We Keep Us Healthy: Our Community, Our Health, Our Stories

Why We’re Starting This Series

At Unity Arc Advocacy Group, we believe that data and stories belong together. Numbers can show trends — but people reveal truth.

Across the U.S. South, especially here in Georgia, we are witnessing how funding cuts to Medicare, HIV care, and prevention programs ripple through communities. Behind every data point is someone trying to refill a prescription, get to a clinic, or keep a promise to live another day in health and dignity.

This new monthly blog series on health equity is our space to connect the dots: between policy and people, between access and justice, between hope and the systems that sometimes stand in its way

What to Expect Each Month

1. Real Stories, Real People:
   Each post will align with our Storytelling Series, featuring videos and testimonies from individuals whose lives are directly affected by the ongoing cuts. You’ll meet patients, community health workers, and advocates who refuse to be invisible.

2. Data in Plain Language:
   We’ll unpack the week’s developments in HIV care and prevention — what’s changing, who’s at risk, and where progress is still happening. Using the Health Equity Monitor dashboard, we’ll translate national trends into local insight for Southern communities.

3. Action and Advocacy:
   Every story will close with tangible steps — how you can help protect funding, amplify voices, or connect neighbors to care.

📊 This Month’s Health Equity Monitor Highlights

⏸️ Policy Alert: The Government Shutdown Shadow

While the data in this month’s Health Equity Monitor reflects activity between September 5 and October 4, 2025, it does not yet include the impacts of the recent federal government shutdown (which began October 1, 2025).

However, the shutdown poses immediate and serious risks to HIV and Medicaid programs:

• Disruption to CDC surveillance and reporting, which could further delay PrEP and HIV incidence data.

• Interruption in federal grant disbursements to community health clinics and state HIV programs.

• Medicaid and Medicare processing delays, especially affecting low-income, disabled, or elderly populations.

• Staff furloughs in key health agencies (HRSA, NIH, SAMHSA), undermining technical support and oversight.

The relative stability we see in this month’s snapshot may be short-lived — the coming weeks could deepen the challenges already emerging in our data.

📊 This Month’s Health Equity Monitor Highlights

Date Range: September 5 – October 4, 2025

Each month, we’ll spotlight the latest data and stories that shape health equity in the South — including people living with and without HIV, rural residents, older adults, and low-income families dependent on Medicaid.

1️⃣ Care Access ↓ Slight Decline

• In Atlanta and nearby counties, community clinics reported fewer pop-up testing events, reduced weekday hours, and rising wait times.

• Reduced outreach means delayed diagnoses for both chronic and infectious conditions — magnifying existing disparities.

2️⃣ Prevention and Coverage → Uneven

• The CDC’s paused PrEP coverage reporting leaves blindspots in tracking who has lost access to prevention.

• Simultaneously, new Medicaid redetermination policies and eligibility restrictions under HR1 threaten to remove coverage from thousands — including those with chronic illnesses.

3️⃣ Funding Risk ↑ Increasing

• Federal debates continue over $2 billion in potential HIV program cuts for FY 2026.

• Local providers brace for cascading effects: fewer outreach contracts, reduced medication subsidies, staff layoffs hitting smaller clinics hardest.

⚖️ What This Means for Health Equity

Innovation and compassion are not enough if access keeps shrinking.
From HIV prevention to primary care, Medicaid remains the lifeline for millions — especially for people of color, older adults, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ folks.

When supports are defunded or eligibility narrowed, it’s not abstract — it’s people losing essential care.

🗣️ Coming Soon: Voices of Resistance

Beginning this fall, we’ll launch Voices of Resistance — a storytelling and interview series featuring advocates, activists, and people impacted by these health system shifts.
They will share how decisions made behind closed doors ripple into daily life — and how communities organize, resist, and hold hope.

🔗 How You Can Help

• Contact Malcolm Reid - malcolm@unityarcadvocacy.com if you want to share your story on the impacts of HR1, HIV Cuts or the Government shutdown

• Share: Use #HealthEquityNow, #WeKeepUsHealthy, and #VoicesOfResistance

🕊️ Closing Thought

Health equity is not just a healthcare issue — it’s a justice issue.
Even as budgets tighten, systems change, and policies shift, we keep us healthy — through storytelling, advocacy, and collective resistance.

Blog Post Title Three

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.

Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.