Advertise on podcast: Southern Steep: Brewing Stronger Community

In this episode, recorded on World AIDS Day, co-hosts Justin and Shanice are joined by Leisha McKinley-Beach, Founder and CEO of the Black Public Health Academy. Now, on the brink of retirement, McKinley-Beach discusses her lifelong commitment to ending the HIV epidemic in the U.S., and her new venture that aims to forge intergenerational partnerships that cultivate opportunities for other passionate activists and advocates to hold the torch and lead the fight. This episode’s Southern Charm goes out to SisterLove, an organization, founded in 1989, as a volunteer group of women interested in educating Atlanta and especially communities of women about HIV prevention, self-help, and safer sex techniques.

In this episode, co-hosts Rodderick and Shanice join forces to converse with the talented AJ King. AJ is based out of Washington DC and is the Director of Intercultural Affairs at Howard University, as well as the Director of Street Outreach at Sasha Bruce Youthwork. Conversations center around AJ’s passion for theatre and the arts, and how they’ve helped him pave a way towards advocacy, social work, and self-love. This episode’s Southern Charm goes out to Supporting and Mentoring Youth Advocates and Leaders (SMYAL). Committed to social change, SMYAL builds, sustains, and advocates for programs, policies, and services that LGBTQ youth need as they grow into adulthood. SMYAL offers a variety of services for LGBTQ youth like housing, mental health, sexual health scholarships and more.

Justin and Nicole are back, and joined by the Queen Bee of Let's BEEHIVE, Inc., Dr. Andrea Dunn. Dr. Dunn is buzzing all around Central Florida: creating impactful partnerships, engaging in research, educating Black women about PrEP through the "She is PrEPalicious!®" campaign, and bridging the gap between pharmacists and HIV prevention work. The conversation is rich and one you won't want to miss. This episode's Southern Charm highlights the Atlanta Black Women Leaders on PrEP, a coalition founded in 2017, to raise women’s awareness about PrEP. NASTAD recently collaborated on a two part webinar series centering Black Women Researchers and PrEP.

Southern Steep is back for Season 4, kicking it off with an amazing guest, Joelle Espeut, Director of Programming of The Normal Anomaly Initiative, Inc., a Houston based organization centering Black, queer plus persons to overcome barriers, end stigma and problematic narratives to actualize a new normal. Nicole is joined by a new co-host, Justin, and the pair dive into discussions on creating new norms, cultivating partnerships, celebrating community strengths and joy, addressing social determinants of health, and more. This episode's Southern Charm highlights the TRUTH Project. Based in Houston, the Telling Real Unapologetic Through Healing (T.R.U.T.H.) Project is a non-profit organization whose mission is to educate and mobilize LGBTQ communities of color and their allies through social arts that promote mental, emotional, and sexual health.

In Season three’s season finale, co-hosts Rodderick and Nicole have the delight of speaking with two guests, Mahelet Kebede (NASTAD) and Kelly Ross-Davis (1917 Clinic). Conversations go from defining trauma, trauma-informed approaches (TIA), and healing centered engagement, to how trauma impacts folks living with and impacted by HIV in the South, to the importance of utilizing sex positive language and moving away from “risk-based” language. Mahelet shares some different resources available through NASTAD’s updated trauma-informed approaches toolkit and Kelly speaks to how her clinic has worked to be more trauma-informed. This episode's Southern Charm highlights the Magic City Wellness Center located in Birmingham, Alabama. They offer many services, including primary care, Hormone Replacement Therapy, PrEP, mental health counseling and more. To learn more about the magic city wellness center go to: https://www.magiccitywellnesscenter.org/ We hope you’ve enjoyed this season of Southern Steep: Brewing Stronger Community and look forward to being back with you in the Fall!

On this episode of Southern Seep, Rodderick and Jacobi take a dive into the intersection of art, healing, health education, and advocacy with the founder and director of Brave Soul Collective(BSC), Monte J. Wolfe. BSC is a DC-based multi-disciplinary arts, education, and HIV/AIDS outreach organization working to illuminate the lives of LGBTQIA+ people of color through the performing and healing arts. Through BSC, Monte integrates storytelling into advocacy to amplify the voices of the most marginalized communities. During this episode, we discussed artist collaboration, the link between art and advocacy, and the importance of mentorship. Stayed tuned to the end of the episode where Monte graces Southern Seep with a monologue performance titled “Sacrifice”.

