A Look Back On 2022:

SAC held our first in-person Saving Ourselves Symposium (SOS) this year. A sacred space for learning and love centering Black LGBTQ+ southerners, this was the first in-person SOS since Red Door Foundation passed the torch to SAC in 2020. Thanks to the support of our generous sponsors, nearly 100 community members received scholarships to make their attendance possible. (August 20, 2022)

Through our ongoing work as a Gilead COMPASS Initiative® provided grants of over $1,000,000 to community-based organizations working to end HIV-related stigma in the South.

Dafina Ward, Executive Director, joined the National AIDS Memorial 35th Anniversary of the AIDS Memorial Quilt in San Francisco. Starting the beginning of our Change The Pattern partnership. (June 11, 2022)

Change The Pattern launched in Jackson, Mississippi! National AIDS Memorial partnered with SAC to bring the AIDS Memorial Quilt to the South on a historic tour. The first Change The Pattern Ambassador, Sheryl Lee Ralph, was named and grants were awarded to HIV-focused organizations working to address the water crisis in Jackson. (September 2022)

We worked with Positively Aware Magazine in June for Long-Term Survivors Month on highlighting 5 long-term survivors. (June 2022)

Our first webinar of the year and our most watched webinar. Marnina Miller, Community Outreach Associate pulled together women to discuss living with HIV for National Women & Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. (March 10, 2022)

Latino Commission on AIDS recognized SAC at the 2022 Cielo Gala in New York with the Fuerza Award for our continued efforts to create change in the South. We also want to congratulate Joaquín Carcaño, our Board Secretary, who made the Poz 100 list this year! (October 14, 2022)

SAC Board and staff launched a strategic planning process that included interviews and surveys with input from over 250 partners and stakeholders! The culminating five-year plan will be unveiled in 2023. (June 23, 2022)

The SAC team was excited to return to live programming, presenting at the American Bar Association HIV Law Conference, the National EHE Research Conference, the Proclamations of Faith Conference, Encuentro 2022 Conference (Latinx LGBTQ+ Southerners), and more!  It was a thrill to attend USCHA in Puerto Rico, where we were able to share more information about working on the 20th Anniversary Southern Manifesto. (October 10, 2022)

Change The Pattern's next stop was Montgomery, Alabama, during World AIDS Day. We announced our next Ambassador, Roy Wood Jr. (December 2, 2022)