About Us
PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS
- KEEPING IT REAL
CHJ's new substance abuse education program, "Keeping it Real" will provide critical HIV and substance abuse education through a rotating series of six workshops in jail units that house self-identified gay men (the "K6G Unit" of Men's Central Jail) and women who are housed at the Century Regional Detention Facility (CRDF).
- CHJ's WOMEN'S PEER EDUCATION PROGRAM
CHJ's Women's Peer Education Program (WPEP), our first treatment-focused intervention with positive women, will meet the unmet education and healthcare access needs of HIV+ and at-risk women in the L.A. County Jail. The goal of WPEP is to educate and empower HIV+ women to stay healthy and advocate for their own healthcare, both during incarceration and after release.
Staff
- Cajetan Luna, Executive Director
- Monica Molina, MPH, Education & Research Director
- Ron Osorio, Special Projects Director
- John Carlos Fabian, Prevention Services Director
- Shanna Livermore, MILE Project Manager
- Christopher Freeman, Substance Abuse Coordinator
- Precious Jackson, Women's Program Coordinator
- Merrill Crump, Harm Reduction Specialist
- Tristian Mitchell, Transitional Case Manager
Merrill Crump, Harm Reduction Specialist
48 year old African American Transwoman from Detroit Michigan.
I have survived HIV for 20 years. My goal is to always bring information and education of wellbeing to as many people as possible. I have worked with many people in various fields, including 3years in Alzheimer’s care as a CNA, 25 years of Cosmetology, 10 years of Massage Therapy, 6 years as a Health Educator, for community programs such as Smoking Cessations, HIV 101, HIV Treatment and Spiritual Health, which targeted (HIV+) G.L.B.T.
In addition, I have facilitated HIV Prevention Classes for the Transgender Community using Power Point presentations: The life cycle of HIV that goes into how classes of medication stop the replication of HIV during its life cycle. (Courtesy of Merck) I also spent 7 years as a Peer Health Educator (specializing in HIV pre and post education). I headed the first Transgender Specific Treatment Education Program ever sponsored by an international pharmaceutical company (Tibotec). This was a 1 year contract. I had a case load of 22 clients. My duties were educating HIV infected transwomen about the importance of medication adherence which required being in touch with their medical providers in order to monitor lab data. I also found out about individual habits and lifestyles in an effort to learn how it affects their adherence.
I have worked as a service provider all of my adult life. I am a “People Person” at heart. I am a very personable and compassionate person. I look forward to continuing to educate people on HIV pre and post care in any realm possible.
John Carlos Fabian, Prevention Services Director
John Carlos joined Center for Health Justice in 2006 as a Harm Reduction Specialist. In 2008, John Carlos was promoted to Prevention Services Director. In this role, he is responsible for providing HIV/STD/HCV 101 classes and individual level harm reduction interventions to the K-6G inmates at the Los Angeles County Men’s Central Jail, and to the female inmates at the Century Regional Detention Facility.
John Carlos has been an active advocate for HIV/AIDS Prevention and Health Education for 18 years. His journey began in 1992 when he joined the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science Mobile HIV/STD Testing Unit as a health educator and pre-post HIV testing counselor. In 2001, he joined the AIDS Service Center HIV/AIDS Prevention Team as a health Educator and later promoted to food distribution manager providing supplemental food assistance to low-income qualifying clients with HIV/AIDS in Los Angeles County as well as, the Prevention Case Manager offering HIV prevention counseling geared to promote adoption and maintenance of HIV risk reduction behaviors for HIV positive men who have sex with men.
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Precious Jackson, Women's Program Co-coordinator
Precious is an AIDS activist who understands the direct link between inmate health and public health. She joined the Center for Health Justice team in 2006. As the Women’s Health Educator, she oversees our groundbreaking “Women Moving Ahead” program that targets incarcerated women who are at high risk of HIV infection.
Since being diagnosed with HIV in 1998 after her partner’s incarceration, Precious has turned her HIV+ status into a platform to help educate and empower infected/affected HIV+ women, their partners and families. Her crusade for women’s health began at Women Alive Coalition in 2001, where she was the organization’s Treatment Adherence Coordinator. Soon after, she joined the AIDS Treatment Activists Coalition (ATAC) where she works to ensure that all HIV+ persons, particularly people of color, have access to HIV anti-retroviral medications.
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Christopher Freeman, Substance Abuse Coordinator
Christopher started working at the Center for Health Justice in February of 2008 as a Harm Reduction Specialist in the Men’s Central Jail downtown and also at CRDF Women’s Facility. Christopher has been an advocate in the field of HIV/AIDS education since 2000. He has observed through the years the various stigmas that still surround persons infected with HIV and has taken a stand to help educate as many as he can about the virus. This position has afforded him the opportunity to empower a marginalized community with the knowledge needed to avoid contraction of the virus. He also has the ability to further educate those that are already positive on ways to enhance and maintain a healthy lifestyle.
