Khepera Center Supports World AIDS Day Observance with Oldest Black Fraternity, University

Mitchellville, MD (PRWeb) December 6, 2006 -- The Khepera Center for Expression & Social Change recently provided support and resources for Lincoln University's World AIDS Day Observance sponsored by the Nu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.

The Alphas, which are the nation's oldest African American fraternity founded December 4, 1906, held an AIDS awareness panel discussion, entitled "Real Talk - Let's Talk About Sex," featuring a skit with a couple not considering whether the other was HIV positive, and a condom giveaway on November 27th and December 1st, respectively at Lincoln University - the nation's oldest historically Black college and university founded in 1854.

"Our generation needs to start asking the important questions as well as making informed decisions before we jeopardize our lives and the lives of others," said University senior Michael Dickerson, Jr., vice president of the fraternity chapter and event chair.

Currently, African Americans represent nearly 50 percent of the estimated 1.2 million Americans living with AIDS today and 54 percent of the new cases in our country, according to the Black AIDS Institute.

"With the help of the Khepera Center, who has been instrumental in providing technical assistance and resources for this and another effort, Project Alpha, we are able to properly empower our community," Dickerson added, explaining that Project Alpha is a national fraternity initiative with the March of Dimes, involving relationships, sexual health issues and responsible decision-making for African American boys.

The Khepera Center, which is a paradigm-shifting for-profit institution whose mission is to establish a community of creative problem-solvers and social change agents that capitalize on the transformative and healing powers of expression and the Arts, helps schools, community-based and non-profit organizations, government agencies and companies build capacity by addressing prevention and intervention issues among their staffs as well as the audiences and customers they serve.

"Working with both the first African American fraternity and college is definitely not by coincidence, but by intention," said Eric Christopher Webb, Khepera's senior fellow and member of its board of advisors. "Health disparities, particularly those involving HIV/AIDS, have far too long plagued this community for either lack of resources, poverty, government inaction and inadequate access to health care. The Khepera Center is dedicated to finding and providing support and solutions to these and other critical issues."

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