Letter from our co-Director JD Davids

As a longtime organizer for health justice, it is an honor to be a part of disability justice movements and efforts to confront the Long COVID crisis. Today, I am writing to let you know I will be leaving my staff position at Strategies for High Impact and Long COVID Justice at the end of the year, though I will remain an advisor in an auxiliary capacity.

I’m delighted to announce that our co-director Emi Kane will become the director of S4HI and LCJ. She will continue to anchor the organization, along with our communications and narrative work and BIPOC Fellows program. Our senior fellow Gabriel San Emeterio will continue to focus on our NYC efforts and our HIV Complexities Project, Voula O’Grady will continue to manage our resources, digital publications and presence, and community engagement, and Brunem Warshaw will continue to keep things rolling as our administrative and operations coordinator.

It’s a time with many challenges on the horizon. I don’t need to tell any of you how crucial this work is.

I am so grateful to be leaving the project in such good hands, with full confidence that this team, working with our program collaborators and contractors, will not only sustain but expand our vital efforts in the years ahead.

Through our education efforts, communications and narrative work, and organizing and policy work, S4HI/LCJ is rising up for justice and care today, while fighting for the future we all need.

I’m proud of our pivotal work, including our central Pandemics are Chronic statement, the new Long COVID Essentials resource pages (in collaboration with The Sick Times), and our federal and local advocacy efforts including pushing for crucial changes to the NIH RECOVER program. And in the months ahead, I’m looking forward to the release of our action plan on Long COVID in NYC, and a vibrant online hub for our Listening for the Long Haul oral histories (in partnership with University of Illinois Chicago).

This September, I began classes at the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate Center's Biography and Memoir program. I will be taking time to focus on that work in 2025 — you can follow that endeavor and more at @TheCrankyQueer on Instagram, Twitter (for now), and Substack.

Thanks so much for your support and partnership,

JD
Co-director, Strategies for High Impact / Long COVID Justice

Long COVID Justice presents at Autistic Self-Advocacy Network’s annual Gala

We’re thrilled to share that our Long COVID Justice project is the recipient of the 2024 Creating Community Together Award from the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network (ASAN). Join us at ASAN’s annual gala for a panel featuring S4HI co-director Emi Kane and other powerful organizers on October 30!

Event info via ASAN:
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“Sowing Safety: Cultivating Protections & Weeding Out Harmful Policies During the Ongoing Pandemic” panel

PANEL INFO
As mask bans have continued popping up and pandemic protections are lifted, many disabled people are disproportionately impacted, facing heightened risks in a society increasingly eager to move on from the pandemic. We know that COVID-19 is still an issue. We’ll be joined by experts discussing how to navigate the continual erosion of pandemic protections, the harm caused by mask bans, and what we can do to support and keep each other safer.

PANELISTS
• Emi Kane
• Eiryn Griest Schwartzman
• Ngozi Alston

TIME & DATE
• Weds Oct 30, 3-4:45 PM ET, zoom
• Full gala schedule (3-8pm), panelist bios, & tickets

ACCESS NOTES
• Panel presentations will be in spoken English with CART.
• Format: Panel presentation followed by Q&A.
• Camera optional. No breakout groups. Chat will be open.
• For access requests, contact: info@autisticadvocacy.org
• This session will be recorded. Recording & resources will be shared with everyone who registered, & posted online on ASAN’s YouTube channel.

ABOUT THE GALA
• A night of panels, celebration, and community.
• After the panels, the award ceremony will take place from 7:30-8:00pm ET.
• This year’s theme is Grow With Us — in recognition of ASAN'S growth and a tribute to the power of our grassroots to fight for the rights of our community.
• Everyone’s welcome.
• ASAN asks that gala attendees donate if they are able to do so, but donations are never required to attend.

ABOUT ASAN
The Autistic Self Advocacy Network seeks to advance the principles of the disability rights movement with regard to autism. Nothing About Us, Without Us!

HIV-Long COVID support group

Long COVID Justice, a project of Strategies for High Impact, is launching a new support group for people living with both HIV and Long COVID.

