Finally

I am finally here for the the Catalyst Forum and I am very excited to be here although I missed the dinner and the registration. I am very anxious to see where everyone is in research and advocacy. I am also looking forward to working with everyone from different communities and walks of life to see how HIV/AIDS advocacy, planning, and research is impacting their communities as well as their lives.

It's very interesting to me that I live in Washington, DC but yet there is little to no funding or the idea of funding HIV/AIDS prevention or grassroots efforts is almost laughed at but you see other communities who are not highly impacted making such a difference. I believe this is a start to a great journey with everyone who is here this week for such an amazing and life changing forum.

Now a little about me. I am Calvin Gerald, 31 and I live, work, volunteer, play and socialize in Washington, DC. I volunteer with the DC Center's HIV Working Group, I serve on the DC HIV Community Prevention Community Planning Group in which we work with the DC DOH to guide prevention in the DC community, also the Whitman Walker community advisory board and I also blog about my own personal experiences of living with HIV at http://calvinreality.blogspot.com. I look forward to sharing my own experiences and work with HIV/AIDS. And another tid bit is that I am finishing up my Master's in City and Regional Planning at Morgan State University concentrating in Affordable Housing for People Living with HIV/AIDS in DC; by means of using the National Housing Trust as a catalyst to create and preserve affordable housing. If you see me around, please stop and say hello or just talk to me via email: calvin.gerald@gmail.com or through facebook: calvin.gerald@gmail.com