A MEMORIAL RESOLUTION HONORING BRYAN CURTIS JONES

Today we are comforted by the paraphrased verse from Maya Angelou’s When Great Trees Fall:

He existed. He existed.

We can be. Be and be

Better. For he existed.

WHEREAS We Think for a Change and the broader and diverse HIV/AIDS community beyond Cleveland lost not just a valued member but a passionate leader with the death of Bryan Curtis Jones, who departed this life to join the ancestors on December 29 , 2024, and, most importantly, Bryan Curtis Jones was a loving family member, a friend and a fervent and tireless HIV/AIDS advocate, worthy of emulation

WHEREAS Bryan Curtis Jones was a repository of knowledge about HIV/AIDS and a relentless educator who shared his knowledge with youth, adults, seniors, his peer group, health care and service organizations

WHEREAS Bryan Curtis Jones was a committed Master Advocate and Promoter of all things HIV/AIDS related

WHEREAS Bryan Curtis Jones’s many areas of advocacy included support and information of Prep, U=U, dispensation of condoms, the decriminalization of HIV/AIDS, conference speaker and retreat sponsor

WHEREAS Bryan Curtis Jones was indeed a people-person concerned about the health and well-being of the greater community; acquiring and distributing resources to improve the quality of lives of those living with HIV;  promoting the most recent treatments; and, helping to guarantee that health and service organizations that test and administer

care are informed and responsive

WHEREAS Bryan Curtis Jones was an innovator, creating Rally in the Valley to bring awareness of HIV/AIDS to the Garden Valley neighborhood,  knocking on doors, completing literature drops, informing hundreds of clients who also visited the Neighborhood House for services, and in the process, changing attitudes and perceptions that promoted acceptance

WHEREAS Bryan Curtis Jones coined the term Dirt Advocacy, reminding each of us that the road to a cure is not determined solely by financial resources but also by on the ground  educational and adherence advocacy

WHEREAS Bryan Curtis Jones in his unfailing pursuit to eradicate the disease that decimated so many in the HIV/AIDS community could be tenacious and even sometimes prickly in his advocacy, as a provocateur,  his messages were intentional - to provoke action and disrupt apathy

WHEREAS as  a relentless advocate Bryan Curtis Jones did not take a break, did not pause, did not exhale, but was incessant, unfaltering, and bold - a voice that will continue to resonate, even after death, among those he leaves to continue and even accelerate the work

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that we bow to a Will greater than our own, and that accepting the passing of our friend, our partner in service, our fearless Master Advocate, we accept the fullness he added to our lives and the critical work that must continue

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that we eulogize his memory by trying to bring into our own lives the passion, the commitment, and the purpose that made Bryan Curtis Jones the Master Advocate, a title  he earned and deserved, and one that he demonstrated  in action and in purpose

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution is sent to his family to express our love and the high esteem in which we hold his life and memory and that a copy of this resolution is retained in the permanent files of We Think for a Change.

HUMBLY AND RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,

Today __________ 2025,

BY:

WE THINK FOR A CHANGE

Michelle Rollins

Executive Director

We Think for a Change