Anqunette Parham, 28

By Paul Anthony Arco

Rockford native Anqunette Parham has packed much into her 28 years.

As HIV Prevention Specialist at Crusader Community Health, she provides counseling, testing and referral services onsite and seeks training and funding opportunities to keep the clinic’s HIV prevention initiatives on the cutting-edge of advances in evidence-based programming.

“HIV is preventable,” Parham said. “No one has to be infected. If they do, they need to know there are resources available to help them. We want to make sure people have real information and a place to go where they won’t be judged.”

In addition to her professional work, Parham’s community involvement is far reaching. She has worked with many of the same organizations that guided her when she attended Auburn High School, including the YMCA Black and Hispanic Achievers and the Rockford Association for Minority Management. She also serves as a reader for the Rockford Public Library’s African Read-In, and is the community coach for the Rockford Alcohol Free Teens Coalition. She firmly stands behind the motto of paying it forward – when something good happens to you, you turn around and do something good for someone else. “Many of the people I work with today were once my mentors,” she said. “I enjoy what I do, and I give back to the same causes and organizations that gave to me.”

Parham credits a strong family core as the basis for her compassion and a willingness to help those in need. Her parents have been married for 30 years, and according to Parham, have continuously stressed the importance of education and community service to their children.

“I’ve always looked at service to others as a debt that I owe,” she said. “It’s an extension of who you are.”