This year our Media & Communications (COMMS) division reached new heights, with awards and recognition for our film projects, successful collaborations with all of IWES' programs, and the launch of our "You Deserve A Doula" campaign, which featured a brand new podcast in our Healing is the Revolution series, "Should I Get A Doula?". Recognize anyone or any event in the collage? If it got your attention, make sure to click on the link below to find out about all of the media projects we got to work on this year.

In 2024 our Research & Evaluation division had the privilege of closing out some long-standing projects and further strengthening newer relationships. Find out what came out of our participation with Tulane's Healthy Neighborhoods Project, which examined the connection between housing blight and community well-being, and what new resources and tools are to come from our partnership with UNITY of Greater New Orleans, examining hurricane preparedness in Orleans and Jefferson parishes. Click the button below to read more about all of the work we've done this year, including new collaborations across programs, and an expanded IRB!

The word of the year is “collaboration,” and this year our Maternal and Child Health division made significant strides in improving maternal health in Louisiana by working collaboratively with many other organizations to support four important bills that were successfully passed, host Black Maternal Health Advocacy Day, and launch our "You Deserve a Doula” campaign. We’re proud to have raised awareness about doulas and maternal health policy, and we look forward to expanding this work even further across the state in 2025 to address maternal health disparities on a larger scale. Click to find out more!

In 2024, our Collective for Healthy Communities team celebrated another successful year, with our biggest highlight being our Bounce Back event — a free community gathering for youth centered on healing and creativity. We’re also proud of a few big accomplishments, like being a runner up in a national challenge, presenting two posters at the 2024 American Public Health Association (APHA) conference, and expanding our work in schools. Click above to read more about this year's highlights!

In 2024, our Adolescent Health division served over 500 youth and families through three new programs; Sexual Health for Adolescents Rooted in Equity (SHARE), and our two trauma-informed curricula, Creating a Future Together (CrAFT) and Are You Ready?. Our partners allowed us to reach more people and strengthen the skills of professionals who work with youth, such as health educators in Jamaica that will be adapting the CrAFT curriculum to their cultural context. Click to read more about what we have been grateful for this past year, and what we look forward to in 2025!

IWES has partnered with the Policy and Research Group (PRG) to launch the Film Learning Experience (FLEx) Study. The study invites young people aged 14-21 to take part in a one-time Entertainment Education session that explores topics about sexual and reproductive health (SRH). Study recruitment launches September 1st, so click the button below to learn more and get involved!

In January 2023, we welcomed ten extraordinary youth leaders passionate about mental health to join us for a transformative year. Together, they've participated in training and leadership opportunities, provided information and resources to their peers, and set the course for the change they wanted to see through our reACTion initiative by collaborating with our Core Implementation Partners and Advisory Council to shape policies that uplift the mental health and wellbeing of Black youth in New Orleans. Take a moment to read through their incredible reflections and experiences on their year in the Fellowship!

Have you heard of our Bounce Back initiative yet? If not (and even if you do!), you’ll want to read the blog post linked below to learn more about the Bounce Back youth event we hosted in March by the Bounce Back Collective (a cohort of high school and college-aged youth who explored what resilience meant to them). Learn more about our events and gatherings, and discover why we started this collective of artists and creatives interested in healing and building resilience by reading the full blog post.

From the Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs’ (AMCHP) annual conference in California to the Louisiana State Capitol to advocate for maternal health bills to launching the “You Deserve a Doula” campaign to raise awareness around doulas – the Maternal and Child Health (MCH) team had a very fruitful and eventful Spring! MCH Program Manager, Tylar Williams, MPH, CHES, shares her reflections over this season and all she has learned and looks forward to in the MCH world. Visit this blog post to read Tylar’s reflections!

IWES’ Research & Evaluation team has been working with UNITY of Greater New Orleans on the UNITY Hurricane Emergency Preparedness Study for the past year on our hurricane preparedness project and since it is the beginning of Hurricane season, we’re finally ready to share a peek into our findings! Read the full blog post to learn more! 

From September 6-9, 2023, thousands of people living with HIV and people impacted by HIV gathered in Washington D.C. for The US Conference on HIV/AIDS (USCHA), which is organized by the National Minority AIDS Council (NMAC). Attendees included activists and advocates, service providers, medical practitioners, sex workers, researchers, representatives from community-based organizations and AIDS service organizations (ASOs), government personnel, and even a filmmaker and communications specialist from a small non-profit in New Orleans; our Sr. Director of Media & Communications, Iman Shervington. Read this full blog post to learn more about this gathering and what “a love letter to Black women” means as Iman dives into details about how putting Black women first and centering their voices within the HIV/AIDS realm is crucial to End the Epidemic. 

Hurricane preparedness is deeply important in New Orleans, a city that is often threatened by and experiences the harmful impacts of powerful storms. In partnership with Unity of Greater New Orleans, the IWES Research & Evaluation (R&E) team started a study titled Factors Impacting Hurricane Emergency Preparedness among Low-Income and Other Vulnerable Populations of Orleans and Jefferson Parishes. Read this blurb to learn more about how we seek to understand the disaster-related experiences of vulnerable populations living in Orleans and Jefferson parishes.

This February, the IWES Research & Evaluation (R&E) team embarked on an evaluation partnership with the New Orleans Health Department’s Healthy Start program (HSNO). This community-based program supports parents in New Orleans throughout their pregnancy and after the birth of their child, helping them access community resources and medical care. To learn more about this collaboration, read this full blog post.

We are excited to share the incredible updates regarding our HRSA community-level intervention, piloting HIV Stigma Reduction Campaign, originally designed as a training resource for clinical personnel, community awareness for the general public, and healing resources for people with HIV. In the past year we have rolled out HIV Stigma Reduction Campaign materials including a documentary film, New Nickels, a film discussion guide, and beautiful HIV stigma reduction print material to pilot this new initiative. Read more about our HRSA HIV Stigma Reduction Campaign updates on this post.

From Girls Rock New Orleans’ Summer Camp to a water-fun day at Hotel Hope, our CHC team is delighted to support the community this summer with some fun and creative initiatives. Read more about these activities on this blog post!

We're extremely proud of our illustrious board member, Dr. Stephani Hatch, who on March 30, 2023 delivered a phenomenal inaugural lecture in honor of becoming a Professor of Sociology and Epidemiology at King's College London.

This April we celebrated Black Maternal Health Week (BMHW), a week-long campaign created by the Black Mamas Matter Alliance to build awareness, activism, and community-building to amplify the voices, perspectives and lived experiences of Black Mamas and birthing people. This year's theme was “Our Bodies Belong to Us: Restoring Black Autonomy and Joy!” and we hope you enjoy reading our reflection on this week and what we look forward to in the MCH space!

IWES has a new teen health initiative! The IWES Adolescent Health team, in collaboration with our Communications and Research & Evaluation departments, has launched a new program based around IWES’ newest narrative short film, Happy Birthday, Leonard, and it is designed to increase condom use among youth involved or at risk of being involved with the juvenile justice system. Read more about this new program, here!