Power To The (Young) People

It isn't every day a 22-year-old starts a non-profit organization. But Logan Voxx isn't like most 22 year olds. Born to a drug addicted single mother in North Charleston, South Carolina, Voxx grew up in a neighborhood where poverty, criminal incarceration and homicide were a part of everyday life. As a teen, he escaped homelessness when the parents of a friend invited him to live in their home. Voxx also grew up surrounded by HIV. Born nearly eight years after the first documented cases of HIV were reported in the United States, he didn't learn about the disease in school. In fact, in many schools throughout the Bible Belt, Voxx says HIV/AIDS prevention isn't even taught. 'Seeing so many people, at 20 years old, become HIV-positive, especially in the gay community, especially in the African-American community' that was really hard for me,' Voxx says. 'Most of my friends, even some family, are HIV positive.' Voxx is one of the lucky ones. After stumbling briefly in high school (he spent some time in a special school for at risk youth), he graduated early, started his own retail clothing business and, on a trip to Los Angeles, first wrapped his head around the need for the Positive Young People Foundation, the non-profit he founded in 2009. In L.A., Voxx says for the first time, he saw happy, healthy people living with HIV. 'Where I'm from, people [with HIV] don't look happy-go-lucky,' he says. 'Most of the people I know who are living with HIV/AIDS are not on medicine, they don't have access to treatment, and some of them are dying.' PYP's approach is two pronged'use education and awareness campaigns to lower the infection rate among young adults ages 18-30; and improve conditions for HIV-positive people in impoverished communities where HIV is still seen as (and, in many cases, still can be) a death sentence. In 2011 Voxx is expanding PYP's profile through a series of fundraising and informational events. The foundation is currently accepting public service announcements on its website, and Voxx says PYP is planning to launch a billboard campaign throughout South Carolina and Florida this year. Ultimately, he hopes to raise money to increase availability to testing, condoms and treatment throughout the south. 'People say, 'practice safe sex,'' Voxx says. 'Well practicing safe isn't free. A box of condoms is $14 bucks ' $14 is a lot of money.' Prevention starts with visibility, and in a part of the country where the nearest testing facility might be two hours away, Voxx says he thinks getting people to start talking about HIV/AIDS again like it's not a thing of the past is the key to finally taking control of this disease. 'In my community, there are no clinics,' he says. 'They don't have the access to care. In my community, we don't have billboards and awareness campaigns. We need to change that.'