A COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD

The mission statement the Community Advisory Board (CAB) is as follows:

• Provide ongoing community, scientific, psychosocial, and political input to the local and national WIHS agenda;
• Help design mechanisms to:
  • assure that WIHS participants are representatives of the community at large,
  • inform, educate, and support these participants over time, and
  • retain participants over time;
• Help design mechanisms to assure access for HIV infected/affected women to WIHS research sites;
• Advocate for research funding for women to participate;
• Network with and support local CABs, and encourage women's involvement at the local level;
• Facilitate translation and transmission of WIHS-related information to the community;
• Help explain research studies and clinical trials to the women's community;
• Represent and be accessible to community members for WIHS-related concerns.

The CAB also identifies issues and areas that require forums or trainings. The Community Liaison collaborates with the AIDS Service Providers Association of the Bay Area and the Women's Services Organization, as well as other community-based organizations, to organize the kind of events that bring the women's and HIV communities together. Current fundraising activities to support these events will continue, and new funding sources will be identified. The CAB will help to decide which activities require additional funding and the Community Liaison will work with WIHS staff to procure such funding.

FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE WIHS CAB, BE SURE TO CHECK OUT "CAB CORNER" IN NEWSLETTER ALSO ON OUR WEBSITE!