Thank you to all who joined us on World AIDS Day, Wednesday, December 1st for “Ending the HIV Epidemic: Storytelling, Mental Health & Community Impact,” a panel on Zoom.
Community activist Percival Pandy joined by actor and advocate Donnie Hue Frazier III, Edgardo Medina, ACSW and Joshua Alexander, MA, AMFT.
Highlights from the panel to be released on Friday, December 3.
EVENT PANELISTS
PERCIVAL PANDY
Community Activist
Percival Pandy is a native to Los Angeles, specifically from South Central, being raised in the inner city he overcame many obstacles as a young gay man. Percival has built a career providing sexual health education and implementing services to help deter the contraction/transmission of HIV among African American and Latino youth in his community. He was a 2020 NMAC Fellow for the Gay Men of Color cohort to help create curriculum to educate young men about PrEp. Currently, he is employed at the Los Angeles LGBT Center South helping to build a safe space for queer identified youth and lower barriers to access healthcare.
DONNIE HUE FRAZIER III
Actor & Advocate
Donnie Hue Frazier III is an artist, advocate, and entertainer, who uses creativity to spark social change. With a background in Sociology and Psychology, he applies his education to his talents. Donnie uses this strategy to raise awareness on topics and subjects that are not only interesting to him, but also with the intention to impact others in a beneficial way. As an advocate of sexual, mental, and emotional health, Donnie has created platforms and campaigns that push the message for overall wellness and personal development. His goal as the Health Education Specialist with SoCal Club, is to infuse education and entertainment to shine light on the subjects that engage the community to strive for personal improvement.
JOSHUA ALEXANDER
MA, AMFT
Joshua Polk is the Program Coordinator for SoCal Club, he leads and facilitates our Community Advisory Board, Popular Peer Leaders, and Mpowerment. He is also a certified HIV tester in LA County. Formerly, Joshua served as the Health Education Specialist and Outreach Coordinator for the Black AIDS Institute in Los Angeles. It is very important for him to work with LGBTQ+ folks of color because there is a rarity in being a person of color and being able to provide services to individuals that not only look like him but share similar backgrounds as well. It also imperative because HIV disproportionately impacts Black and Latinx communities. He received his undergraduate degree in Health Sciences from Howard University in Washington D.C., and received his Master’s Degree in Clinical Psychology with a specialization in LGBT affirmative psychology from Antioch University – Los Angeles.
EDGARDO MEDINA
ACSW
“I believe that with the right readiness, support, practices, and a clear life purpose any human can tap into their own inner wisdom and self-healing…I have been successful at supporting others down this path of self-compassion and wellness for several years. I believe our social narratives and relationships impact this journey – especially gender, sexual, and racial inequities. It will be an honor to support and bear witness to the growth that will occur in your life journey. Many blessings.”