Healthy Teen Network is pleased to announce that Deon Haywood has been selected to receive the 2019 Standing Strong Award.

(Learn more about our awards and past awardees on our conference website.)

Deon Haywood is the Executive Director of Women With A Vision, Inc. (WWAV), a New Orleans-based community organization founded in 1989 to improve the lives of marginalized women, their families, and communities by addressing the social conditions that hinder their health and well-being. Since Hurricane Katrina, she has led the organization to a vibrant locally-rooted international network, addressing the complex intersection of socio-economic injustices and health disparities.

In 2009, Deon oversaw the launch of WWAV’s NO Justice Project, a campaign to combat the sentencing of women and trans* people arrested for street-based sex work under Louisiana’s 203-yr-old “crime against nature” felony-level law. This resulted in a federal judicial ruling and the removal of more than 700 people from the sex offender registry. Deon has also been the representative from the U.S. South to the 2013 Frontline Defender’s Dublin Platform, has testified in front of the United Nations Global Commission on HIV and the Law, and has been honored with numerous awards by groups across the United States in recognition of her leadership at the intersection of HIV/AIDS, harm reduction, LGBTQ rights, reproductive justice, anti-criminalization, and ending (mass) incarceration.

At the 7^th Annual 2020 Leading Women’s Society Awards, Deon received the Pandora Singleton Ally Award for 20 years of service as a non-positive ally in the movement. Deon was also part of the inaugural class of Public Voices Fellows with the Ms. Foundation (2016), and she was the 2017 recipient of the 41^st Ben Smith Award from the A.C.L.U. of Louisiana.

Healthy Teen Network is honored to present Deon Haywood with the 2019 Standing Strong award at our national conference on Tuesday, October 29, 2019, during the awards luncheon at the Sheraton New Orleans Hotel.