SocialScope Productions Professional Development Diversity & Inclusion 2019 Series: HIV Criminalization, Disclosure & Impact on People Living with HIV: A Go-To Guide on HIV, our State Laws, Advocacy & Support Facilitators: Merrique Jenson Friday, October 18, 2019 10am-4:30pm $35 registration This day-long institute will provide participants with a foundation education on HIV 101, the ways media and public discourse has shaped stigma, Missouri state laws on HIV and disclosure, and how these laws often criminalize PLHIV. Join us to learn more about these current issues that often impact marginalized communities, such as people of color, women, LGBTQ people, those using survival skills, experiencing homelessness, engaging in sex work and people incarcerated. This is a great professional development opportunity for people who are service and health care providers, people who are connected with our legal system and people living with HIV. General community members are also welcome to attend. Light refreshments and snacks will be provided. This institute will focus on a variety of topics, including: An overview of how HIV stigma was shaped around marginalized communities trauma and deaths A foundation education on HIV, how someone is exposed to the virus, safety precautions, and treatment Specific advocacy strategies to help PLHIV and their allies navigate state laws and keep PLHIV safe from threats, stigma and criminalization An overview on Ryan White and the AIDS Drug Assistance Programs (ADAP) requirements for People Living with HIV in relation to disclosure Stories from PLHIV who are survivors of criminalization laws and federal/state violence Case-Scenarios & group work application to practice advocacy approaches to support PLHIV Current movements and organizations working to end or modernize criminalization state laws targeting PLHIV This training is led by nationally recognized youth advocate and educator, Merrique Jenson, who has worked for the past 18 years directly as a professional anti-violence and systems advocate for LGBTQ youth in schools and helped build multiple regional and statewide LGBTQ youth programs in Chicago, St. Louis and Kansas City. This institute will occur on Friday, September 20 from 10 am-4: 30 pm. It will be hosted in the at SocialScope Studios in the Crossroads at 2016 Baltimore Ave, Studio 301, KCMO 64108. ----- About your Trainers: Merrique Jenson (she/her) is a queer and trans, multiracial anti-violence advocate and artist of color. For the past 17 years, she has worked closely with street-based youth, communities of color, and LGBTQ people in the fields of youth programming, anti-violence advocacy, and community empowerment. She is the Director of SocialScope Productions, a consulting and coaching company focused on LGBTQ multimedia projects, community storytelling, and building innovative, equity program design models and professional development trainings, which most recently headlined Seattle Pride the past two years in 2017 & 2018. She also currently serves both as the Program Director for Transformations, a KC trans and gender-expansive youth group for those 12-18 years old and the Producer for the Get Woke: Queer and Trans People of Color event series focused on uplifting and affirming queer and trans communities of color. In 2015, Merrique was appointed as the lead advocate to help loved ones and their communities cope and heal from 3 LGBTQ homicides in Kansas City and working with the FBI on hate crime investigations. In response to this communal trauma in Kansas City, she helped build resiliency based programs, including the 2015 KC Real Talk: LGBTQ Conversations for Change video and town hall series and the 2016 KC TGNC Summit: building a leadership fountain for TGNC youth and TGNC people of color. She previously worked as the Manager of Youth Services for the Kansas City Anti-Violence Project, providing multi-state advocacy directly to LGBTQ youth affected by trauma and violence, as well as the LGBTQ Youth Advocate at Safe Connections in St. Louis, helping build the first regional LGBTQ youth anti-violence program. Merrique is a published writer and her intersectional projects have received national awards, specifically with her leadership and work with young people and homeless and vulnerable youth, racial justice advocacy, addressing the juvenile legal system and media's impact on queer lives. She has keynoted Yale University's Pride Month series in 2016, Sexual Assault Awareness Month for the University of Iowa in 2015, as well as Take Back the Night at Southern Oregon University in 2015, and featured on The Oprah Show in 2006.