What We Can Do: Other Activity Ideas

IN THE CLASSROOM support comprehensive school health education:

• Start a peer education program where students educate other students about HIV/AIDS.

  Program in Action: National High School Quilt Program The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt is a powerful educational tool that makes AIDS real and understandable for high school students. Through the National High School Quilt Program, high schools across the country have the opportunity to display sections of the Quilt for up to a week, free of charge. The Quilt is a compelling centerpiece for HIV awareness and prevention activities. For information or an application, call the NAMES Project Foundation at (415) 882-5500 x. 351.

• Invite a young adult with HIV/AIDS as a guest speaker to your class.
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• Show videos in which other teens talk about their personal experiences with HIV/AIDS. Some possible videos include:

  "In Our Own Words: Teens & AIDS" (Media Works, 1-800-600-5779)

  "Teen: AIDS in Focus" (San Francisco Study Center, 415-626-1650)

  "AIDS Not Us" (HIV Center for Clinical & Behavioral Studies, New York State Psychiatric Institute 212-543-5788)

  "Sex, Drugs and HIV" (ODN Productions, Inc., 1-800-707-MEDIA)

  "Don't Forget Sherrie" (Call you local American Red Cross chapter)

An additional listing of movies/films/videos is available under "Colleges and Universities."

• Make adolescents aware of the free AIDS hotlines staffed by trained students available to them. See "Youth-Friendly Organizations."

• Have students in class form small groups and discuss their ideas and questions about HIV/AIDS. (The Harvard Pilgrim Health Care FoundationÕs AIDS Prevention Project has designed a FIRST AIDS KIT to help facilitate discussion among young adults, 1-800-4-AIDS-KIT.)

• Invite a health practitioner who works with HIV/AIDS patients to come and talk to students.

• Prepare a lesson that addresses how drug and alcohol use impair judgment and therefore increase risk of HIV infection.

• Have students create informational brochures about HIV/AIDS to educate adults.

• Obtain or create a video for teaching parents the facts about HIV/AIDS.

• Bring the AIDS Memorial Quilt to your high school. Contact the National High School Quilt Program at the NAMES Project Foundation, (415) 882-5500.

• Encourage students to join your local or state Community Planning Group. (See fact sheet "Federal Programs to Help You.")

AT COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES work with university administrators, faculty, staff and students:

• Organize HIV/AIDS discussion workshops or an open house with student educators in informal settings such as the student center or in dormitory lounges. Distribute information on HIV testing and prevention (see Testing and Prevention Fact Sheets).

• Participate in National Condom Week in February and hand out free condoms on ValentineÕs Day.

• Create tabletop displays (table tents) with World AIDS Day messages and place in cafeterias and dining halls.

• Hold a film festival featuring films that deal with HIV/AIDS. Suggestions include:

  Jeffrey (R)
  And the Band Played On (PG-13)
  It's My Party (R)
  A Mother's Prayer (PG-13)
  Peter's Friends (R)
  Boys on the Side (R)
  Common Threads (NR)
  Philadelphia (PG-13)
  Longtime Companion (R)
  Wigstock (R)
  

• Write an article or letter to the editor of the school paper; include statistics about the prevalence of HIV infection and AIDS in your school and/or community.

• Coordinate with local bars and restaurants to give out free condoms; pass out literature focusing on the high correlation of HIV transmission and alcohol consumption.

• Invite a local HIV testing center/clinic to your campus on December 1, and/or participate in National HIV Testing Day on June 27, 1999. For more information, contact the National Association of People with AIDS at (202) 898-0414.

• Create an HIV/AIDS Awareness Committee to educate your campus and host HIV/AIDS prevention seminars.

• Copy and distribute "10 Things You Need to Know about HIV/AIDS" and "HIV/AIDS Prevention" fact sheets on Dec.1.

• Join your local or state Community Planning Group and be a part of HIV/AIDS prevention planning in your community. Make sure young people receive the representation they need. For more information, contact the CDC National Prevention Information Network at 1-800-458-5231.

IN THE COMMUNITY work with your state and local health departments:

• Organize the presentation of a World AIDS Day proclamation from a town/community official.

• Show a video or film that deals with HIV/AIDS at your local library and hold a discussion after its showing. Arrange for a representative from a local AIDS service organization to be present to answer questions and to moderate the discussion. (See listing of film/video suggestions above.)

• Contact the NAMES Project and bring The AIDS Memorial Quilt to your community, (415) 882-5500.

• Coordinate with a local medical school to start the STATS project in your area. Students Teaching AIDS to Students prepares medical students to visit schools and other youth community centers in order to teach young people about HIV infection and AIDS. For more information, contact the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) at (703) 620-6600 ext. 454.

