In This Issue

This week we report on the relaunch of our BTAN Chicago chapter, which has two new co-chairs and is off to a roaring start. Over the next several months, we'll be doing a lot of reporting on BTAN, as local chapters host the Black AIDS Institute's National PrEP Tour.

Keep your eye on BlackAIDS.org as well as Events in the Black AIDS Weekly for more information about when the tour will arrive in your city. Chicago's PrEP meeting will be held on November 18th.

Students at the nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities are already gearing up for National HIV/AIDS Awareness Day on February 7, 2016. They are putting out a call for prospective Student Ambassadors and will be accepting applications from young people interested in and committed to addressing challenges surrounding HIV/AIDS on their college campuses. Read on for more information.

The Kaiser Family Foundation reports that Medicaid spending rose by nearly 14 percent last year—its biggest annual increase in at least 20 years and a result of millions of newly eligible low-income enrollees under the Affordable Care Act. Kaiser Health News explains.

A report from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration calls for the practice of so-called "conversion" therapies for gay and lesbian youth to be eliminated nationwide.

Finally, at the U.S. Conference on AIDS back in September, we had the wonderful experience of speaking with DeRay Mckesson, one of the powerful young organizers who have stepped into leadership to end police brutality against Black Americans. Recently, he and several leaders from Black Lives Matter met with Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. Mckesson has written about that meeting; we encourage you to read it.

Yours in the struggle,

Phill