In honor of Black History Month, the Southwest Center is proud to highlight our Black Lives Matter Coalition, which started after the murder of George Floyd last summer. This tragedy propelled our Black employees to come together to support each other and other Black people in the community, with full support from our leadership.
The Coalition is dedicated to creating and fostering an inclusive organization that serves the Black community through prevention, education, therapeutic services and coordinated care. It also provides a safe space for Black-identifying employees. Ultimately, our goal is to bridge the gap between the Black community and the Southwest Center, ensuring they understand they have a support system here and increasing their access to our services and resources.
Since the Coalition began last summer, our members have connected with several organizations improving the lives of the Black community, displayed a Black Lives Matter flag in the lobby of The Parsons Center for Health and Wellness, assisted with Black History Month projects and led our colleagues in paying tribute to great Black leaders. We have also hosted two online conversations, including our most recent video for the National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. This month, the artist Lucretia Torva is painting a mural of Barack Obama, John Lewis and Kamala Harris on our building facing Central Avenue.
The Southwest Center is committed to sustaining this important work. To that end, members of our Black Lives Matter Coalition are part of our strategic planning committee. We have also retained the firm Nonprofit HR to perform a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) audit to identify opportunities to ensure all of our employees, patients and clients feel welcomed, heard and valued. Stay tuned for more details on our DEI charter, coming soon!
In solidarity, the Southwest Center’s Black Lives Matter Coalition:
Chel’sea Ryan, MSW, LCSW, Behavioral Health Clinical Supervisor
Aretha Moore, Case Management Supervisor
Michael Sheppard, Medical Case Manager
Cookie King, Supportive Case Manager
Robert Carter, Registered Dietician
Welcome New Staff
Naomi-Antrelle C. Jones
Education & Empowerment Team Manager
Naomi-Antrelle C. Jones is the Southwest Center’s new Education & Empowerment Manager. Naomi comes with more than 10 years of experience in non-profit & Behavioral Health work. This includes previously working for Vivient Health, known for being the fastest growing HIV serving medical center in the United States, in which Ms. Jones over saw Behavioral intervention across two states and at 13 sites. Most recently, Naomi worked at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, where she developed and implemented their Youth PrEP & PEP Navigation services program. Ms. Jones has had the pleasure of teaching courses on Diversity and Inclusivity, Trans Health, and Equity in Medical Practices at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Marquette University, and the University of Wisconsin- Milwaukee. Naomi loves educating around trans health and social justice and has had the pleasure speaking at conferences both nationally and Internationally. Naomi is a 2021 Graduate of the University of Wisconsin – Madison School of Medicine, Wisconsin Health Leaders Fellowship program.
Jessie Barbosa
HIV/STI Testing Manager
Jessie Barbosa is the Southwest Center’s new HIV/STI Testing Manager. Jessie comes with more than 10 years of experience in non-profit work, which includes HIV testing and harm reduction at Hetrick-Martin Institute, the largest LGBTQ Youth Organization in the country, located in New York City! Most recently, Jessie worked at ACMH in New York City as an Assistant Director of transitional supportive housing for adults with mental illness.
Kristina Krieger
Family Nurse Practitioner
Kristina Krieger, CRNP comes to Southwest Center with over 20 years of experience as a Medical Provider. She graduated from St Louis University School of Nursing in 1999 with her Family Nurse Practitioner degree, and is certified by ANCC (American Nurses Credential Center).
Miss Krieger brings with her a great deal of experience working with various at-risk populations.
Miss Krieger is certified as a HIV Specialist from AAHIVM (American Academy of HIV Medicine), and received certification as an Intensive Hepatitis C Provider by Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Infectious Disease.
Kristina has experience in Primary Care, HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, Infectious Disease, Mental Health, STI and Genital Health, Hormone Replacement Therapy, and Substance Abuse. Miss Krieger believes in treating the client as a whole person, not a disease.
Fiorella Marquez
Therapist
Fiorella is Licensed Associate counselor in the state of AZ, and a Registered Mental Health Therapist in the state of FL. She has a master’s degree is Clinical Mental Health Counseling, earned in 2018 from Nova Southeastern University (Davie, FL). Fiorella has 6-7 years of experience in the mental health field as an active advocate, head of women’s right United Nations club at Florida International University, and lead therapist in Immersion trip in Africa (DRC, Congo).
She is an advocate in and out the agency and dedicates her time to giving back to the community, hosting support groups in the community and events to advocate for and educate others on mental health.
Fiorella joined the SWC, as she believed she would fit perfectly in the variety of employees the company carries, and the work the company does for the community. She has various members of the LGBTQI+ community in her family and is an Ally. She hopes to continue to grow alongside the family of SWC.
From the Desk of Chuck Peterson
Chuck Peterson, Executive Director:
Engaging in advocacy work is hard and sometimes messy, but it creates space for us to advance the issues we care about and helps to bring about lasting social change for the people and communities we serve. Each day we see firsthand the direct impact of the policies being made by our local, state and federal government. It is through this work we can help to empower the communities we serve, offer common-sense and evidence-based policy solutions and educate our elected officials of the issues facing our community.
Southwest Center has a long history of advocating for and ensuring equitable health care, access and outcomes for people who are experiencing injustice at the intersection of health status and identity. As the new Executive Director at Southwest Center, I am excited to work with our community partners to ensure that the LGBTQ community has barrier free access to health care and the supports they need to live their best lives.
It was an honor to participate in the 2021 Equality Week this month, to hear about the issues we face in our state and help to educate our legislators on our shared vision of justice and equity for the future of the LGBTQ community in Arizona. Southwest Center joined 13 other LGBTQ+ and ally community organizations to ensure that the diverse concerns of the LGBTQ community were heard.
I am looking forward to continuing this work in the coming years. If there ever was a time for us to partner with our appointed and elected officials through a shared voice of inclusion, common sense and conciliation, now is the time.
Sincerely,
Chuck Peterson, Executive Director
A Strategic Planning Update From Jerry Diaz, Strategic Planning Committee Co-Chair
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflect it.
-- Edith Wharton
Hello and greetings from the Board of Directors! Since the Center’s inception, our work has been to provide vital and critical support for anyone impacted by HIV/AIDS with dignity, respect, compassion, and care. That continues to be in our values and actions.
We continue to work as a community partner and our programs have changes to reflect the needs of the community. We’re excited to share, we’ve embarked upon a multi-month, multi-approach strategic planning process to evaluate our services, look for new opportunities, and how we can, in short, continue to help those that need our services. This work is extremely important and exciting and we know that we must continue to grow and evolve as an organization. If nothing else, that’s a lesson from COVID-19.
We’ll be reaching out to community shareholders, staff, funders from all three sectors to gain and garner perspective. What does a bold vision look like, while honoring our legacy? Can we provide more services? Can we help more people? Our work will help to uncover this and so much more!
If you’d like to know more about our strategic planning work, please reach out to the Center’s Executive Director, Chuck Peterson.
In gratitude,
Geronimo "Jerry" Diaz, CFRE
Strategic Planning Co-Chair
Member, Board of Directors