I Am My Brother’s/Sister’s Keeper: Partnerships Make All the Difference

National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day 2013

Created thirteen years ago by five community based organizations determine to make a difference in the fight against HIV and AIDS, National Black HIV AIDS Awareness Day, February 7, 2013, is designed to encourage African-Americans to seek HIV testing and become more aware of the impact that the epidemic continues to have on America’s communities of color. This year’s theme, “I Am My Brother’s/Sister’s Keep: Fighting HIV/AIDS      causes us to reflect on how we go about our daily efforts to help save our communities from the epidemic.  We must work in partnership, everyday, to accomplish this goal.

Coalition building is a key component in effectively fighting the epidemic. While HIV/AIDS is often addressed through the individual community-based initiatives of organizations and service providers, there is tremendous strength in working together to fight the epidemic. As community caretakers, we can accomplish so much more when we collaborate towards the same goal, which after more than 30 years remains the same, to rid our communities of HIV/ AIDS.

The Watchful Eye’s model for community intervention and awareness is based on the knowledge that when organizations and individuals work together towards a common goal, everyone benefits at the end of the day and the community receives a much better product. Whether it’s a testing initiative or raising awareness, the number of participants is increased exponentially when resources are combined and a common goal is identified.

During the past twelve months we have worked diligently with elected officials including Senators John Sampson, Eric Adams, Kevin Parker, Ruth Hassel-Thompson, and others.  We collaborated with community leaders including Darryl C. Towns, Commissioner/CEO of NYS Homes and Community Renewal and Al Van, District 36 Council Member, to maximize our messages that stress the need for individuals to know their HIV status.  We believe that the theme of this year’s NBHAAD is a mirror into our efforts to rid our community of HIV/AIDS.”

Our efforts found us collaborating with New York State Senator Tom Duane, City Council Members Leticia James, Darlene Mealy and Council President Christine Quinn, and others for an HIV awareness breakfast at City Hall.  Fueled by our desire to make a positive impact in the fight against HIV and AIDS, we travelled from the streets of New York City to the halls of our nation’s capital to meet with our elected officials to remind them that thirty years later, our communities are still suffering.

We are confident the AIDS will not win this battle.  We are convinced because of the resilience we have witnessed from our partners such as the Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center, and CEO Lizetta Duncan-Moore, and Dr. Errol Byer, as we joined them to provide information and services to residents in Fort Green and surrounding communities.  We’ve witnessed the resilience of the Black Vets for Social Justice, under the leadership of Wendy McClinton, to ensure that our service men and women have access to health related services that keeps them safe and informs them of the realities of HIV and AIDS. 

Our partnerships took us to St. Francis College in scenic Brooklyn Heights for the Brooklyn Knows initiative.  The initiative, sponsored by the New York City Department of Health, brought together representatives from some ninety-six coalition partners to discuss activities that maximize their collective services to the city’s residents.

Reflecting over the past year, and recognizing the work that lies ahead, the Watchful Eye is grateful to its many partners for their ongoing collaborations and support.  We are committed to reducing the number of HIV infections and AIDS mortalities through education and services.

This year, in recognition of NBHAAD’s theme, on Sunday, February 10th we will partner with Bright Temple AME Church, located in the Hunts Point section of the Bronx, to raise a commemorative Watchful Eye Red Ribbon HIV Awareness flag.  This collaborative initiative is designed to raise awareness among Hunts Point residents to educate them about available services and local community based organizations that exist right there in the community to meet their health related needs.  We are inspired by our work with Rev. Kahli Mootoo, Pastor of Bright Temple, and his efforts in the desire to inspire his community down the path to better health. 

The Black HIV AIDS Awareness Day, by working together in partnership, and realizing that we are our brother’s and sister’s keeper, we can better serve our community through testing and awareness initiatives and making HIV and AIDS a community conversation.  We believe that collaborative work maximizes opportunities to encourage residents to bring HIV and AIDS issues out of the dark corners and into the light where they can be discussed in an open and nonjudgmental environment, after all this is why national Black HIV AIDS Awareness Day was created thirteen years ago.

