FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Nic Carlisle (nic@southernaidscoalition.org) Southern AIDS Coalition Welcomes Dafina Ward as Senior Manager of Grant Operations & Strategy BIRMINGHAM, Ala. October 22, 2018 — The Southern AIDS Coalition (SAC) is pleased to announce the appointment of Dafina Ward as its new Senior Manager of Grant Operations and Strategy. Dafina has over a decade of experience in grants management and program development with a focus on HIV and stigmatized health issues in the Deep South. She has worked as both a grantmaker and grantee, and understands the importance of that relationship in building programs that are strategic and responsive to community need. For several years she served as Director of Prevention and Community Partnerships for AIDS Alabama, and before that worked as Coordinator of the Alabama Community AIDS Fund. Dafina most recently served as Director of External Relations for Provide, a national organization committed to improving access to reproductive health services for women in low resource communities. Dafina has developed and implemented regional programs serving groups facing the greatest health disparities, including Black women and LGBTQ youth. A licensed attorney, she has also advised organizations in the development of community-based legal programs serving persons living with HIV/AIDS. She is also a writer and a 2017 Ford Foundation/Op-Ed Project Public Voices Fellow, with work published in The Washington Post, The Lily and Role Reboot. “I am ecstatic to have Dafina join us as Senior Manager of Grant Operations and Strategy,” said SAC Executive Director Nic Carlisle upon announcing the appointment. “Dafina's experience, expertise, and passion make her the perfect addition to our team. Our organization, our partners, and the entire South will benefit from her involvement." "I am honored to join the SAC team, and to have this opportunity to work with colleagues throughout the South to build an impactful grants program that not only addresses immediate needs, but also supports innovative community-led approaches to meeting new challenges," said Dafina. "My most recent work focused on the intersection of reproductive health with other key systems of care, including HIV, primary care, and substance use disorders. I believe that understanding the importance of these intersections will be key to SAC's grantmaking strategy." Dafina was a founding member of the Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham LGBTQ Fund and was the first southern board member of the Urban Coalition for HIV/AIDS Prevention Services (UCHAPS). She received her BA from Clark Atlanta University (Atlanta, GA) and her Juris Doctor from Temple University’s Beasley School of Law (Philadelphia, PA). She and her husband, Ahmad, reside in South Carolina with their two brilliant daughters. In her role as Senior Manager of Grant Operations and Strategy, Dafina will be responsible for managing grantmaking through the Gilead COMPASS (COMmitment to Partnership in Addressing HIV/AIDS in Southern States) Initiative™. SAC was selected as one of three coordinating centers to strategically provide funding across the region. As a coordinating center, the organization will develop and support education and advocacy efforts to address HIV-related stigma, discrimination, and health inequities across the South. ### | 
