The AIP BIPOC Network

This is for seniors and individuals living with disabilities.

If you’re on Medicare or Medicaid, you may qualify for more than you’re currently receiving.

If you’re not enrolled, you may qualify for coverage and additional support.

Support can include healthcare, prescriptions, food, utilities, and housing-related needs like repairs.

Through our partnership with Bee Busy Wellness Center, ONE of only THREE Benefits Enrollment Centers in Houston, we’re connecting our community to these resources.

Medicare & Medicaid Benefits Houston | The AIP BIPOC Network Get help understanding Medicare, Medicaid, and other benefits in Houston and surrounding counties. Connect with a trusted team to see what you may qualify for and get support with next steps.

The AIP BIPOC Network founder Jamie Nicole joined the Sclero-Sun Podcast by the Scleroderma Foundation California to talk about what it really looks like to navigate autoimmune disease as a person of color, and why that experience is often delayed, dismissed, or misunderstood.

We get into:
▪️Gaps in diagnosis and care for BIPOC communities
▪️ Why representation in research and care matters
▪️ How AIP and a focus on access, inclusion, and prevention work together
▪️ What community-based work like ROCK Wellness Weekend looks like in practice

This is the work. Turning lived experience into tools, access, and real support.

The Sclero-Sun Podcast S6 E2 - Jamie Nicole, founder of The AIP BIPOC Network Today, the Foundation sits down with Jamie Nicole, founder of The AIP BIPOC Network that centers BIPOC voices in autoimmune and chronic illness care, and tra...

Most people don’t know what a flare is.
They just know something feels off, and they blame themselves.

Low energy. Brain fog. Pain.
Plans change. Work gets harder. Things feel out of sync.

𝗔𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘂𝘀𝘂𝗮𝗹𝗹𝘆:
What did I do wrong?

For many of us, especially in communities where pushing through is expected, rest is seen as weakness, and symptoms are often dismissed, that pressure runs even deeper.

A flare is not failure.
It’s your body responding.

But it doesn’t just affect your body, it affects how you see yourself.

This is what we explored in our recent 𝗪𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗕𝗲𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗙𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗲 workshop, in collaboration with Positive Express, co-led by Tosha Dearbone.

A different way to understand flares.
A different way to respond.
And a different way to define your worth.

𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗽:

Worthy Beyond the Flare: Reframing Autoimmune Disease, Identity, and Self-Worth in Community What if a flare isn’t failure, but feedback? This recap of Worthy Beyond the Flare explores autoimmune disease, lived experience, and how community and tools like AIP shift how we respond to our bodies.

Hygiene for Hope, hosted by Bee Busy Wellness Center, returns on Saturday, August 8th.

The AIP BIPOC Network, Positive Express, and the
Elusive Ladies and Gents are supporting donation collection for this year’s event.

This is more than a giveaway.

It’s a back-to-school backpack giveaway AND community health fair where families can access school supplies, hygiene kits, health screenings, and connections to care.

Each organization brings years of community outreach into this work.

➡️ The AIP BIPOC Network brings a focus on prevention, culturally relevant health education, and ongoing community connection.
➡️ Positive Express has led ongoing drives focused on hygiene and dignity for girls, including their long-running panties drive.
➡️ Elusive Ladies and Gents has supported families through school supply drives and community outreach, using culture and connection as a way to give back.

This is aligned work, not a one-time effort.
It’s about access, inclusion, and prevention, meeting people where they are before gaps turn into bigger health issues.

We’re currently collecting hygiene items and school supplies.

To donate or coordinate a drop-off, contact:
🟡 Jamie Nicole | [email protected]
🟡 Tosha Dearbone | [email protected]
🟡 Jackie Lilly | [email protected]

This is one way we show up for the community. Join us.

If you’ve ever pushed through exhaustion, ignored what your body was telling you, and kept going because you felt like you had to, you’re not alone.

For many people living with autoimmune disease, that’s the pattern. Push through, adjust, keep showing up, until the body forces a stop.

This weekend, The AIP BIPOC Network and Positive Express, founded by Tosha Dearbone, came together in Houston for Worthy Beyond the Flare, our first community workshop centered on that experience.

This was intentional.

Gathering in community is a core part of how we do this work.

This collaboration was grounded in lived experience. Both Tosha and I are navigating autoimmune disease ourselves, which shaped not just what was shared, but how the space was held.

At The AIP BIPOC Network, AIP means Access, Inclusion, and Prevention, and it also reflects the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) as a tool for understanding patterns in the body. This space brought both together.

For many in BIPOC communities, we’re taught early to push through, work harder, and not slow down, even when our bodies are telling us something isn’t right. That pressure shows up physically, in stress, inflammation, and the cycles so many of us are trying to break.

This space was about interrupting that.

➡️Understanding flares as feedback, not failure.
➡️Recognizing patterns earlier.
➡️Using tools like AIP to better understand what the body is responding to.
➡️Separating our worth from what we can produce.

Grateful to everyone who showed up and leaned into the conversation.

This is community care in action.

🟡 Learn more: www.aipbipoc.org
🟡 Stay connected for upcoming sessions