RONALD JOHNSON, CITY COORDINATOR FOR AIDS POLICY
RECEIVES HARLEM LIFE AWARD
Ronald Johnson, the Citywide Coordinator for AIDS Policy in the Office of the Mayor, has received the Harlem Life Award. The award was presented at the third annual Harlem Life Awards ceremony held on Friday, April 11 at the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in Harlem. The Awards, which are sponsored by Harlem United Community AIDS Center, recognize those individuals and organizations that have been leaders in the fight against HIV and AIDS in Upper Manhattan and the Bronx.
"The Harlem United Community AIDS Center has done outstanding work with HIV positive people living in Harlem," said Mayor Giuliani. "This wonderful organization also helps educate thousands of New Yorkers through its AIDS prevention education, support, and intervention services that improve patients' quality of life, increase life expectancy, and reduce high risk behavioral relapses.
"I am pleased that an institution as qualified as the Harlem United Community AIDS Center has selected Ronald Johnson to receive the Harlem Life Award. As the Citywide Coordinator for AIDS policy, he has been instrumental in the successful restructuring of AIDS services within the Human Resources Administration. His commitment to the AIDS cause in other endeavors has also been responsible for the expansion of HIV/AIDS treatment and care services in New York City as well as in the rest of the nation," concluded the Mayor.
As Citywide Coordinator for AIDS Policy, Mr. Johnson is currently Chair of the HIV Health and Human Services Planning Council, which sets priorities for the use of federal aid from the Ryan White C.A.R.E. Act. His other contributions to New York City have included positions as the Executive Director of the Minority Task Force on AIDS, as Supervising Budget Manager at the New York City Office of Management and Budget and as National Director for Youth Development and Juvenile Justice on the National Board of the YMCA.
Ronald Johnson was born, raised, and educated in New York City and currently resides in Brooklyn. Mr. Johnson graduated from the City College of New York and continued his graduate work at Harvard University's School of Arts and Sciences. He is a current member of the Board of Directors of Body Positive and has served on the Board of Lambda Legal Defense and Education Fund, the Board of the Gay Men's Health Crisis and the Board of the Institute for the Protection of Lesbian and Gay Youth. Johnson has also served as a church school teacher and a member of the Board of Deacons at the Riverside Church, where he is a parishioner.
The Harlem United Community AIDS Center program provides support for the HIV positive members of the Harlem community. It also offers day care, hot meals, supportive housing, and pastoral and outreach/ prevention programs.
Also receiving Harlem Life Awards were Debra Fraser-Howze, Executive Director and CEO of the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS, and Pernessa Seele, Founder and CEO of Balm in Gilead. Special recognition awards were given to Conna Cook of the New York City Department of Human Resources and to the Canaan Baptist Church HIV Ministry.
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