Reverend Alberta Ware, Community Organizer, New York and Chicago
Reverend Ware most recently was the Director of HIV/AIDS Church & Community Mobilization and Information for The Balm In Gilead, an organization whose mission is to mobilize Black churches to become community centers for HIV/AIDS education and compassion. As director, Rev. Ware coordinated The Balm In Gilead’s major mobilization campaign, The Black Church Week of Prayer as well as The Church Lights the Way testing campaign. Rev. Ware provided technical assistance to churches, non-profits and government agencies via telephone, the Web and on-site visits. She developed training for churches and community-based organizations in the implementation of local and national church-based AIDS awareness programs and in effective use of The Balm In Gilead’s print and audio-visual HIV/AIDS resources. She is a former principal of the Cabrini-Green Alternative High School and a former Associate Director at the National College of Education. She also served for seven years as pastor of the South Side Unity Center of Christianity in Chicago, Illinois.