Every young person has the right to the tools and information they need to prevent HIV.
Young people need honest sex education and access to condoms and PrEP, the daily medication that helps prevent HIV. We need information that is culturally relevant and helps us build our skills using condoms, talking about condoms, and advocating for our rights.
“I want for young people and the future generations, especially those of color, to understand that even one voice can make an impact in challenging mainstream injustice.”
– Toraje, Engaging Communities around HIV Organizing (ECHO) activist
Through ECHO (Engaging Communities around HIV Organizing), Advocates recruits, trains and supports a cohort of young people living with HIV to serve as leaders in the fight to end HIV stigma and criminalization.
ECHO (Engaging Communities around HIV Organizing)
ECHO leaders recognize HIV’s disparate impact on young people of color, including Black and Latino YMSM and trans youth of color. Members use social media campaigns, peer education, storytelling and media outreach to raise awareness of the interconnection between HIV disparity, racism, homophobia, and transphobia and advocate for the inclusion of youth most impacted by HIV in the planning, implementation, and evaluation of programs and policies that affect their health and well being.