BRYAN JONES, Peer program Coordinator at Rural Women in Action

July 2021 - Thera Community Champion

Mr. Jones has been thriving with AIDS for over 38 years and has been an Advocate\Activist for half that time he is a Founding Steering Comm member of the International Undetectable =Untransmittable campaign {U=U}] And has spoken internationally on this . He was a part of the team when Canada was the first country to sign on to U=U. Bryan is the founder of a men living with HIV support dinner group called Gentlemen Quarterly "Positive men Doing positive things" with a roster of 110 men. Mr. Jones can often be found in the late hrs of the morning implementing his program called "Night Ride" providing sex workers and homeless individuals with condoms and cosmetic items and meals. .. Mr. Jones was apart of the team lead by Khadijah Abdul ,founder of RAHMA to put National Faith And HIV awareness day on the government calendar. He has participated in several civil disobedient arrests with Housing work and Popular Democracy fighting for Healthcare He is a co-chair founder of the Free NuShawn Williams coalition. He has been on the workgroup of the International Stigma conference for several years and was awarded the "Stigma Warrior Award ".He was a volunteer for two weeks in St.Lucia South Africa helping those living with HIV deal with stigma and medication adherence and acceptance. For over 10 years he has been a voting member of both The Cleveland Planning Council And the Ryan White regional advisory group. He has presented both nationally and internationally on Mass incarceration ,Housing instability and HIV as well as U=U. Mr Jones was very instrumental in the forming of the Ohio health modernization movement ..whose mission is to modernize the HIV non-disclosure laws in Ohio And Mr.Jones is responsible for initiating the mobilization of Ohio around these Laws and has been working nonstop for the past 10 years on this issue. He has been a part of the Sero project HIV Is Not A Crime three consecutive training developing policies and practices for states around the country that are Modernizing and revising their HIV criminalization laws. He is the founder of The "DIRT" Advocacy movement which is a proven model of how to do effective outreach and prevention in the black community. He is also the founder of the "Sankofa HIV Initiative". This initiative gives healing weekend for PLWHAs. It also provides webinars and training for organizations as well as PLWHA,s. All of the programs are developed and Implemented by PLWHA,s. Mr. Jones is the proud recipient of The EquitasHealth 2016 Trailblazer Award for a lifelong commitment to the LGBTQ community and HIV\AIDS and the Equitas Health 2017 Community Advocate Award. Bryan also has performed his one-man theatrical piece throughout the U.S and Abroad entitled A.I.>D.S….and I Die Slowly. He also has had the honor to present at 3 International Aids Conferences. He is often sought after to present and speak because of his compassion and real direct conversation on many issues. He can be called upon at the 11th hour and will come through as if he was always supposed to present Bryan is a proud Rattler and Graduate of Florida A&M University with a B. S in broadcast Journalism.