Lobby Days Participants Honor Leading HIV/AIDS Advocates

Hector Hernandez Scholarship Winner, Debra Fleming	Mary Dixon Advocacy Award Winner, Steven St. Julian

On Tuesday, March 20, the Illinois HIV/AIDS community honored the activism and leadership of two prominent advocates: Steven St. Julian and Debra Fleming. Steven serves as prevention outreach and adherence coordinator for the Southern Illinois HIV CARE Consortium in Carbondale. He is the 2007 recipient of the Mary Dixon Advocacy Award, named for the Illinois ACLU legislative director and longtime AFC friend, Mary Dixon. Debra, assistant director of House of James in Chicago, is the first recipient of the Hector Hernandez Scholarship, awarded in loving memory of Hector, who passed away in 2006.

A resident of Makanda, IL, Steven has devoted most of his professional life to HIV/AIDS education, awareness, and public service. Prior to his current job, he served for five years as the Ryan White consortia director for southern Illinois. To his knowledge, he is the first and only openly HIV-positive consortia director in Illinois history. Debra has a long history of advocacy for HIV-affected women and families in Illinois. She was a founding member of the Westside HIV/AIDS Regional Planning Coalition (WHARP) and currently serves as co-chair for the Chicago Area HIV/AIDS Services Planning Council. She uses her candor and life experiences to advocate with and for other women living with HIV/AIDS, and speaks regularly and publicly about her journey living with HIV for the past 22 years.

Read a profile of Steven St. Julian in the Southern Illinoisan

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