We hope that this year African-Americans across the United States will further embrace the concept of partnerships as we go about ridding our communities of HIV AIDS.  The Watchful Eye remains committed to working with our brothers and sisters to help end the steady march of HIV/AIDS in our community.

WATCHFUL EYE: A Year in Reflection
World AIDS Day 2012

Over the past twelve months the Watchful Eye has worked diligently to enhance our mission to build a community level infrastructure through community mobilization and outreach.  Our work could not have been accomplished without the commitment of our elected officials and community leaders including NYS Senators John Sampson, Eric Adams, Kevin Parker, Ruth Hassell-Thompson, Assemblywoman Annette Robinson and others who continue to wear their red ribbons proudly and educate their constituents on the importance of “Getting Tested and Knowing their Status”.  We worked with existing and new partners, and collaborated with community leaders including Darryl C. Towns, Commissioner/CEO of NYS Homes and Community Renewal and NYC Councilman Al Vann  to maximize our messages that stress the need for individuals to know their HIV status.  We believe that our work reflects this year’s World AIDS Day theme, “Getting to zero: zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths.”

Our first quarter efforts found us collaborating with Senator Tom Duane, New York City Council Members Leticia James, Darlene Mealy, Robert Jackson and NYC Council Speaker Christine Quinn, and others for an HIV awareness breakfast at City Hall.  Fueled by our desire to make a positive impact in the fight against HIV and AIDS, we traveled from the streets of New York City to the halls of our nation’s capital to meet with our elected officials to remind them that thirty years later, our communities are still suffering.

Our Faith leaders such as Rev. Al Sharpton, Rev. Dr. Robert Waterman, Elder Stacy Latimer, Bishop Gerald Seabrooks and all those apart of the African-American Clergy and Elected Officials Coalition (AACEO) who have continued to speak about HIV/AIDS from their pulpits  and have worked with Watchful Eye allowing us to make presentations to remove any myths about this epidemic.

We are confident that AIDS will not win this battle.  We are convinced because of the resilience we have witnessed from our partners such as the Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center and their CEO Lazetta Duncan-Moore and Chief Medical Office Dr. Errol Byer, as we joined them to provide information and services to residents in Fort Green and surrounding communities.  We’ve witnessed the resilience of the Black Veterans for Social Justice, under the leadership of Wendy McClinton, to ensure that our service men and women have access to health related services that keeps them safe and informs them of the realities of HIV and AIDS. 

We have continued our partnership with the UniverSoul Circus where we talk to audiences both young and old to get the word out about HIV/AIDS. We were excited this year to work with Kan Cobra Karate Academy and upcoming R&B artist Taneka Samone to provide the pre and half show entertainment. This form of “edutainment” allows us to not only entertain but educate the communities across the city about protecting themselves and knowing their status by providing onsite testing during each show.  Over the past months we’ve witnessed the difference one voice can make as we participated in the National Basketball Association’s 2012 Draft events to take messages to young men who have been provided with  unique opportunities for wealth, fame and access.  Our goal was to talk with them, to help keep them safe, and informed.

We traveled to Washington, DC with our partners the New York City Faith in Action Coalition where we met with friends and colleagues from across the country including Pernessa Seele, President and CEO of the Balm in Gilead, Bishop Yvette Flunder Founder and Senior Pastor of the City of Refuge, for the 2012 International Conference on AIDS. Our goal was to take the International Conference on AIDS out of the edifices, and conference rooms, and into the streets.   

In New York we brought the community together under a magnificent skyline for the Red Party.  Dubbed, A Party With A Purpose, the festive event was an opportunity for over 250 partygoers to have a good time while receiving HIV awareness information atop the scenic Brooklyn Terrace Rooftop Lounge.

