Southern Steep: Brewing Stronger Community

On the series finale of Southern Steep: Brewing Stronger Community, current and former cohosts go down memory lane, sharing reflections on previous season clips, the rich conversations had with guests, and the podcast overall. The hosts share what they have loved and learned throughout this journey as well as their continued hopes for the South. Ultimately wishing for the South to keep Southing. Thank you for listening along these last four seasons! Stay tuned for what's to come. Cheers!

In this episode of Southern Steep: Brewing Stronger Community, co-hosts Shanice Bailey and Nicole Elinoff are joined by Raymond Velazquez, Director of Prevention for the Western North Carolina AIDS Project and Alison Gaye, a Senior Manager on NASTAD's Drug User Health Team. Ray and Alison discuss the paths that led them to doing essential harm reduction work in the South, their personal philosophies on harm reduction, and the importance of centering community, care, and compassion in this work.

In this episode of Southern Steep, co-hosts Rodderick and Jacobi learn about Corey Haskett's path towards becoming the Harm Reduction Program Coordinator at US helping US, People Into Living. Corey talks about the importance of syringe services programs, mental health, and providing proper sex education to priority populations.

On this special episode of Southern Steep: Brewing Stronger Community, Nicole, and Jacobi speak with attendees of NASTAD's second-annual Southern CBO Summit, which took place in San Antonio, Texas, January 17-19, 2024. This dynamic episode features Noah Baker (Delaware HIV Consortium), Dexter Davis (Urban League of Hampton Roads), Yvonne Arizpe (Legacy Community Health), & William Wheaton (Positive Impact Health Centers), summit attendees from four impactful community-based organizations in the South, covering Virginia, Houston, Georgia, and Delaware (yes, CDC defines Delaware as being in the South). Learn more about their organizations, what partnership means to them, and what they took away from participating in this year's Southern CBO summit.

In this episode, co-hosts Jacobi and Rodderick share space with the wonderful Kyanna Parsons and learn about her professional journey into the field of HIV. Kyanna talks about having to unlearn biases and stigma surrounding HIV and how she’s made it her mission to address misconceptions to underserved communities.

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!