The AIDS Institute Inc

The AIDS Institutes (TAI) education programs are expansive in scope and impact. As part of TAIs Florida Consortium for HIV/AIDS Research (FCHAR) program. TAI staff planned and facilitated the 2023 Florida Community Providers and Researchers (Florida CPR). The conference sponsors were TAIs FCHAR and the Southern HIV & Alcohol Research Consortium (SHARC), brought together community members, providers, and researchers to network with colleagues and peers, learn about ongoing and current research initiatives throughout the state, and create synergy amongst the attendees for potential future collaborative research projects. This unique event brought community stakeholders, healthcare providers, and researchers to the same room to cross-share information that might not otherwise be heard, promoting inclusion of community and providers perspectives into the research community. Another component of TAIs education and advocacy programs is the Patient Advocacy Leaders (PALS) Initiative and Center for Patient Advocacy Leaders (CPALs). PALS has been a trusted and respected series of patient advocacy meetings considered to be best-in-class. It was designed to connect diverse health advocacy leaders to improve their advocacy capacity and identify ways to collaborate and unify the voices of many. The Center (CPALs) was launched upon fundamental principles, practices, and values of PALS; the staff has been better able to harness and more broadly utilize the resources, learnings, and the collective advocacy actions of health leaders and their grassroots organizations from all across the country. This has ultimately led to amplifying the patient voice loud and making advocacy efforts more effective. The Advocate Advisor network (an expansion of our former PALS Advisory Board) is crucial to enabling our well-established advocate-centered model, By Advocates, For Advocates, which focuses on the needs of patients and caregivers, health advocacy leaders, their organizations, and the diverse communities they serve. In addition to establishing CPALs and expanding the pool of advisors, TAI also introduced a program called Patient Advocacy Leaders United (PALs United). PALs United programs are designed to focus on a single therapeutic area or population instead of cross-therapeutic/general healthcare programs like National PALs. Working in this more focused way allows for a deeper dive into the therapeutic area or populations issues, with a better chance for identifying and pursuing meaningful action. Another of TAIs programs is Women Informing Now (WIN) Micro-Grant Program. It was established to provide micro-grant funds to activate individuals and organizations leading grassroots HIV outreach projects that innovatively reach cis and/or transgender women to break down isolation and stigma via the prevention, education, and engagement regarding HIV and sexual health. TAIs capacity building & technical assistance, patient advocacy training & support, women & children programs, faith initiatives, public policy & health policy analysis, community and provider education, training & skills building, HIV/AIDS & hepatitis community planning, HIV/AIDS & hepatitis research, communications, convening, conference planning & meeting coordination, and a highly acclaimed intern and fellowship program are just some of the successful programs. This expanded vision and scope of TAI, effectively addresses the many aspects of HIV/AIDS and other chronic disease-related issues. Part of TAIs work included planning, coordinating, and facilitation of all-digital webinars, virtual meetings, and small and large-scale face-to-face meetings and conferences.