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"We have the power to heal our community" is the message of a new 15-by-30-foot mural at the corner of Chicago and Mayfield avenues in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side.Compared to other Chicago neighborhoods, Austin's rate of STDs among 13- to 24-year-olds is the city's highest. It ranks second for HIV cases among this age group, city Department of Public Health data show.
"There's a staggering number of people of color who are becoming infected or are living with HIV and don't know it," said Maurice Chapman, executive director of the Austin Health Center CBC Initiative, a community-based program for people living with HIV. "Anything that can be done to keep HIV awareness, prevention and care in people's minds is good, and the mural is taking a creative approach to raising this awareness. If we have a mural that de-stigmatizes HIV and heightens people's awareness, that's a positive thing."
The AIDS Foundation of Chicago helped organize and fund the mural effort. AFC chose Austin after seeing the health department's data on the neighborhood, said spokesperson Johnathon Briggs. The group's "With me comes a cure" campaign, launched last year, served as the mural's inspiration.
"We wanted it to be a movement," said Briggs. "If we had some artistic expression such as a mural, it would get people thinking about a cure."
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
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