Our return to Washington was highlighted as we attended the 42nd annual Congressional Black Caucus to take part in a variety of workshops, panels and discussions that discussed a variety of health related issues including HIV/AIDS.  We took part in discussions on how leadership can play a role in ending the HIV epidemic via economic, social, scientific and political collaborations.  These factors, when in synergy, can play an impactful role in reducing the numbers of HIV infection and AIDS mortality in America’s communities of color. 

Despite our many accomplishments by the third quarter of the year, our desire to do even more was stronger than ever.  In direct response to the increasing need to meet the health related challenges faced by residents of economically challenged communities in Bedford Stuyvesant, Fort Green, Brownsville, Crown Heights, and other areas, we partnered with the Brooklyn Plaza Medical Center and the University Settlement Ingersoll Community Center for the ribbon cutting and official opening of the Medical Center’s Mobile Health Clinic.  The Clinic offers blood pressure, glucose, vision, hearing, heart disease, diabetes, breast cancer and HIV testing to the public.   

Our partnerships took us to St. Francis College in scenic Brooklyn Heights for the Brooklyn Knows Initiative annual partnership meeting.  The initiative, sponsored by the New York City Department of Health, brought together representatives from some ninety-six coalition partners to discuss activities that maximize their collective services to the city’s residents.

Most recently we created an after-hours social event for supporters, partners, and community leaders who have shown their support towards our efforts to save our community.   At the event we introduced our supporters to new leadership at the Watchful Eye, including Jessica Allen, Monsanto Als, Rev. Stacy Latimer, Rev. Kahli Mootoo, and Will Graham, who will take the Watchful Eye to the next level of community mobilization in an effort to end HIV and AIDS in our communities. 

Reflecting over the past year, and recognizing the work that lies ahead, the Watchful Eye is grateful to its many partners for their ongoing collaborations and support.  We are committed to reducing the number of HIV infections and AIDS mortalities through education and services. We are committed to the goal of Getting to zero: zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS related deaths"  Similarly, we remain committed to working with organizations dedicated to putting community first!

Until There Is a Cure... We will be keeping a Watchful Eye...

Divinah “Dee” Bailey
Founder

Dee Bailey, Senator John L. Sampson and Senator Eric Adams address crowd at the UniverSoul Circus	Ingrid Martin, Jessica Allen, Taneka Samone and Co. and Dee Bailey
Robert Massey, Founder Xmile Mindset and Dee Bailey	Senator Eric Adams gives message to attendees of the Red Party
Monsanto Als, Jessica Allen, and Dee Bailey	BPMC Breakfast
BPMC Breakfast	Housing Commissioner Darryl C. Towns, Dee Bailey, and NYC Councilman Matthieu Eugene
Brooklyn Deputy Borough President Sandra Chapman	Dr. William Pollard, President Medgar Evers College, Carrie Mobley, Director of Faith Based Initiatives NYS Senate, Detective Wil Manderson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Officer Wil Jenkins, Dee Bailey and Rev. Dr. Robert Waterman
Wendy McClinton - CEO Black Vets for Social justice	The United States Conference on AIDS 2012
Dr. Errol Byer - Chief Medical Officer BMPC	Watchful Eye Team
International Conference On AIDS 2012	International Conference On AIDS 2012
Leardership Luncheon World AIDS Day 2011	Al Vann World AIDS Day 2011
Speaker receives official NYC T Shirt World AIDS Day	Senator Tom Duane World AIDS Day 2011

On Friday, February 3, 2012 at 8:30am, The Rev. Al Sharpton founder of the National Action Network provided a dynamic keynote address at a unique gathering of over 100 clergy, elected officials and other leaders who took part in a HIV/AIDS forum at Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn. This Clergy and Leadership breakfast entitled - Changing the Course of HIV 1 Black Life at a Time, was a partnership between the college and Watchful Eye. The forum which was held in commemoration of this year's National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (February 7th) was co-sponsored by the African American Clergy and Elected Officials Coalition and designed to re-energize the African American leadership in the fight against HIV and AIDS.