Project WISH

06/28/2023

Hi, Chicago!

There's a lot going on locally during Pride Month everywhere, and there's even more going on on a national scale.

Here's our June Directors' Message (Pride Edition) from UIC's Center for Clinical and Translational Science.

Read how "Charlie Peterson and James Flamm reflect on what it means to be an ally and how we can advocate for the LGBTQ+ community beyond the month of June."

June Message from the Directors: On Being an Ally Charlie Peterson & James Flamm, with Richard Novak and Robin Mermelstein | Posted on June 21, 2023 director's message Heading link Copy link June is Pride Month. What do you think about when Pride Month comes up? Maybe Midsommarfest in Andersonville,...

06/13/2023

About us! 🩺💉🦠🩻💞

05/18/2023

Project WISH attended the Women's Connection Summit today, an event hosted by AIDS Foundation Chicago (AFC), IL Dept of Public Health and the IL Dept of Corrections. This summit focuses on "the needs of cisgender and transgender women reentering communities after release from Illinois correctional facilities."

Project WISH was happy to provide PrEP and HIV (prevention, treatment, and U=U) education, while distributing safer s*x materials. Lots of people didn't know that PrEP is for everyone or that 1 in 5 new HIV acquisitions is a woman, predominantly Black/African American or Latina/Latine.

Conversation is key! So is community! Spread the love and keep talking to each other. We are stronger together!

AIDS Foundation Chicago Associate Board AIDS Foundation Chicago Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH)

05/17/2023

Project WISH attended a networking event held by the UIC School of Public Health and CDPH in order to meet more community nonprofits to create more partnerships and better take care of Chicagoans' health! We are stronger together.

05/10/2023

UIC Project WISH staff and faculty, along with representation from our Community Advisory Board, attended the HIV Vaccine Trial Network's (HVTN) Full Group Meeting last week in Washington, DC discussing scientific efforts in vaccinology, social/behavioral sciences, and immunology to address prevention needs for HIV and tuberculosis globally, and look at responses to COVID-19, as well.

Happy to be a part of the process to take care of the health of Chicagoans, Americans, and our global sisters and brothers. We are stronger together.

04/28/2023

UIC Project WISH, along with friends from the AIDS Foundation Chicago Associate Board and the Vernita Gray Council for Philanthropy, showed support for our trans sisters and brothers at this year's Trans Media Fashion Show.

"Trans Media Fashion is part of Chicago Fashion Week powered by FashionBar Chicago in partnership with Howard Brown Health to showcase trans and nonbinary models to highlight the fluidity of fashion.

We would like to thank FashionBar Chicago and Howard Brown for a wonderful, uplifting, supportive, energizing event!

04/24/2023

Hello Chicagoland!

Project WISH in the Department of Medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) is conducting a Phase 3 long-acting investigational PrEP trial. Would you like to volunteer for a 2x/year PrEP injectable trial?

You may qualify. Are you:

• Currently not on PrEP?

• Any part of any of the following groups:

o Race/Ethnicity:
- American Indian
- Asian
- Black
- Latinx (of any race)
- Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander
- White (if you are transgender/nonbinary or if you identify as
Latinx)
- Mixed ancestry

o Gender Identity:
- Cisgender man (of color, Latinx, or of mixed ancestry) who
has s*x with men
- Transgender men/women or gender nonbinary individuals (of
any race/ethnicity)

• 18 years of age or older?

• Wanting HIV testing, but haven’t done it in 3 months?

• Bottoming and only sometimes use a condom?

For more information about the Gilead lenacapavir investigational trial and how to join, email us at ProjectWISHdom@uic.edu or call us at 312.413.5897. Additionally, you may go to the study website at https://www.purposestudies.com/purpose2/ and/or Clin Trials.gov at https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04925752to learn more about the study, look at reasons to consider participation, and check out the clinical research and study FAQ lists.

04/21/2023

Hi, Chicagoland!

Project WISH joined in this year's AIDS Foundation Chicago Advocacy Day 2023 ( ) at the Capitol in Springfield, IL.

We were in the company of several teams from AIDS Foundation Chicago (Policy & Advocacy, Getting to Zero IL, IL ASAP, Community Mobilization, Communications, and the AIDS Foundation Chicago Associate Board), along with colleagues from Center on Halsted, Howard Brown's Vernita Gray Council for Philanthropy, Chicago House (and CEO Michael Herman), Cook County CORE, and other organizations across the state of IL to advocate for funding for HIV infrastructure, housing, and access to healthcare. We also advocated for health insurance affordability, healthcare provider cultural competency, overdose prevention sites, and gender-inclusive restrooms!

Project WISH is proud to advocate for the health of Illinoisans, Chicagolanders, and Chicagoans!

04/18/2023

Project WISH Volunteering at Center on Halsted's 2023 Human First Gala with AIDS Foundation Chicago Associate Board and Vernita Gray Council for Philanthropy member(s)!

"Center on Halsted advances community and secures the health and well-being of the Le***an, Gay, Bis*xual, Transgender, and Q***r people of Chicagoland. As the Midwest’s most comprehensive LGBTQ community center, the organization now also includes Center on Addison, an LGBTQ Senior Center, and Center on Cottage Grove, a space to better serve LGBTQ community members living on the South Side, especially those vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. More than 1,000 community members visit the Center every day."

AIDS Foundation Chicago Associate Board

04/10/2023

April 10 is National Youth HIV/AIDS Awareness Day, a day to raise awareness about the impact of HIV on young people. Together, we can help young people stay healthy by encouraging HIV testing, prevention, and treatment. http://bit.ly/3yidy0p

03/31/2023

While the White House is talking up their work on trans rights and those of the LGBTQIA+ community, this country is experiencing unprecedented state-level efforts (430 bills) targeting trans and other LGBTQIA+ community members. Allies: speak up!