AIDS advocate, author and POZ 100 honoree Khafre K. Abif is the new community organizer for the Southern AIDS Coalition, according to an SAC press release.

In his new role, Abif will work on a campaign to connect HIV-positive folks in the South with SAC and other advocacy networks. “We must grow a broader coalition of people living with HIV and provide them with the tools to successfully advocate for policy change,” Abif said in the press release.

“This position is part of our renewed commitment to restoring the rights of people living with HIV to be meaningfully involved in all aspects of the response to the epidemic in the South,” said SAC executive director Nic Carlisle. “Khafre’s local, regional and national service as an activist, writer, author, blogger and educator made him a natural choice to lead this effort.”

He had previously worked as the Georgia marketing director for Detroit’s National HIV/AIDS Disability Project.

Abif has been an advocate for more than two decades and edited the compilation Cornbread, Fish and Collard Greens: Prayers, Poems & Affirmations for People Living with HIV/AIDS, a 616-page anthology of inspirational work.

He has been highlighted as a POZ Hero and was named a 2015 POZ 100 Long-Term Survivor.