In This Issue

Once for president of New York City's largest borough—Manhattan—and then one of the first Black women to run for mayor of that city, C. Virginia Fields now runs one of the most important organizations in the Black AIDS movement: the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS. This week writer Candace Y.A. Montague interviews Ms. Fields about NBLCA's conclave in Washington, D.C.

We also run a review of the new social-networking platform Google+, shared with us by our friends at AIDS.gov. As the national debate over the debt ceiling played out this summer, we saw indications that both Medicaid and Medicare might be placed on the chopping block over the upcoming months. But as the super-committee meets this fall, they might consider treading lightly.

Data from 2009 show significant increases in the number of young people enrolled in children's health insurance programs nationwide—a meaningful accomplishment in light of the fact that the number of kids in need rose dramatically, and a necessity for fighting the AIDS epidemic among teens. Read on to learn which states have the highest enrollment rates—and which have the worst.

Yours in the struggle,

Phill