by Jessica Carreras
When Between The Lines calls new Michigan AIDS Coalition CEO Helen Hicks, she is working from home, watching her youngest son, Anthony. Though she now heads up one of the largest HIV/AIDS organizations in the state, Hicks is also a mother of seven – ranging in age from four to 31.
Her family is like the LGBT and the HIV/AIDS communities: eclectic. It's comprised of four children from a previous marriage, her transgender stepson and LGBT teen hero Lance Hicks (2008 recipient of the Forum Foundation scholarship), an adopted African-American boy from Chicago and her and her husband's youngest son. It's a sometimes crazy but always loving scene that parallels the community Hicks faces every day in her new CEO position at MAC.
And in both family and at work, Hicks wouldn't have it any other way.
Hicks comes to the Michigan AIDS Coalition from a slew of jobs working for non-profit organizations – from the food bank of Oakland County to Lawrence Technological University to Citizens for Better Care, a watchdog agency for people in assisted living and nursing home facilities. She said she feels that all of her previous positions have put her in the prime spot to lead MAC to the next level.
"I really feel like all of my experiences throughout my whole career have sort of trained me for what this position holds and what this mission is all about," Hicks says.
It's a bold claim – and Hicks looks forward to putting her money where her mouth is.
Hicks admits that the event in her life that inspired her to work in her field was not just a desire to move her career and the organization forward, but her own stepson, Lance. She even wrote about him in her cover letter when applying for the CEO position.
"He's a really incredibly wonderful person," she says of Lance. "And that one experience, I think more than anything, made me readily apply for the position where maybe in my past I might have thought, 'Hmm, I don't know.' But that whole experience sort of gave me an introduction into the LGBT world and it just was really kind of perfect."
Admittedly, Hicks has never worked in the field of HIV/AIDS before, but says that's exactly what seemed attractive to the MAC Board of Directors when they interviewed her. "They wanted somebody to come to the table who had really fresh ideas … . Sometimes when you're in a field for a really long time, you get a little bit more narrow in your perspective," she explains. "And the other thing was that (MAC Chief Operating Officer) Craig (Covey) was going to be there … and with his expertise in this particular field, and with my expertise in fundraising, PR and marketing, we've really got it covered."
So much so that MAC, which was created with the merger of the Midwest AIDS Prevention Project and the Michigan AIDS Fund, has big plans for the next couple of years – including a full statewide expansion.
Their five-year plan, said Hicks, includes upping their fundraising efforts with mailings and an annual dinner for donors, working with more smaller HIV/AIDS organizations and opening up satellite offices in other areas of Michigan to help better serve the needs of the HIV-positive community statewide.
"We are the Michigan AIDS Coalition," Hicks emphasized. "Our work is going to expand throughout Michigan and that is the No. 1 goal for this year."
Moreover, Hicks noted that MAC's current policy of working with smaller organizations would be continued and even expanded. "There's a lot of small AIDS serving organizations and they're struggling right now. The economy is taking its toll and we're welcoming them to our table," she explains. "We'd like to share staff with them, we'd like to share space with them, we'd even like to share some of our resources with them."
Hicks maintains that while MAC is a large organization – with a staff of 17 and a budget of $1.4 million – they don't want to monopolize the field. Instead, they want to work to make sure that all bases of HIV/AIDS assistance, education and outreach are covered in Michigan. "I think sometimes individual egos get in the way and we need to stop that and look more at the missions of our organizations and say, 'What's best for the mission?'" Hicks says. "And I think there's room for all of the people."
But for right now, Hicks is still learning – both from the people she works with, and especially from Covey, who previously headed up MAPP. "I'm really appreciating Craig," she says. "He's obviously been there forever and I actually am pretty inspired by his leadership."
And it looks as though Michigan's HIV/AIDS community is going to be inspired by Hicks. All she really wants, however, is to stay with MAC for a long, long time. "I'm learning quite a bit and I'm meeting such genuine and sincere people," Hicks says of her new job. "I'm really very honored to be where I am. Sometimes I wake up in the morning and … I could just slap myself, I'm so happy."
