Febuary 1, 2001 - Volume 1 Number 2

>>>> UPCOMING EVENTS <<<<

** Puttin' On The Lips Grand Finals
** February 8 - Thursday, 9:00pm
** DIVAS, 1081 Post Street at Polk, San Francisco
It’s fabulous! It’s fun! It’s educational! It’s the culmination of A&PIWC’s quarterly lypsync contest produced by our Metamorphosis Program. Our celebrity judges will select the ultimate champion from among the most talented performers in the Transgender Community. Free giveaways for the first 100 attendees. For a photo album of past winners visit www.apiwellness.org/v20/tg/lips.html

** Sawatdee Valentine's Night Party
** February 13 -- Tuesday, 7:00pm-10:00pm
A special Valentine's Party for Thai / Lao Gay & Bisexual Men and their friends. Come get to know each other, share experiences and thoughts, eat, sing, mingle and dance together. For location or more information contact Timmy Promlack at 415.292.3400 extension 349.

** Volunteer Training
** February 23, 24 & 25
** Friday 6 - 10 pm; Saturday and Sunday 9 am - 5 pm
** A&PIWC, 730 Polk Street, 4th floor

Want to get involved and help fight HIV? Want to gain new skills and make new friends while helping the community? Are you interested in doing outreach at the bars and clubs? Interested in becoming a paid Peer Leader? This free training will cover topics such as: Asians & Pacific Islanders and HIV/AIDS * HIV/STD Transmission and Safer Sex * HIV Testing, Sex and Gender Diversity * Panel Discussion: Asians & Pacific Islanders Living with HIV/AIDS * Outreach, Peer Counseling, and HIV Treatments. Food and drinks are provided. For more information or to register please contact Lance Toma at 415.292.3400 extension 355

Check out A&PIWC’s website to find out about our upcoming events ranging from lei making workshops and hula classes to support groups and performances. www.apiwellness.org/v20/upcoming/upcoming.html

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>> JOHN S. SAN AGUSTIN: NEW BOARD CHAIR <<

We welcome the election of John S. San Agustin as chair of A&PIWC’s Board of Directors. John is a tax manager at Morling & Company where he specializes in personal financial planning, investment management and tax planning. John grew up on Guam as part of a politically active family: his father, Joe, held a number of governmental offices including service as the Speaker of the Guam Legislature. John came to the San Francisco Bay area to attend St. Mary’s College in 1981 and stayed after graduation.

A long time friend of the agency, John served on the Board of Directors of Asian AIDS Project (1992-94), one of A&PIWC predecessor organizations, before returning to Guam where he served as Treasurer of the Coral Life Foundation, Guam’s HIV/AIDS service organization, and worked as a trust manager for the Bank of Guam. In 1999, he returned to San Francisco and joined A&PIWC’s board.

And a special thank you and congratulations to our outgoing Board Chair IRL S. BAREFIELD. Irl recently left his position as director of HIV Care and Clinical Research at Saint Francis Memorial Hospital to become executive director of the West Hollywood-based AIDS Research Alliance (ARA). ARA's mission is to find and accelerate the development of effective treatments for HIV and its complications by conducting cutting edge research and clinical trials. You can learn more by visiting their website at www.aidsresearch.org/ Recently, Irl was also elected to the board of directors of the national advocacy group AIDS Action. Irl will remain on A&PIWC’s board and we will continue to benefit from his excellent counsel.

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>> DEMOGRAPHICS: JUST THE FACTS <<

Through June 1999, 724 cumulative Asian & Pacific Islander (A&PI) AIDS cases were reported in San Francisco. This number is higher than the cumulative AIDS cases reported in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming in the same period. (CDC, HIV/STS Surveillance Report)

San Francisco’s AIDS incidence rate among A&PI cases per 100,000 is the highest of any metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. and over six times higher than the A&PI AIDS incidence rate for the rest of the nation.

Some seroprevalence studies of gay men in San Francisco and Los Angeles have found that A&PIs have higher rates of HIV infection than many other groups. One study of young gay men, ages 18-24, found that young A&PI gay men have the second highest rate of HIV infection (27%) of any racial group, after African American young gay men (35%), higher than rates for Latinos (25%) and Whites (15.5%).

