Racial inequities in HIV incidence and outcomes continue to disproportionately impact Black women (Ojikutu & Landers, 2025). Among the diaspora, African-born women represent nearly twice of U.S. born Black individuals with HIV (Nnaji & Ojikutu, 2022), highlighting the need for culturally responsive strategies.

This session will showcase how AIDS United’s Melanated Movement Fund grantees are responding to the needs of aging Black women across the diaspora by implementing innovative stigma-reductive and community-engagement approaches in two distinct communities.

The AIDS Outreach Center’s Hey Sis! campaign in Tarrant County, Texas, uses culturally tailored messaging to promote PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis) awareness among Black cisgender and transgender women. The Multicultural AIDS Coalition’s African Sisterhood Empowerment (ASHE) initiative builds a peer-to-peer network that uplifts African-born women through leadership development, advocacy training, and collective storytelling. Together, these models demonstrate how relationship-building, cultural relevance, and centering Black women’s voices can drive innovation in HIV prevention and care.