Matt Martin serves as the Associate Director of the North Carolina AIDS Action Network, the state's HIV advocacy and policy organization. Matt graduated from Western Carolina University in 2013, receiving a B.S.Ed. and B.M. in Instrumental Music Education with a minor in Religious Studies. After teaching Middle School Band in the NC Public School system for two years, Matt left education to follow a passion for advocacy and activism. Prior to joining the NCAAN team, Matt worked as a Field Organizer on the TurnOUT! Charlotte and TurnOUT! North Carolina campaigns, two LGBTQ+ issue based coalition campaigns.  When not working, you can typically find Matt reading Queer fantasy novels and drinking entirely too much coffee. Matt is currently based in Raleigh, North Carolina. 

 

 

Led BY community members in service TO community members, Crape Myrtle Festival is an organization that quite literally puts their money where their mouth is.  By funding local HIV and LGBTQ+ focused organizations, CMF is directly helping to ensure that Queer folks and folks living with HIV throughout North Carolina have the vital services that they all too frequently don't have access to, but so desperately need and deserve. 

 

CMF is a great example of what true community-focused grassroots advocacy and support looks like.