“Black Love Matters,” a National Black HIV Awareness Day event, will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5, at B & B Cocktail Lounge, 310 South Ave. The event features live music by World Be Free, lots of give-aways and food. There is no cost to attend. Sponsored by ACR Health’s Communities of Color initiative and Upstate Medical University, Black Love Matters offers free and confidential HIV and STD testing; an activity involving wristbands that simulates HIV infections; and education about National Black HIV Awareness Day. Some representatives from “HIV Stops with Me” will come by to share their stories and hand out poster from the campaign.

As part of the Imagining America Prison Theater Film series, “Shakespeare Behind Bars” (2005), will be screened at 7 p.m. Friday, Feb. 5, at Grace Episcopal Church. In this revelatory trip into and around a prison production at Luther Luckett Max. Security Prison, viewers will embark on a year-long journey with the Shakespeare Behind Bars theatre troupe. Led by director Curt Tofteland, whose innovative work with Luther Luckett inmates began in the mid-1990s, the prisoners cast themselves in roles reflecting their personal history and fate. Their individual stories, including information about their crimes, are interwoven with the plot of The Tempest as the inmates delve deeply into the characters they portray while confronting their personal demons. Open to the public. $5 suggested donation at the door. REGISTER VIA EMAIL.

The Alliance Network will share its Vision for 2016 during an event beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, at Fountain of Life C.O.G.I.C. The keynote for this event will be Charlie King, President of Governor Cuomo’s Committee for Social, Racial & Economic Justice. King will discuss the Governors agenda for social, racial and economic reform and the 10 initiatives that the committee will help to advance which are: 1. Raising the minimum wage, 2. Expand support for MWBE’s, 3. Pass paid family leave act, 4. Affordable housing & homelessness, 5. Achieve education equality and transform failing schools, 6. Pass the DREAM act, 7. Increase Urban Youth Jobs program, 8. Pass criminal justice reform, 9. Raise the age of criminal responsibility, 10. Pass a special prosecutor law.

In addition, the group will be celebrating the opening of a Price Rite grocery store on South Avenue which will create 75+ jobs. Talk will also cover a strategic plan to ensure the South Side community is included in the discussions concerning the Inland Port, Consensus for the modernization and consolidation of local government, URI Initiatives, Workforce Development & Training and Poverty Initiatives.

For more information, contact Walt Dixie at (315) 832-0026.

Cosmo-biology and Black Race will be presented by Oscar Manjarres to explore the important contributions the Black race has made to human civilization.

Facilitated by Syracuse University’s Pan African graduate students, the interactive session -- Black Careers and Black Business -- will explore various career paths that are available and emphasize the importance of creative thinking, nontraditional career paths and how these careers can benefit the black community. The session will briefly touch on supporting black businesses.

As part of the Imagining America Prison Theater Film series, “Mickey B” (2007) will be screened at 6p.m. Saturday, Feb. 6, at Grace Episcopal Church. An award-winning adaptation of Macbeth, set in the fictional Burnam Prison. It tells the story of one prisoner’s quest for power through violence, betrayal and murder – and the death and insanity that results. The film was shot in NI’s maximum-security prison, HMP Maghaberry and features 42 characters played by prisoners and prison staff. Open to the public. $5 suggested at the door. Followed by audience talkback with Curt Tofteland and Tom Magill. REGISTER VIA EMAIL.

The February South Side Neighborhood Team Meeting of Believe in Syracuse will be held from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 8, at the South Side Innovation Center next to Dunk & Bright.

The mission of the South Side Neighborhood Team of Believe in Syracuse is to empower South Side residents to show off what they love about the neighborhood and give them the tools they need to help beautify the neighborhood and make it a safer place for our children and grandchildren.

Suggested initiatives have included: opening a night gym for kids, running healthy cooking classes, shoveling sidewalks, picking up trash, producing a list of positive initiatives/organizations on the South Side for social media and distributing surveys to get feedback in the neighborhood. On Monday, the group will get started on one or two of these initiatives.