Just over a month ago, I had the pleasure of working with Us Helping Us, People Into Living — a D.C.-based nonprofit that provides innovative programs and services aimed at reducing the impact of HIV/AIDS in the black gay community and beyond — as a part of Discovery Impact: Creating Change.

Working with my colleague Matt, we developed a comprehensive social media strategy and gave Us Helping Us a tangible start with a new presence on Facebook. As luck would have it, Creating Change came the week that Us Helping Us was presenting a grant application to Kaiser Permanente of the Mid-Atlantic; and this we week we found out that Us Helping Us received the grant for $74,000 to use towards their social media strategy and outreach.

With the grant, the Us Helping Us team will leverage  social platforms to reach out to many audiences — including, most importantly, the men for which it provides live-saving and life-improving services every day.  Social media has the power to inform, entertain and, as we are reminded here, make a difference in people’s lives.

For more about Us Helping Us and how you can help, please visit their website at www.uhupil.org.