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>> ASIAN & PACIFIC ISLANDER PRIDE 2001 STAGE <<

Making its debut last year, the Asian & Pacific Islander Stage was the most visible A&PI-focused event in the history of San Francisco’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Celebration.

Returning this year with an impressive lineup of talent representing the cultural diversity of San Francisco’s Asian and Pacific Islander communities, the A&PI Stage is produced by A&PIWC as part of its ongoing efforts to educate our community about the need for HIV and STD testing, practicing safer sex and accessing health care services. Visit our Pride 2000 Photo Album to see who performed last year: www.apiwellness.org/v20/pridestage.html

If you are part of a dance, music, or comedy group who would like TO PERFORM or if you would like TO VOLUNTEER and be part of the team that will produce and promote this year's Asian & Pacific Islander Stage, call Nikki Calma (Tita Aida) at 415.292.3400 extension 348. Nikki's always looking for new talent -- from singers and dancers to help distributing posters and flyers.

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THANK YOU. A special thanks to Lara Matsumura and Jarrod Sniffen of Mana Productions who raised $1,500 to support A&PIWC’s work at the Best of the Big Island concert held January 20th at the Palace of Fine Arts. The event also allowed our HIV/STD Prevention staff to reach out to the Hawaiian community with important messages about the need for HIV testing. We would also like to thank The Gap Foundation for increasing their support for our youth programs to $15,000 this year.

A&PIWC executive director John Manzon-Santos was invited by the Gay Asian Pacific Services Network of Los Angeles to present its Pacific Bridge Award to comedian Margaret Cho at its 16th Annual Pacific Bridge Awards ceremony on January 13th.

WELCOME NEW STAFF. Ankita Sadaf Kelly joins A&PIWC’s social marketing team as Media Coordinator with a strong background in journalism. She has worked as an editor for India Today, the largest English language news weekly in India as well as the California-based India West and ANG Newspapers, which owns The Oakland Tribune. Fluent in Hindi as well as English, Ankita is a volunteer counselor with Bay Area Women Against Rape and received her B.A. with honors from the University of Delhi.

Amanda Elder is our new HIV/STD Testing Coordinator - a new position created in response to the increasing neeed for testing services in A&PI communities. Amanda was an HIV Test Counselor Coordinator at Glide-Goodlet HIV/AIDS Project where she worked with the diverse Tenderloin neighborhood community. A big fan of African-Haitian dance, she graduated magna cum laude from California State University.

JOB OPENINGS. We are currently recruiting for a number of positions - many of them newly created in response to pressing community needs: HIV Treatment Education Certification Program Coordinator, HIV/STD Testing Counselor, Human Resources Manager, MIS Specialist, Pacific Islander Men’s Health Educator, Women’s Prevention Case Manager and Youth Prevention Case Manager. Please visit our website for job descriptions. www.apiwellness.org/v20/aboutus/jobopps.html

A&PIWC NEWS is published by the
© Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center (A&PIWC).
All rights reserved.


The mission of Asian and Pacific Islander Wellness Center is to educate, support, empower and advocate for Asian & Pacific Islander (A&PI) communities -- particularly A&PIs living with or at-risk for HIV/AIDS. A&PIWC is the oldest and most comprehensive, non-profit HIV/AIDS services organization in North America targeting Asian and Pacific Islander (A&PI) communities. To meet the needs of our clients who are often immigrants or refugees, A&PIWC's staff speak 18 languages.

Asian & Pacific Islander Wellness Center
730 Polk Street, 4th floor
San Francisco, CA 94109-7813
415.292.3400 Voice
415.292.3410 TTY
415.292.3404 Fax
www.apiwellness.org

APIWC NEWS CONTACTS
Ronald A. Nieberding, Editor
John Manzon-Santos, Executive Director
John S. San Agustin, Chair, Board of Directors
For questions and further information about APIWC NEWS or to have your name added or removed from our distribution list, please contact us at APIWCNews@apiwellness.org