JOURNEY SISTAHS

FEBRUARY HEART DISEASE MONTH 2017

Red Pump Project

The Red Pump Project™ raises awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic of our women. Our mission is to promote the prevention of HIV through education and to communicate the issues surrounding sexual and reproductive health. We conduct our awareness activities online and on the ground to encourage the flow of information between our organization and the people we seek to help. Knowledge of thyself is important and we are here to facilitate the growth of this knowledge.

Founded in March 2009 by Luvvie Ajayi and Karyn Watkins, Red Pump believes that if HIV affects one of us, it affects all of us. We use the red shoe as a symbol of empowerment to represent the strength and courage of women infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. The incorporation of fashion into the message of HIV prevention is our way of showing that Awareness is Always in Style!™

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is March 10th, and our country honors it by educating the youth, talking to them about HIV/AIDS, on a national scale. This is how The Red Pump Project was created. Borne of our desire to get the conversation started on the issue of HIV/AIDS so that one educated sister could talk to another. As we do this, we put out a call for bloggers to “Rock the Red Pump™”.

This is the beginning of our call to action:

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is March 10, 2009. It’s nationwide initiative is to raise awareness of the increasing impact of HIV/AIDS on women and encourages the women in our communities to take action. While progress has definitely been made in the areas of AIDS prevention and treatment, women still represent 66% of all new AIDS diagnoses, with African-American women accounting for 42% of that group.

In observance of this day, Karyn of The Fabulous Giver and Luvvie of Awesomely Luvvie created the concept of The Red Pump Project. The idea is simple: Rock the Red Pump on your blog to represent the strength and courage of women fighting HIV/AIDS or those affected by the disease both directly and indirectly. We ask that on the day of awareness (March 10th), you embed the Red Pump Widget within your post with a short snippet of its significance, or you can rock the widget on your sidebar.

The Red Pump Project has grown from a social media campaign to a national nonprofit working on the ground and online to ensure that women are empowered with knowledge about HIV/AIDS and the issues surrounding it.

The Red Pump Project aims to:

Commemorate major awareness dates with various events or campaigns online and on the ground

Partner with organizations conducting work in HIV/AIDS in their initiatives and events around the country

Organize women nationwide to “Rock the Red Pump™” both online and on the ground

Be involved in getting 1,000 people tested across the country

Raise funds for HIV/AIDS service organizations