Hepatitis/HIV “Syndemic” in West Virginia

LOST RIVER, W.Va. (May 3, 2021) – A new report issued by the Community Education Group (CEG) details what the organization calls a “syndemic” of Substance Use Disorder, Viral Hepatitis, and HIV that constitutes a grave and ongoing threat to public health in West Virginia.

The report, entitled Deconstructing Silos in West Virginia: Breaking Down Barriers Between HIV, Substance Use Disorder, and Viral Hepatitis Care, describes how misguided policies and gaps in infrastructure are leaving multiple West Virginia counties vulnerable to outbreaks of Hepatitis and HIV, largely driven by the state’s opioid addiction crisis. West Virginia leads the nation in Viral Hepatitis diagnoses, and new HIV diagnoses have been increasing since 2017. The document lays out steps for reversing these trends, such as improving access to testing and treatment, and making sure infected and at-risk patients are referred to the appropriate care and services.

A. Toni Young, CEG’s executive director, emphasized the importance of addressing the linked HIV, Hepatitis, and Substance Use crises together, in a coordinated way.

“Treating these problems as separate epidemics has only inhibited accurate data collection and made effective prevention efforts more difficult,” said Young. “These are linked crises, and here in West Virginia they are turning into a kind of perfect storm that our health infrastructure is currently just not equipped to deal with.”

The new report from CEG, a nonprofit with decades of experience strategizing public health interventions in vulnerable communities, calls for improving public access to testing, treatment, and health information. Other recommendations include beefing up public health staff and infrastructure, and expanding availability of Opioid Treatment and Harm Reduction programs—interventions that have been shown to help decrease HIV and Hepatitis infection rates, but which have been hampered by political opposition that ignores their effectiveness.

The full Deconstructing Silos report can be accessed here: https://cutt.ly/CEG-Deconstructing-Silos-Report

The Community Education Group (CEG) is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization working to ignite community engagement, eliminate disparities in health outcomes, and improve public health in vulnerable populations and underserved communities. CEG accomplishes this by conducting research, training community health workers to educate and test people who are hard to reach or at risk, sharing expertise through national networks and local capacity building efforts, and advocating for practical and effective health policies that lead to social change. 

MEDIA CONTACT:

Community Education Group
A. Toni Young
tyoung@communityeducationgroup.org
(304) 278-4420

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The Community Education Group (CEG) and its Rural Health Service Providers Network (RHSPN) project reach 100 subscribers on YouTube.

#CEGInWV’s #PeopleWorthKnowing interview series features some of the amazing people working in and around public health and services. We have features some amazing people, including:

TruEvolution, Inc.’s Founder & CEO, Gabriel Maldonado

Advocates for Better Care Atlanta’s Founder & Executive Director, Tori Cooper

American Public Health Association’s Executive Director, Dr. Georges C. Benjamin

This week’s #PeopleWorthKnowing video features Deirdre Johnson, Founder of Deirdre Speaks and Co-Founder of Ending Criminalization of HIV and Overincarceration in Virginia (ECHO VA).

Since 2000, Deirdre has lived, learned and experienced HIV on her own terms. She utilizes her sense of humor and lively personality to openly share her medicine and medical adherence journey with the world using #MedsWillMakeMeDance.

Deirdre is transparent about how she is not allowing HIV to have control of her, but fearlessly taking control of HIV. Deirdre is a native of Virginia, and has worked as an educator, case manager, and speaker, however, she is most passionate about eradicating stigma, ending criminalization of people living with HIV, combating racial injustice, health disparities, and being an active Partner in Change as the Co-Founder of Ending Criminalization of HIV and Overincarceration in Virginia (ECHO VA). She serves as the State Lead for Positive Women’s Network – USA and a U = U Ambassador. She strives to live, learn and experience life with no apologies.

Learn more about ECHO VA and Deirdre Speaks by clicking the links below.

THE HIGH COST OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS leaves many Americans scrambling to pay healthcare costs, especially people who are living with chronic conditions like diabetes, hepatitis C, HIV, and various types of cancer. As a result, these patients often rely upon patient assistance programs and manufacturer coupons to help them afford expensive medications. For example, in a 2019 survey of more than 3,000 cancer patients, 17% had used drug manufacturers’ coupons or assistance programs.1 These options help many lower-income patients obtain the prescriptions they need—but those savings are often undercut or by co-pay accumulator programs.

How “Co-Pay Accumulators” Stifle Healthcare Access and Empty Patients’ Wallets breaks down the implications of Co-Pay Accumulator programs that have been instituted by health insurers, including how they are defined, how they are implemented, how they’re regulated, and illustrates three case studies of how American families whose insurance plans include Co-Pay Accumulators pay more out of pocket for treatments.

This week’s #PeopleWorthKnowing video features Jesse Milan, Jr., President and CEO of AIDS United, a national organization focused on policy, grantmaking, and capacity building.

AIDS United has granted over $120 million over 30 years, and its Public Policy Council organizations and current grantees number over 300 in 40 states and territories. Mr. Milan is a lawyer whose career includes leading HIV programs and organizations at national, regional and global levels.

He has chaired five non-profit boards including the Black AIDS Institute, was AIDS Director for Philadelphia, has chaired federal advisory committees, and serves currently on the Scientific Advisory Board for PEPFAR. He is a graduate of Princeton University and the NYU School of Law. Jesse has been living with HIV for over three decades.

Click on the logo below to learn more about AIDS United.