I would like to start off by saying I am truly grateful and honored to have been selected to be apart of this years Youth Initiative. Hello everyone my name is Joey. I am 23 years old and I’m an openly gay young man who is HIV positive. I have been positive for about three years now. I was recently a part of AIDS Watch which allowed the opportunity to share my story with people on capitol hill. It inspired me to apply for this event in the hopes I can help someone else by sharing my experience, strength and new found hope with others. From this event my hope is that I will gain leadership skills and the knowledge to apply it to further help other young people who are living with or those persons affected by HIV and AIDS.