Visionary

Nancy Kingwood is the founder and visionary of the Nia Alliance for People of Color. She founded this grassroots initiative in her home with the desire to better equip the local community to address HIV/AIDS with women of African descent. Nancy also had the God given passion to engage the faith community with the belief - with God all things are possible. Inspired by the biblical text, John 5, The Healing at the Pool - Do you want to get well?, the Nia Alliance was founded. Nancy knew then that this was a divine call to go out and exalt Christ in the midst of the epidemic.

In August 2006, The Nia Alliance became a volunteer initiative of the Greater Bridgeport Adolescent Pregnancy Program (GBAPP). With her years of working and presenting on the issues related to HIV/AIDS, Nancy developed a five week curriculum that incorporated basic HIV information, as well as critical information regarding racial and gender inequalities. Later, Nancy would also develop a separate curriculum for men that address HIV/AIDS from a male perspective. To date, 80 men and women have received their certificates of completion from the Nia Alliance. GBAPP has hired several Nia graduates to work as sub-contractors in their HIV Department.

Over the years, Nancy has had a major role in framing the local faith community’s response to the AIDS epidemic. Under her leadership, over 60 minority churches have been recruited and engaged in HIV/AIDS services.  She also shares the responsibility in planning local events and programs for the Week of Prayer for the Healing of AIDS, a national program of the Balm in Gilead.

Nancy holds two degrees in Human Services and a Master’s Degree in Human Services with a concentration Organizational Management and Leadership from Springfield College. Her Master thesis is entitled, Defining the Role of the Black Church in the Midst of the AIDS Crisis. She is a recent graduate and class president of the Black Ministries Program at Hartford Seminary.

Nancy currently serves as the Director of HIV Prevention and Faith-based Services for the Greater Bridgeport Adolescent Pregnancy Program (GBAPP) where she supervises a multi-disciplinary staff, providing outreach education to social service agencies and faith organizations. She ensures all clients are receiving assessable and appropriate services. Nancy also serves as Project Director at the Mount Aery Development Corporation under the Ashe HIV Faith Project. She has worked in the field of HIV Prevention for over 17 years.

Nancy has facilitated workshops at national conferences sponsored by the following organizations:

• The Center for Disease Control and Prevention
• National Minority AIDS Council’s United States Conference on AIDS (USCA)
• The National Black Church Summit
• The Center for Substance Abuse Treatment
• The Center for Substance Abuse Prevention
• Joint Meeting on Adolescent Treatment

“I am a servant walking in the footsteps of Christ.

Nancy