Synchronicity

Aging While Black and LGBTQ+/SGL: Legacy, Equity, and the HIV Long-Term Survivor Experience
2026-03-20 10:45 - 12:15 (America/New_York) | Studio B
This interactive session explores the intersection of aging, race, gender identity, and sexuality through the lens of Black LGBTQ+/SGL individuals living with HIV. Drawing from lived experiences and frameworks like Aging While Black by Raymond Jetson, the session redefines aging not as decline, but as a site for power, healing, and systemic transformation.
Participants will engage with narrative testimonies, policy critiques, and culturally affirming models that center the resilience and wisdom of long-term HIV survivors. Despite the medical advances that have extended life expectancy, many Black LGBTQ+/SGL elders still face structural inequities such as housing insecurity, behavioral health neglect, inadequate caregiving supports, and economic instability—all rooted in systems of racism, ageism, and homophobia.
Through collaborative dialogue, attendees will examine the political determinants of health, uplift elder leadership, and co-create actionable strategies for promoting aging equity. Participants will leave with practical tools, a renewed commitment to affirming care, and an expanded understanding of how to better support aging Black LGBTQ+/SGL communities affected by HIV.

From Neglect to Respect: Ending the HIV Endemic with Affirmation
2026-03-19 16:00 - 17:30 | Studio D
Black and urban communities continue to experience the brunt of the HIV epidemic due to systemic inequities rooted in racism, generational trauma, and structural neglect. These inequities are compounded by a lack of culturally affirming prevention education, minimal uptake of PrEP, and a widespread absence of HIV-related discussions in traditional school systems. LGBTQ/SGL individuals, especially within Black communities, experience additional layers of marginalization, resulting in disproportionate rates of HIV, mental health challenges, substance misuse, and social isolation.
This session explores how affirmation-based intervention models — grounded in cultural pride, self-preservation, and community affirmation — are essential to ending the HIV endemic. Using a community engagement and harm reduction framework, we discuss the historical roots of disconnection, and how strategic investments in culturally affirming outreach and education are critical. We offer models and approaches that center community affirmation, mental health support, and intergenerational healing as HIV prevention tools.
We argue that without affirming Black lives and identities, especially within LGBTQ/SGL contexts, sustainable prevention efforts will continue to fall short. Empowerment, dignity, and cultural relevance must be centered in the next chapter of the HIV movement.

Critical Thinking and Cultural Affirmation (CTCA) Intervention
2026-03-19 10:45 - 12:15 | Studio B
This interactive session introduces the Critical Thinking and Cultural Affirmation (CTCA) intervention, an Afrocentric behavioral health model developed by Dr. Cleo Manago and originally tested as MAALES (Men of African American Legacy Empowering Self). Designed specifically for Black same-gender-loving (SGL), bisexual men, and trans individuals, CTCA addresses the compounded effects of systemic racism, cultural dislocation, stigma, and medical mistrust in HIV prevention and behavioral health.
This session explores how CTCA blends peer-led support, expressive arts, cultural rituals, and critical consciousness to foster emotional wellness, increase HIV care retention, and support prevention. Participants will engage with evidence-based strategies and real-world examples demonstrating CTCA’s success in improving health outcomes while affirming identity and restoring community connection.
Attendees will leave equipped with tools and a CTCA replication packet to implement culturally responsive practices in HIV care, advocacy, and community health settings serving Black SGL, bisexual, and trans populations.

Beyond the Diagnosis: Building Systems for Healthy Aging with HIV
2026-03-18 11:00 - 15:30 | Studio E
Aging with HIV Institute
People Aging With HIV are navigating longer lives within systems that were never designed to support aging, multimorbidity, or long-term stability. Clinical advances have extended life expectancy, but the systems surrounding care—workforce pipelines, financing structures, and service integration—have not kept pace. As a result, many experience uneven access to aging-appropriate services, including highly complex and long-term care needs, as policy and reimbursement pressures place the long-term sustainability of HIV care systems at risk. Healthy aging with HIV depends on care models and workforce capacity that support function, continuity, and stability across later life.
Drawing from HealthHIV’s Fifth Annual State of Aging with HIV™ National Survey findings from consumers and the HIV workforce, the Institute explores how clinical realities and patient experience are shaped by current care system capacity, workforce readiness, and access conditions. It also considers how system conditions influence who delivers care and where gaps persist, reshaping the HIV workforce at a critical juncture.
Learning Objectives:

Describe key issues shaping the experience of aging with HIV, including multimorbidity, mobility limitations, housing instability, and the long-term impacts of accelerated aging and early antiretroviral treatment.
Assess whether current systems and providers are prepared to meet the full spectrum of aging-related needs in HIV care.
Explore structural and policy innovation by identifying strategies to align HIV services with healthy aging priorities, invest in workforce readiness, and build models of care that sustain quality of life over time.
