Our Mission:
We provide confidential and preventative education, referrals and support to individuals affected and infected with HIV/AIDS, with a particular focus on women and teen girls.


Our Vision:
We are devoted to helping individuals who are infected or affected by HIV/AIDs. As a messenger of health, we provide confidential, preventative support in the areas of education, counseling, and referrals. By serving others with respect, compassion, and love, we offer nurturing, hope, guidance, and a brighter way of living.

Description:
Our organization is committed to providing education about the HIV virus for women and teen girls in our community. In the area of prevention, we offer workshops, confidential testing, support groups, one-on-one counseling, and condoms. We strongly believe in preventative education for young women, so that they know how to avoid contracting the disease.It is imperative that women (and men) know what to do if they are diagnosed with the HIV virus.We teach the importance of following medication procedures and proper nutrition. We also offer instruction on personal hygiene and skin care.

For those who have been diagnosed with HIV- including women who have never stepped outside their marriage and girls who have been touched without their permission- we provide encouragement, support and guidance so that healing can begin. We seek to fulfill all needs of the individual. To this end, we will provide information and referral to other area agencies so as to help individuals make the needed changes to prepare for an independent and moral lifestyle.

Our History . . .

New Hearts Encouragement Ministries, Inc. is a product of the passion and vision of Ms. Violet Scott, Founder and Executive Director. A native Floridian, Ms. Scott was diagnosed with HIV on May 21, 2001, and shortly thereafter, she became deeply involved in HIV/AIDS awareness and advocacy through the support and encouragement of her former case manager, Patrick Lindsay of the Open Center, Inc. in Orlando, FL. As her involvement deepened into the issues surrounding HIV positive women, Ms. Scott realized that more needed to be done to address the issues affecting the quality of life of high risk and HIV positive women. Prompted by this realization, in 2003 Ms. Scott began a support group at her home for HIV positive women to foster supportive relationships, advice, and resources. Ms. Scott served as a peer mentor for several years, and eventually moved into HIV/AIDS preventative education. For several years, Ms. Scott, has served as a facilitator of SISTA (Sister Informing Sisters about Topics on AIDS), a peer-led intervention intended to prevent the contraction of HIV among African American women.

Ms. Scott was compelled by a force greater than herself to address the marginalization and stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS. She wanted to break the silence of HIV positive women in underserved Orlando, FL communities. This led to the creation of New Hearts Encouragement Ministries, Inc. The name of the ministry was originally "fragile hearts", but Ms. Scott was encouraged by Mr. Paul West, Esq., a local lawyer, to take inspiration from Ezekiel 36:26 “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you." Just as the Lord can renew the hearts and spirits of believers, the power of education and "a helping hand" can renew the hearts and minds of women and teen girls.

Since 2006, NHEM has participated in a nonprofit capacity building program with the University of Central Florida Capacity Building Institute. Funded by the Orange County Health Department, the program includes group trainings and one-on-one technical assistance that has resulted in:

• Annual strategic planning
• Annual fiscal assessments
• Board policies and procedures development
• Employee policies and procedures development
• Volunteer policies and procedures development
• Annual reports
• Group trainings on: leadership, grant writing, collaboration, program evaluation, fundraising, volunteer management, and other related topics.
  
  

Contact people:

Violet Scott, Executive Director, (phone), (email) Charlyn Stanberry, Board President, (phone), (email) Bridget Healy, Research Analyst, (phone), (email)

Address:

P.O. Box 682531 Orlando, FL 32868

Web Site: http://www.newhearts.20m.com

Directions:

Please call ahead for directions, as agency activities take place at multiple sites in Orange County, FL.

Miscellaneous Information

Does this agency typically accept court-ordered assignments?
	Yes
Do you accept volunteers at night and on weekends?
	Yes
Do you accept groups of volunteers?
	Yes