Meharry, Ministers Team Up to Fight HIV/AIDS in Nashville

Helping African-American clergy establish and run HIV/AIDS education projects is the major focus of recently announced CDC grants to Metropolitan Interdenominational Church and Meharry Medical College.

Each $2 million grant to the Nashville institutions will run for five years.

Under its grant, Metropolitan Interdenominational will target clergy in a series of HIV prevention summits across the country. Up to 150 clergy are expected at each summit, and it is hoped that as many as 30 from each event will continue on to participate in a five-part curriculum-based education program.

The church also will work with divinity schools to help train clergy. In the past, Metropolitan Interdenominational has worked with the Howard University School of Divinity in Washington, D.C., and American Baptist College in Nashville.

The Meharry grant calls for participants of a 22-member advisory committee to travel throughout the South to train community leaders in developing prevention programs, activities and testing opportunities. The program targets 11 states.

Meharry's advisory committee consists of ministers, health care providers, and leaders of historically black colleges. While their grants are separate, Meharry and Metropolitan Interdenominational will coordinate their efforts.

The Rev. Sherman Tribble, pastor of New Visions Baptist Church in Donelson, is a member of Meharry's advisory committee.

"The church needs to be involved on several levels," Tribble said. "One is spreading the news that it is an equal opportunity disease. Anyone who is human has the possibility of getting it."

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