Dandelions Movement

🌼✨ DANDELION’S MOVEMENT (DANDELION INC.) ✨🌼

COMMUNITY WRITING ENGAGEMENT
Your Story. Your Voice. Your Timeline.

💛 We’re still feeling the power of our first Dandelion workshop!
A special thank you to Porchia for creating a space where everyone showed up, shared, and truly engaged.

Now, we’re inviting OUR ENTIRE COMMUNITY to join in.

📝 WRITING PROMPT
“Timeline of Self (Nonlinear Allowed)”

Create an artistic timeline of your life:
• Moments of awareness or personal growth
• Relationships & life experiences
• Healthcare journeys
• Silence, disclosure, or transformation

✨ Your story does NOT have to be in order
✨ It can be abstract, blurred, or incomplete

💭 NEXT STEP:
Choose ONE moment and turn it into:
• A short scene
• A poem
• Or a reflection

👇🏾 ENGAGE WITH US
Drop your response in the comments:
• A line
• A feeling
• A word
• A poem

LIKE • COMMENT • SHARE • TAG
We greatly appreciate your engagement!

🫶🏾 THIS SPACE IS FOR EVERYONE
Whether you are living with HIV, love someone who is, or want to learn and support
YOU BELONG HERE.

✨ Because the truth is:
HIV can impact anyone.

🌼 Let’s build community. Let’s tell our stories.
We look forward to our next workshop but for now, let’s engage together.

💛 DANDELION’S MOVEMENT
Healing • Advocacy • Transformation

HIVAwareness

🌍 YAB APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN‼️
Not everyone gets an opportunity that can change how they see the world… AND themselves.
We had our very own Ieshia Scott attend, and this is what she shared:
“My experience at YAB was amazing. I went home feeling refreshed and renewed. I encourage people born living with HIV to apply to the scholarship. Take time to give back and pour into youth that does not live with the same access but share in our diagnosis.
It was beautiful to witness how the orphanage makes the most out of their resources for themselves and community. To partake in fellowship, where faith seemed unwavering.”
✨ This isn’t just a trip…
✨ This is transformation
✨ This is purpose
✨ This is impact
Not everyone understands the level of change this brings but if you’re ready for an experience of a lifetime, this is YOUR moment.
💛 See the world through different eyes
💛 Give back in a meaningful way
💛 Connect with a global community
Apply today. Don’t miss this opportunity. .ms
ApplyNow PurposeDriven https://www.youthacrossborders.org/youth-a-2024

We’re closing out our writing workshop series with something special
Meet our final facilitator: Porchia dees 💜
Porchia Dees is a part of the first generation of children who were born HIV positive, diagnosed in 1986. She identifies as an Artivist, blending the passions of art and activism to inspire change.
They’ll be holding space for our last session as we reflect, write, and honor the stories that brought us here.
This isn’t just a workshop, it’s a celebration of voice, survival, and truth.
Join us for this final chapter. 🎬

Greeting you all. Please read and support however you can! Reach out to if you need more details!

🌼 National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day is more than a date on the calendar-
ITS OUR TRUTH.
, born with HIV, have carried this journey from birth into adulthood. We are the proof that survival is possible, but survival alone is not enough.
Today, we demand visibility, care, and respect for Llifetime survivors.

Aging with HIV is not a footnote! It’s a movement.
And Dandelions, Inc. Aka Dandelions Movement will keep making sure our voices are heard. 💛✨

🌼✨ Happy 34th Birthday to our brilliant Co-Executive Director & Founder, Derinthia Williams ! ✨🌼

Today we celebrate YOU! Your vision, your leadership, and the way you continue to plant seeds of hope, justice, and healing for Lifetime Survivors everywhere. 💛

Birthdays are sacred in our community. Every year is a victory, every year is legacy, every year is LIFE.

Derinthia, thank you for showing us what it means to thrive, to lead, and to shine unapologetically. 🌟

Join us in wishing her the happiest of birthdays and sending love for another year of growth, joy, and unstoppable brilliance! 🎉💐🎂

✨Did you spot a Dandelion in full bloom at New York Fashion Week?! 🌼✨

Our very own powerhouse, Kim Canady , CEO of Conversations w/ Kim & DDLS Communications & Internal Affairs Director, graced the runway alongside fellow Dandelion/Lifetime Survivor leader Rev. Kaylee G who uses her platform to change the face of people born with HIV!

The stunning showcase, HIV Unwrapped, transformed fashion into art and advocacy + every handmade garment told a story, offering the world a bold and artistic lens on HIV.

From the runway ➡️ to ABC’s Channel 7 News ➡️ to streaming on Hulu this November—this moment is HISTORY in motion.

💛 THIS is what transformative advocacy looks like when Lifetime Survivors lead the way!

Let’s give some Dandilove to the people behind the scenes:

Day 3 at 🌼✨ Antoinette Jones Knowles facilitated a workshop on Parenting While Positive: Navigating Fertility, Family Planning, and Fear centered the voices of adults born with HIV who are now building families of their own.

We stressed the importance of language:: uplifting fathers born with HIV, honoring non-binary and gender-expansive birthing people, and naming autonomy as belonging to the parent.

Participants also received a chest/breastfeeding timeline to support informed, self-determined choices.

This session held space for parenting through trauma, disclosure, and stigma; while also uplifting joy, transparency, and family models rooted in love.

Thank you to our panelist:
Alyssa Crawford
Antoinette
And moderator Marlene 💜

Because Dandelions are not just PBWHIV;
we are parents
caregivers
and storytellers reshaping what legacy looks like for future generations. 🌱

.ms reverse questionnaire where attendees named gaps in care and imagined solutions for services that honor trauma-informed, lifespan-affirming healing.

Can you use a template like this like this to better reach community? If so let .ms know and why…
💜

✨This year’s theme was Aging with HIV and for the first time in 27 years, a track was dedicated to Dandelions/Lifetime Survivors. 🌼
Our fight for inclusion started long before we took the stage in 2022.

For too long, our voices were overshadowed, our experiences diminished, and we were treated as the forgotten community.

But we are still here. Still fighting. Still resilient. And now, we are unapologetically claiming the space that has always been ours. 💪🏾🌱

Catch a Dandelion at USCHA!
Next week we’re headed to , carrying the voices, brilliance, and power of Lifetime Survivors of HIV .
This year’s theme Aging with HIV  is not just about years lived, but about thriving, healing, and reclaiming joy. For those of us born with HIV, aging comes with unique challenges and incredible strength.
Look out for us at these sessions:
Sept 4–7
From mental health & memory to pleasure, leadership, parenting, and resilience — Dandelions Inc. is here, making sure our stories are centered.
Because aging with HIV means:
    •    Demanding better 
    •    Building joy
    •    Leading with love
    •    Refusing to be forgotten

Follow along for behind-the-scenes moments, reflections, and highlights as we take up space at .