Tenth District Congressman Donald
Payne is pleased to announce that Special Audiences, a Newark?based group
working with HIV/AIDS prevention, will present two informational posters
at the XIVth International AIDS Conference. This achievement is especially
impressive in light of the fact that the Conference received nearly 10,500
abstracts from scientists, researchers, and AIDS organizations around the
world. "Special Audiences has a special understanding of HIV/AIDS education
and prevention through the excellent programs they develop, and I'm glad
that this outstanding organization will have a chance to share this knowledge
with the international community," commented Congressman Payne.
Special Audiences, started in 1980, is a nonprofit minority organization
that creates a variety of effective prevention education and outreach programs
for at?risk teenagers and adults in northern New Jersey. TEEN-to-TEEN trains
and employs vulnerable teenagers from Newark to use theatre and workshops
to express their concerns about HIV, substance abuse, pregnancy, and violence.
In 1996, the Federal Center for Substance Abuse Prevention named TEEN-to-TEEN
one of the 20 best prevention programs in the nation. This year, with a
grant from The Prudential Foundation, they are branching out with a ground?breaking
intergenerational project, Bridges to Prevention, presenting performances
and interactive workshops to senior citizens, who have an important role
as educators in their communities.
Special Audiences also started Positive Players, a theatre company of
adult HIV+ actors who use their experiences to create drama that is both
powerful and has a strong educational message about prevention. One of
Special Audiences' newest projects is TOGETHER WE CAN, which employs and
trains HIV+ people as outreach workers. Using a peer "buddy" system, staff
help others access housing, social and medical services, job training,
and substance abuse counseling and treatment. These outreach workers
have a particular dedication to "making sure other people don't walk in
our shoes."
The Special Audience abstracts accepted by the International Conference
are based on the research of co-founder Ellen Bay. One study, based on
a survey of 337 teens and adults, calls for a new model to look at self-esteem
as a crucial factor in changing risky behaviors. Bay's other study resulted
from a survey of the TOGETHER WE CAN staff. Traditional measures of self-esteem
or job success are not necessarily applicable to this population, for whom
homelessness, incarceration, and poverty have been the norm.
Funding for the TOGETHER WE CAN program was initiated by the Congressional
Black Caucus. Congressman Payne, an active member and former Caucus Chairman,
is heartened by the extraordinary accomplishments of this program. "Now,
a short time after the program started, Special Audiences has learned how
to successfully employ HIV+ outreach workers in a community setting. It's
a small but valuable piece of the much larger picture of the international
AIDS crisis," explains Payne. "We need to continue turning knowledge into
responsible action."
