2003 Town Hall Meeting

The concept included using print, radio and television and community leaders to emphasis the need for African Americans to realize HIV was not a disease of gay, white men only. We knew that one avenue to reaching African Americans would be churches and members of the religious community. But culturally, most churches in the African American community have been vehemently opposed to discussing HIV, homosexuality and its cultural impacts. We had to overcome this barrier.

Egiebor Expressions created a 12-page supplement, “Battling AIDS in Our Community,” that was inserted in The Dallas Examiner. A media campaign was then launched to highlight the contents. Secondly, a town hall meeting was organized using entertainers Danny Glover and Sheryl Lee Ralph to draw attention to the issue. Results From June through August 2003, the awareness campaign received more than 50 mentions on radio, television and in print, both locally and nationally. Danny Glover and Sheryl Lee Ralph were interviewed on nearly every local radio station that has a high African-American listening audience.

The Aug. 6 town hall meeting broke open the doors of the religious community and was held in a prominent church. More than 2,500 people attended and more than 200 people took an HIV test, the best results of any national town hall meeting. Relationships were forged between AIDS service organizations and the African American community.

Recognition for the campaign has been extraordinary –- more than 17 awards presented by local, state, regional and national organizations. National awards include two for community service and two for excellence in reporting. Egiebor Expressions owner Sharon Egiebor was presented with two Journalists of the Year Awards and a Kaiser Family Foundation Mini-Media HIV Fellowship. She was then invited to several conferences, including the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, Thailand to teach journalists how to cover HIV-AIDS in the African American community.