Change The Pattern - highlights

The Pattern Change (CTP) initiative, led by the National AIDS Memorial and the Southern AIDS
Coalition collaborated to bring sections of the AIDS Memorial Quilt to communities in the U.S.
Beginning in June 2022 with a kick-off in San Francisco during Pride month, the tour continued to
communities in the Southern United States from September 2022 - May 2023.
Coinciding with
the 35th anniversary of the Quilt, the goal was to utilize it as a teaching tool in the fight against
HIV/AIDS, emphasizing the significance of Black and Brown lives lost to the disease and paying
tribute to them. Funded by a Gilead Sciences grant, CTP engaged communities in local
programming through Quilt displays, interactive experiences, storytelling, advocacy, and
panel-making workshops to raise awareness about the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic.
Many factors that contribute to HIV infection and transmission disparities impacting African
Americans are the same, that have resulted in the African American community being
disproportionately affected by the current COVID-19 crisis. CTP stakeholders outlined racism
and discrimination, gaps in healthcare access/Racial bias in medicine, lack of trust, stigma,
income, and wealth gaps in job access, working conditions, education, neighborhood, and
physical environment as the main issue related to HIV/AIDS in the south, we hope the
programming will help to address these topics and more.