Jeff Haskins, Deputy Director, Project TEACH at Philadelphia FIGHT

March 2021 - Thera Community Champion

Jeff has been an HIV/AIDS activist for over 30 years. He brought his talents to Philadelphia FIGHT in 2017. Currently, he serves as Deputy Director of TEACH Program, FIGHT’s signature Education program. Project TEACH (Treatment Education Activists Combating HIV) is an innovative health education program which trains people living with HIV/AIDS to act as peer educators, activists and advocates in the under-served communities hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic — low-income communities and communities of color. TEACH focuses not only on prevention but treatment education, outreach and advocacy. TEACH instructs its students to not only live with the virus but to thrive. Last year was a very challenging for the TEACH program due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the program persevered under Jeff’s leadership. Jeff turned the TEACH program virtual first the first time in the program’s history to much success. In fact, he helped the program reach over 500 students during 2020. He keeps his many students, former TEACH alumni and the local HIV community at large engaged by developing educational programming such as lectures, movie nights and community talks centered around current topics.