We are writing to request your support in addressing a critical matter in our community.
HIV/AIDS continues to have a devastating impact on communities of color. Latinas are one of the fastest growing populations of people living with HIV and AIDS. For Latina women, between the ages of 35 – 44, HIV/AIDS continues to be the fourth leading cause of death. Of the Latinas infected with HIV in Queens, 45% were infected via heterosexual sex. Immigrant Latinas are at particularly high risk for HIV, as prevention programs do not adequately address language and cultural differences or provide them with immigration and legal rights information.
Voces Latinas is a Latina run non-profit organization founded in 2003 to address the crisis in Queens, New York, the city’s epicenter of newly arriving immigrants from Latin America. Our mission is to reduce the rate of HIV infection among Latinas, specifically immigrant Latinas, by empowering them with education, leadership and advocacy skills to outreach to other Latinas in their community in order to develop and maintain a support network for one another. We are currently the only group in Queens organizing annual conferences and forums in Spanish that educate women about HIV and AIDS prevention. We also train service providers to be culturally sensitive to the needs of Immigrant Latinas living with and at risk for HIV.
We need your help. In 2008 we will embark on our peer education project, with the goal of outreaching to 1000 Latinas in Queens. This project will provide Latinas with resources and referrals for legal and immigration assistance, as well as medical and mental health services. Through this extensive outreach we expect to train 500 Latinas, empowering them with the skills and information necessary to make informed decisions that will protect them and their families from the spread of HIV. Our ultimate goal is to develop a safe place for Latinas, including women already diagnosed with HIV, to meet, ask questions and support one another. We would appreciate any amount you are able to contribute; even a modest contribution will support our efforts to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS.
Thank you in advance for your support.
Contributions should be made out to Voces Latinas, 43-22 50th St., Suite 2E, Woodside, NY 11377, Attention: Nathaly Rubio-Torio.
If you are interested in learning more about our organization or would like to get involved with this project, please contact Nathaly Rubio-Torio, Co-Founder/Executive Director at (718)593-4528, e-mail at nrubio-torio@voceslatinas.org or Melissa Faith Ramirez, at mramirez@voceslatinas.org. To make a donation here on our website please click on button below.