The group is free to join, but we ask that you to commit to attending all four sessions. We’ll meet every other Thursday on Zoom: October 24, November 7 & 21, and December 5 2024 from 6:30pm – 8:00pm.

If you can’t join on these dates, you can sign up to be informed when 2025 dates are released.

Note: Participants must live in the U.S. (regardless of immigration status).

Learn more and sign up here.

Long COVID Essentials: a new resources series

We are excited to announce Long COVID Essentials, a new collaboration between The Sick Times and Long COVID Justice, a project of Strategies for High Impact.

Over the next several months, we’ll be publishing over 30 resource sheets that provide foundational information about navigating Long COVID. Each sheet can be printed and/or shared as a digital PDF. Whether you’re newly experiencing confusing symptoms, have had this disease for years, or are helping others in your community, Long COVID Essentials will help you support yourself and your community.

This series is designed by and for people with Long COVID and associated diseases. Each resource sheet has been reviewed by people living with Long COVID and/or caregivers, and by medical experts who provide Long COVID care.

In the absence of public health support and guidance from our government and healthcare systems, we hope these resources will support you in taking care of yourself and your community. We’ve seen the attention of the media and leaders wane, funding disappear, and misinformation spread — even as the overlooked impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and Long COVID crisis remain widespread. And these impacts are hitting hardest in already marginalized communities.

Our work remains as urgent as ever, and we’ll keep bringing information to the fight for pandemic justice and care for all. The stories and experiences of people with Long COVID must be told, believed, and prioritized!

We encourage you to share Long COVID Essentials with healthcare providers, community leaders and organizations, mutual aid groups, on social media, and more.

To stay informed of when new resources are published (and much more!), join our list.

Long COVID Essentials is part of the health education component of our pilot Needs Assessment and Action Project (NYC).

S4HI endorses the Long COVID Research Moonshot Act

Strategies for High Impact (S4HI) has joined over 55 other groups to endorse the Long Covid Research Moonshot Act, which provides $10 billion over 10 years for the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), plus additional funding for related programs.

This bill will invest in much-needed research, treatment, care, and health education for LC and associated diseases. And we know that we’ll need to keep the pressure on and continue advocating for pandemic justice & health equity.

We’re calling for:

➡ significant patient and community involvement in all areas of the bill’s implementation including the Advisory Board - prioritizing voices from groups disproportionately affected by LC like Black, Latiné, trans, queer, and disabled people

➡ support for trials of therapeutics prioritized by post-viral experts and patient groups in the Long COVID, ME/CFS, and dysautonomia communities (don’t repeat the mistakes of the RECOVER trials!)

Learn more and take action:

Tell the CDC: New CDC COVID-19 isolation guidance weakens labor protections, discriminates against high-risk people, and does not match the science

Strategies for High Impact and our Long COVID Justice project have signed on to Pan End It’s new letter to CDC Director Mandy Cohen, which demands that the CDC take a strong stand for public health and resist political and corporate pressure to downplay the dangers of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

The CDC’s recently revised COVID isolation guidance weakens labor protections, discriminates against high-risk people, and does not match the science. In response, this letter calls for the CDC to make changes including revising their shortened COVID isolation guidelines, working with other agencies in support of universal paid sick leave, emphasizing masking and testing as core prevention strategies, and publishing more specific information on high-risk conditions.

Use this template to add your name and send your own personalized letter to the CDC.

It's time to restore and expand the #Test2Treat program

The U.S. National Institute of Health (NIH)’s #Test2Treat pilot program for COVlD and flu saves lives. Strategies for High Impact and Long COVID Justice are strong supporters of this pilot program - join us in advocating for #Test2Treat!
 
#Test2Treat was designed to reduce disparities for the most at-risk populations, by offering FREE at-home tests, telehealth and treatment for both COVlD and flu. This program was recently ended even though 100 million people are eligible. Tests and treatment help our communities manage current sickness while helping prevent against #LongCOVID and #LongFlu.
 
Join us to ask the White House and government officials to restore, expand and widely promote #Test2Treat as a critical layer of protection for ALL:
Send a letter today via MaskTogetherAmerica.