Womens Collective

The Women's Collective founder/executive director, Patricia Nalls is a community AIDS activist, locally, nationally, and globally for the rights of women, girls and their families living with and at risk for HIV and other STDs. She was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986, after the death of her husband and three year-old daughter within six months of each other. Says Nalls of that time, “When I was diagnosed with HIV, I isolated myself from help and support. I stayed in self-imposed exile for two years before I realized I wasn’t dying and I wasn’t actually living either. And living with HIV is what I had to do for my children’s sake and mine.” Now, in 2011 Pat is not only an activist and inspiration - she is also a grandmother. TWC provides women and girls access to medical care and treatment, vital peer support, HIV and STD prevention education with a focus on improving health outcomes and quality of life beacuse women and girls can protect themselves.

Incorporated in 1993, The Women's Collective (TWC) is a unique 501(c)3 organization, one created by a woman living with HIV/AIDS and run by women living with and at risk for HIV/AIDS and their advocates. Our mission is to meet the self-defined needs of women, girls and their families living with or at risk for HIV/AIDS, reducing barriers to care and strengthening their network of support and services. TWC has served Black women and girls ages 12+ for 17 years. Ninety-six percent of women served across our HIV care and prevention programming identify as African American. The remaining four percent of clients identify as White, Asian, Latina, or as immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean. The majority of our clients are low-income, marginalized, and are largely invisible to the broader community. TWC offers a culturally appropriate, comprehensive continuum of prevention to care via three main departments: 1.) HIV care management; 2.) HIV/STD prevention; and 3.) Policy and advocacy. We know that women and girls are not detached from family needs and issues, which ultimately affect their health care decisions, risk behaviors / risk taking, and overall health outcomes. Women, girls, and families are offered a wide variety of services at TWC with the goal to address their health and health care needs over their life span.