In an exclusive interview, Black Health Matters talks to Grammy-nominated artist Raheem DeVaughn about his LoveLife Foundation, HIV education, and partnership with Gilead

R&B singer and songwriter Raheem Devaughn caught our attention because of the many hits he has sung about love. But it is not just his discography that keeps him relevant, but his commitment to educating and impacting our community that makes him an even more powerful force.
We had an opportunity to chat with him while he was on tour with Ledesi about his LoveLife Foundation and his partnership with Gilead to improve and help improve the HIV landscape for Black women through education through their Setting the P.A.C.E. Initiative.
I wanted to learn more about the program, so Debra Wafer, the senior director of Public Affairs US Virology, Community Engagement and Advocacy at Gilead Sciences. Watch the video or look below for the full transcript.

Corynne Corbett (00:12):
Hi everybody. I’m Corynne Corbett, editorial director of Black Health Matters, and I have the pleasure of chatting with the one and only Rah Navo about something special that he’s doing this month as he embarkes on an 18-city tour as he combines music and missions, and we are going to learn more about that. I want to start with asking you to tell us about your Love Life Foundation. Community Engagement,
Raheem DeVaughn (00:44):
Love Life Foundation has been established since right around 20 13, 20 12, 20 13, 20 14. Between that span, the idea was conceived and then I was already doing a plethora of community work anyway, so it just made sense for me to establish my own foundation at that point where I could do more work, hands on, directly support the initiatives that want support, so forth and so on.
Corynne Corbett (01:17):
And what are the things that are important to you that you do through that foundation?
Raheem DeVaughn (01:24):
We do work in terms of HIV prevention. I’ve had previous partnerships in that sector. We feed people that are homeless and displaced as well. We provide scholarships, textbook scholarships. The textbook Scholarship Fund was created to support students for their first year of college, paying for books and supplies. We felt like that was something that was practical, that a lot of times it’s overlooked for students. We weren’t in a position necessarily to pay tuition full year rides and stuff of that nature just yet, but we still wanted to find a way to be able to lend hands to our local parents in the community as well as the students. So that was an initiative that we started out at the DMV. We would pick three students a year, and we’ve successively saw off a lot of students since then with the test, with Scholarship Fund, and then there’s Toys for Tots for of course, the holidays and stuff like that. A lot of different initiatives.
(02:36):
One that I’m extremely proud of, fighting domestic violence and bringing more awareness to the community, to the Black community, and to the youth as well, is being able to identify, first of all what domestic violence is and understanding that it doesn’t just affect women, affects men, children as well, teenage boys and girls as well. So being able to do a lot of work in that sector as well. Establish a program, the Queen for a Day, spot takeover, which allows us to bring in women and pamper them for the day and let them know that they’re still men out here that care in a community that cares is here, be of aid to them, why they transitioning at a very severe domestic violence situation. So those are just a few of our initiatives.
Corynne Corbett (03:24):
And doing it in your community is really important to you, right?
Raheem DeVaughn (03:27):
Absolutely. I mean, every community, I touch many stages across the country and across the world. So the premise is that I’m not looking to just go into the community or go into a city like Chicago and just take and keep it moving. I think the greatest gift that we can leave behind is the gift of love and community and activism and stuff of that nature. So touring, touring makes it very easy for me to move around and be part of the process.
Corynne Corbett (03:58):
Great, great. So how did you start partnering with Gilead Sciences?
Raheem DeVaughn (04:04):
This is a new partnership for Raheem Devine in terms of me in branding, but also allow me to work outside of the sector, the Love Life Foundation. It just gives me an opportunity to do even more work. So being is that I’m on the legacy Good Life tour. I feel like this would be a great time to mobilize and have a strategic partnership. And again, I think it made it very easy, me doing the work I’ve done in the past in terms of HIV awareness and prevention. Gilead felt like I was a perfect suitor for the partnership, and I felt likewise as well.
Corynne Corbett (04:52):
Okay. So let’s talk a little bit about what the partnership is and what you’re going to be doing with Gilead in terms of the tour. So what you’re doing in what you’re doing, you are on the Legacy Good Life tour, right? You’re doing 18 cities?
Raheem DeVaughn (05:16):
Yeah. I’m a supporter act on the Legacy Good Life tour. The tours already started. We knee deep in it. Gilead is showing up and showing out, and their local partners are showing up and showing out. We’re bringing awareness. The goal is to do this successfully; I’m hoping that we’ll come in touch with 35,000 women within 30 days. This is a life-changing experience, providing information that’ll save lives, obviously knowing the fact that Gilead has already created 12 million in grants and local initiatives to create awareness about HIV prevention, anti-stigma, and health equity for Black women and girls in the United States. This is the movement. This is the new cool. This is the new narrative, and they allow me to join ‘EM as a partner. And they’re setting the PACE initiative, which again is over 12 million invested into local organizations on the ground for HIV prevention.
Corynne Corbett (06:30):
So, what other cities are you guys going to this month?
Raheem DeVaughn (06:34):
Oh man, I don’t have the schedule right in front of me. Yeah, I had a list right in front of me. I’ll be honest with you. It’s like a blur. Yeah,
Corynne Corbett (06:42):
Yeah. Because I know that you wake up every day and you’re like, what city is this? Right?
Raheem DeVaughn (06:47):
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m currently home on a brief break, and I know that we are in Birmingham tomorrow. We got Birmingham coming up. We have Houston coming up St. Louis. There’s la, Oakland, California, and I’m sure there’s a few spots that have already missed. We hit Washington dc Philly, started in Newark, New Jersey. We’ve been to Columbus, Ohio. We’ve been to Charlotte, North Carolina. We’ve been to Durham, North Carolina, just to name a few cities. Again, for me, I’m on for 18 cities. There are a few cities that I’m, I’m not participating on the tour, but I mean, the cool thing about it’s that I anticipate that this is just the beginning of a long, hopefully fruitful relationship, and you don’t have to be on tour to care about people. Again, it makes it very easy to touch the people knowing that I’m in these various cities every day and we hit the ground running, me doing the meet and greets and us and Gilead having partners come out and us having a table set up where they scan the QR code, do the survey, we get to have conversations. I can’t tell you about how many people have pulled me aside when I’m in the merch line and thanking me for spreading their awareness, how HIV and AIDS has affected them either directly or indirectly. So I see it working in real time. Absolutely. Black women make up for, I think it’s only 14% and they’re half of the new cases and diagnosis here in the states are Black women
Corynne Corbett (08:51):
Right now. Walk me through. They’re setting up a meet and greet. How’s it?
Raheem DeVaughn (08:59):
Oh, well, yeah. I do a meet and greet anyway at all the shows. It’s something I’ve done since the beginning of my career, but in a cool way, we make it and able to get access to me. We ask that people scan the QR code before we get into the meeting and the greeting of things and taking photos and things of that nature. We like to meet and greet with the people, and before I test the people, it’s imperative that they scan the QR code so that we can have the conversations and get them the information they need to have.
Corynne Corbett (09:43):
I think that’s good. I think that’s good. So I’ll just look up for the rest of the cities. I can get that information just so that people know and we can share that on the site so that people know what other cities that the tour is going to.
Raheem DeVaughn (10:01):
Absolutely. And again, the mission doesn’t stop with the tour. I’m hoping that we continue our partnership, but this is something we do. That’s your work. Yeah, this is my work. You know what I mean? It’s been my work for so long, and obviously it’s so much work to be done. It’s so much work to be done.
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