Southern Steeper’s Jacobi Hunter-Wright and Necole Elinoff come together to talk prevention, equity, access, and how trans-masculine identified communities are operationalizing leadership not only in the South, but across the landscape. Ty and Lee explore how the intersections of their personal and professional endeavors impact how they approach their communities and work. This discussion centers trans-equity, the need for additional resources, and provides the lens of trans-communities fighting for health equity and accessible resources and opportunities.

In this special episode of Southern Steep: Brewing Stronger Community, Nicole and Isaiah speak with attendees of NASTAD's first ever Southern CBO Summit, which took place in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, in January. This dynamic episode features  Dexter Davis (LGBT Life Center), E. Lee Dyer IV (BONDS), Dean Edwards (PALSS), & Malcolm Reid (THRIVESS), summit attendees from four impactful community-based organizations in the South, covering Virginia, South Carolina, and Georgia. Learn more about their organizations, what leadership means to them, and what they took away from participating in this year's inaugural Southern CBO summit. Save the date for 2024's Southern CBO Summit, taking place January 17-19, 2024, location to be announced.

This episode starts with Southern Steep host Isaiah calling Rodderick out on channeling Barbara Walters with his check-in question. Together they interviewed special guest Dietz on patient navigation and gender-affirming care. Dietz (any pronoun used with respect) is a transgender health educator, trainer and consultant who has specialized in the field of healthcare navigation in various iterations since 2012. Dietz specializes in expanding and improving transgender and gender non-conforming healthcare access and best practices throughout the South, and strives to strengthen community coalitions through shared compassion, courage, and expressions of liberatory joy. This episode took a dive into gender-affirming care, collaboration, pulling resources together, sharing strategies and solutions. For this month’s Southern Charm we highlighted, Crescent Care formerly known as NO/AIDS Task Force. Crescent Care is a federal qualified health center in New Orleans, Louisiana that brings caregivers and the community together as partners in health and wellness for all. They offer wrap-around services including primary medical care, dental care, behavioral health, case management, PrEP/PEP, food for friends pantry, gender-affirming services, and much more.

As part of its CDC-funded Capacity Building Assistance (CBA) project, NASTAD released Re-envisioning Community Engagement: A Practical Toolkit to Empower HIV Prevention Efforts with Marginalized Communities, in the summer of 2022. The toolkit was the culmination of a yearlong project aimed at enhancing community engagement efforts in the southern United States, and is inclusive of NASTAD’s collaboration with many community leaders across several jurisdictions. Project lead Kristina Santana, Senior Manager for Prevention at NASTAD, joins the podcast to discuss how the project came together, and why the toolkit has proved so useful to community-based organizations. You can download the toolkit here: https://nastad.org/resources/re-envisioning-community-engagement-toolkit

On this episode of Southern Steep, Bianca, and our newest host, Rodderick, interview the Assistant Director of Health Services at JASMYN, Christina Woodhouse. JASMYN is an organization that works with LGBTQIA+ teens and young adults to provide HIV/STI testing, PrEP, housing support, and mental health services in Jacksonville, Florida. This episode covers various topics, including mental health, body autonomy, youth homelessness, and public health nerds. Christina shares her strategy to work with youth effectively by meeting them where they are. She also discussed the importance of representation and allowing space for youth needs to be heard and seen. Christina talked about maintaining boundaries in practicing self-care with herself and her staff while doing intensive community work. We highlighted the Community Health and Empowerment Network in Miami, Florida, for the Southern Charm. The Community Health and Empowerment Network is a not-for-profit organization that provides health education, screening services, and resources to low-income and underserved individuals, aiming to help bridge health gaps in the community to reduce health disparities in Southern Florida.

On this episode of Southern Steep, Nicole and previous hostess with the mostess, Justine, speaks to Mulan Montrese Williams. This episode covers a wide range of topics, including: pageantry, sex work, housing, and ultimately the importance of investing in other Black, Trans Women and Black, Trans led organizations. Mulan shares more about her work with Divas in Dialogue, a sisterhood of trans women of color empowering, building and strengthening each other and how she is making a difference in her community. Mulan was recently featured in a NASTAD video titled, Our Story, Our Resilience, which can be watched here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4saBw-tPLc. To learn more about Divas in Dialogue and ways to support their organization visit here: https://miracleofloveinc.org/did/ This episode's Southern Charm highlights the Unspoken Treasure Society, founded in June 2018 by Ms. Regina Livingston, a Black transgender women who recognized a lack of support and resources for Transgender and Gender non-conforming (TGNC) people, particularly TGNC people of color. To learn more about the Unspoken Treasure Society, visit: https://www.unspokensociety.org/