• Deliver pamphlets on HIV/AIDS testing for pregnant women to local physicians.

• Set up a special display of books and resource materials about HIV/AIDS at your local library.

• Celebrate "DAY WITHOUT ART" to inspire meaningful discussions about HIV/AIDS and increase awareness. (For information, contact Visual AIDS at (212) 627-9855.

IN YOUR FAITH COMMUNITY encourage long-term commitment to HIV/AIDS:

• Hold a candlelight service of remembrance for those affected by HIV/AIDS; contact your local AIDS ministry program and coordinate with them. Plan to participate in the International AIDS Candlelight Memorial on May 16, 1999.

  In North Wales, Pennsylvania, a 17-year-old young man became a youth volunteer with the American Red Cross, working as an HIV/AIDS Teen Peer Educator. "I learned more about myself, my talents and my ability to help people who are in need. I learned I have something to offer -- compassion for people who are alone and afraid -- and things to share with others. I learned that kids need to talk to someone their own age in order for them to make a change in their lives. I learned to make a difference."

• Support World AIDS Day call to action by joining with other congregations in the "18 Bells" project: Ring your steeple bell 18 times at 2:00 pm on December 1 signifying the 18 years of the epidemic. (For more details, contact the AIDS National Interfaith Network, (202) 842-0010.)

• Encourage your religious leader to speak about HIV/AIDS in sermons and invite an individual living with HIV/AIDS to share his or her story.

• Observe a moment of silence during services for those who have died of AIDS.

• Focus on the impact of HIV/AIDS during religious education programs; invite people living with HIV/AIDS to speak; coordi-nate with local AIDS ministry or community-based AIDS organizations.

• Contact the national office of your religious affiliation or one of the religious organizations listed on pages 41-44 and ask for information about what is happening within your national religious organization with regard to HIV/AIDS programs and policies.

• Start an AIDS ministry within your congregation or with others in your community.

• Start a service program: members of your congregation can work with a local AIDS group to provide meals, transportation, shelter, companionship or other services to people living with HIV/AIDS.

• Bring the AIDS Memorial Quilt to your congregation. Contact the NAMES Project at (415) 882-5500.

GOVERNMENT can also participate in World AIDS Day:

• Adopt a proclamation (see Sample Proclamation, below) urging citizens to take part in World AIDS Day activities and observances.

• Encourage your communities to join the White House in dimming their lights as a visual demonstration expressing the world-wide commitment to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, from 7:45 pm to 8:00 pm on December 1.

• Perform an HIV/AIDS needs assessment in your community and develop policies that address unmet needs, especially those of traditionally underserved populations including African Americans, Latinos, Native Americans, men who have sex with men (MSM), people in rural communities, women, homeless individuals and families, incarcerated individuals, and young people.

• Hold an open Town Meeting to discuss HIV prevention, education and treatment needs in your community.

• Provide your community with statistics on HIV infection rates in your area and use these numbers as a call to action.

IN HEALTH CARE SETTINGS work with staff to improve HIV/AIDS prevention and care:

• Organize a workshop to educate health professionals on the ethical issues of HIV/AIDS.

  An HIV/AIDS peer educator in a student-run group called "Teens Taking Charge" (TTC) said, "Some have said that because we're members of TTC, we either have HIV, or we're gay, lesbian or something like that. I just tried to fight harder. I tried to get them to look past their fears, because fear breeds ignorance."

  -- An 18-year-old young woman from Ephrata, Pennsylvania

• Contact AIDS service organizations serving various ethnic and racial groups and ask that they make a presentation to your staff regarding cultural competence and sensitivity and HIV.

• Mobilize the communications department in your institution to develop World AIDS Day messages to be distributed throughout the institution and surrounding communities.

• Offer routine HIV prevention services and be persistent in prevention efforts.

• Develop a questionnaire for taking an HIV risk history.

• Visit a local school on World AIDS Day or any day to teach students and educators about HIV/AIDS.

AT WORK launch your Business Responds to AIDS (BRTA) program or Labor Responds to AIDS (LRTA) program -- obtain materials from the CDC National Prevention Information Network, 1-800-458-5231 or other workplace material from the National AIDS Fund Workplace Resource Center at (202) 408-4848:

• Ask your employer to help establish December 1 as a day to address the issue of HIV/AIDS in your workplace.

• Organize a meeting to establish or clarify office policy concerning HIV/AIDS awareness.

• Educate employees on the protection of people with HIV/AIDS and on non-discrimination laws.

• Initiate a program to have World AIDS Day messages inserted in paycheck envelopes and printed on bags and cartons.

• Organize an HIV/AIDS fund-raising event (run, walk, bike) and invite the community.