Local churches have partnered with the NAACP to fight the growing number of HIV cases in the African American community.
"This is a safe space; so why not leverage that safe space to really deal with issues that nobody is comfortable talking about?" said Reverend John Faison of Watson Grove Missionary Baptist Church.
He and other area churches are working with the NAACP has created a new initiative, "The Black Church & HIV," to combat the disproportionate numbers of HIV cases in the black community.
He said the church is the perfect place to help those affected and keep the problem from getting worse.
"So the initiative was designed to use the faith based community as an incubator for information, advocacy as well as activism," said Faison.
Pastors said communication and acceptance is key. And hopefully a subject that was once taboo will not be that way anymore.
The new initiative has been months in the making.