He is passionate about the importance of regular HIV testing within all communities.
He is also a certified Substance Abuse Counselor and believes that Substance Abuse and HIV sometimes go hand and hand. He has also worked in the prison system as a Substance Abuse Counselor. Christopher enjoys working with diverse populations in the facilities and at work.
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Shanna Livermore, MILE Project Manager
Shanna, joined the Center for Health Justice in January of 2012 as the Program Manager of the Men in Life Environments (MILE) Project, an innovative and culturally congruent intervention designed to reduce HIV risk-related behaviors and improve psychosocial outcomes in recently incarcerated African American men who have sex with men and women (MSMW). She has worked in HIV/AIDS prevention research and evaluation for over 8 years starting at the California Department of Public Health, Office of AIDS. Shanna holds a B.S. in Health Science, a certificate in Advanced Study in Evaluation and is currently pursing a Masters in Public Health at Claremont Graduate University. Shanna specializes in HIV prevention program evaluation, research with secondary needle exchanges, and mental health. She has consulted for Los Angeles schools on childhood obesity and serves as the Mentoring Committee Chair for the Student Assembly of the American Public Health Association.
Cajetan Luna, Executive Director
Cajetan, the Executive Director of the Center for Health Justice has worked in HIV/AIDS research and services for over 20 years starting in the Department of Epidemiology and International Health at UC San Francisco. His main NIMH/NIDA research was on homeless youth and AIDS with extensive work in major cities in the USA and Latin America. He has worked on collaborative projects on HIV/AIDS and adolescent health in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, San Salvador, El Salvador, and Bangkok, Thailand. His publications include works on HIV/AIDS in Youth, AIDS and Sexuality, Sex Work, Behavioral Interventions and AIDS Policy, and the Graffiti of Homeless Populations. He has consulted for UCLA, Columbia University, and the Pan American and World Health Organizations among others. He previously served as Executive Director of 3 community-based HIV/AIDS agencies in California (San Joaquin, Monterey, and Santa Clara Counties) where he developed services and targeted interventions for migrant farm workers, gay youth, and incarcerated populations.
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Tristian Mitchell, Transitional Case Manager
Tristian joined the Center for Health Justice in October 2011. A strong advocate for social justice, equality, and empowerment, Tristian combines his professional and extracurricular experience, working in the public service sector, with his academic background in an effort to best serve those persons belonging to underrepresented groups. In 2010, He received his BS in Criminal Justice from California State University, Long Beach, where he spent his time researching the correlation between criminal activity and demographic backgrounds (ethnicity, socio-economic status, gender, etc).
As a Transitional Case Manager, Tristian works with HIV+ men and women between the ages of 18-25, who are affected by incarceration. In his capacity, as a TCM, he works diligently to ensure clients being serviced are linked to resources that will positively impact their lives– maintaining their health as a top priority, reducing recidivism, and efficiently transitioning back into society post-incarceration.
Monica Molina, MPH, Education & Research Director
Monica joined the Center for Health Justice in January 2011 as the Education & Research Director, and provides project development, administration, and reporting on all government and foundation grants. Monica received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Southern California in 2005, and her Masters degree in Public Health from the University of California at Los Angeles in 2009. Monica began her work in community health through program evaluation for an at-risk youth program in Los Angeles. She then went on to provide program evaluation, data management, analysis, and coordination services for a Federally Qualified Community Health Center in Los Angeles that provides primary care services to the most underserved populations. Monica's commitment to public health is rooted in her dedication to reach marginalized populations facing severe health disparities; health is not a privilege, it is a right. Monica values what this organization does to help clients and looks forward to continuing the mission of the Center for Health Justice.
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Ron Osorio, Special Projects Director
Ron received a visit from Mary Sylla in 1999 while incarcerated due to problems he was having participating in certain programs due to being HIV+. In 2000, when Ron was released on parole, he went directly to Center for Health Justice to volunteer. In a few months, he became an employee of Center for Health Justice and soon designed and implemented the RARE (Re-Adjustment & Re Entry) program for our post-incarcerated clients. Ron's work continues on the RARE program, which consists of educating, supporting, and coordinating services for our post-incarcerated clients. One of the goals of the agency is to reduce recidivism, but Ron’s personnel goal for our clients is to eliminate recidivism.
Ron is also an active member of the Los Angeles County Re-entry Round Table, the Prisoner Advocate for the Los Angeles County Public Health Department Institutional Review Board, a community member of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department GLBT Advisory Council, and co-chair of SCHAC (Southern California HIV Advocacy Coalition).
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