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Next Meeting Wednesday, October 9 @ 6:30PM!

Location TBD – still workshopping. Looking forward to seeing everyone then for our fifth meeting!


Values & Agreements

Group Values

We value, respect, support, and stand with the communities that we serve in this space and beyond, including Black communities, transgender communities, and queer communities.

Community Agreements

In addition to its statement of values, the RESPOND study’s Community Advisory Group has created the following Community Agreements to guide the group’s work and collaborations.

  • Respect confidentiality
  • Respect everyone’s opinions
  • Let your voice be heard
  • Don’t take it personally
  • Teamwork makes the dream work
  • If we have a negative situation, we will call it out and call that person in respectfully, then, we will talk as a CAG when it comes to voting someone out in the event of unresolved issues

Role

The Community Advisory Group (CAG) collaborates on the research by providing general advice and input, as well as helping to guide adaptation and implementation of the Enhanced Social Network Strategy (eSNS) intervention using data gathered during the study’s first phase paired with their collective personal and professional experience. Meet the current members of the group below.

This group includes HIV activists, leaders, and community members in the Charlotte region, initially convened through the Getting to Zero initiative’s working group along with our research team’s established network of community partners. Its role includes reviewing preliminary data, consent documents, and recruitment procedures; advising the study team on safety and confidentiality measures; and guiding locally appropriate adaptation of the enhanced Social Network Strategy to the Charlotte area.

The RESPOND Community Advisory Group meets 2-4 times per year, in-person in Charlotte and virtually, from 2023 until the conclusion of the study in 2027.


Leadership

The Community Advisory Group will be led by Alicia Diggs, Manager of the Office of Community Engagement at the UNC Center for AIDS Research. Jesse Elkins, the RESPOND coordinator at UNC Charlotte/APHI, will also support the group.

Alicia Diggs
CAG Lead Liaison
UNC Chapel Hill
alicia_diggs@med.unc.edu

Jesse Elkins
Research Coordinator
UNC Charlotte/APHI
jstrunke@charlotte.edu


Advisory Group Members


Kayla Earley
(she/her)
External Affairs Community Liaison
ViiV Healthcare

Sheidera Pritchard
(she/her)
CEO & Founder
STIGMAAside

Dee Dee Richardson, BS
(she/her/hers)

LaChelle Davis-Moore
(she/her)
Director
NsideOut Excellence

Aleida Espinal
(she/her/ella)
Community Organizer
Latino Commission on AIDS & Latinos in the South

Devin Cokley
Program Manager, Carolina RAIN/The Drop

Junior Reid
CEO & Founder
Living HAPI

Travis Barnes
The Mimosa Way LLC

Sebastian Marin Cespedes
Research Assistant, APHI