From the Leadership Team & Board of Directors:
Positive Impact Health Centers was created by community members out of a history of protest and demands to create a better system of care for people living with HIV. The advances in HIV/AIDS research, treatment, and care that have been made over the past three decades are the result of the struggle and sacrifices of activists and community members who were willing to speak truth to power and demand meaningful change. Given that this is our history, we stand with those who seek justice and with those who exercise their rights to peacefully protest against systemic racism and to demand that we create a better and more equitable nation.
Black Lives Matter. The brutal killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Nina Pop, Tony McDade and countless other Black people who are both known and unknown to us, are violent manifestations of the systemic racism that pervades both our past and our present as a nation. As an organization that is dedicated to providing comprehensive care to people living with HIV and that works towards an end to the HIV epidemic, we at Positive Impact Health Centers know that the same underlying systemic conditions that create the racial disparities in HIV that we see everyday are the same underlying systemic conditions that give rise to the criminalization of Black and Brown people and the violence that is committed against them. Just as HIV/AIDS, health disparities, and other inequalities are public health issues, so is racism.
We at Positive Impact Health Centers are dedicated to ending systemic racism within our organization and throughout the metro- Atlanta community. We continue to be inspired by members of our own team who are speaking out bravely, advocating for change, and protesting peacefully.
On June 4th, our senior leadership met to discuss new and innovative ways to support our staff and clients, and heal our community. We are reevaluating our own policies, programs, staff trainings, and support programs to ensure our actions result in positive change for our staff and those we serve. Our goal is to increase our partnerships in Atlanta to encourage and demand justice for our clients and all marginalized persons living in our community. On June 11, we will meet as an entire organization to discuss our next steps to achieve this change. We are committed to harnessing the energy of our leadership and staff to represent the interests of all people living within the local communities we serve.
We know words alone will not create the changes that are needed, but we are writing to assure you, our supporters, our staff, our patients/clients and friends, that we are fully committed to having a positive impact in our community and achieving social justice and equality for all. We are listening and we are committed to doing the work that this moment demands of all of us.