Rhode Island Affirmative Action Professionals will hold a holiday breakfast at 8:30 a.m. Thursday at Riviera Inn Dining and Banquet, 580 North Broadway, East Providence. Linda Newton, vice president of community relations at Blue Cross/Blue Shield of RI will speak.

There is no cost for paid RIAAP members and each member may bring one guest at no charge. New memberships and renewals are $25 and may be paid at this time. RSVP to Joyce O’Connor at Joyce.O’ Connor@ppsd.org no later than Tuesday.

In recognition of World AIDS Day, Comprehensive Community Action Inc will offer free HIV testing to anyone who wants it. Results are available in 20 minutes.

Testing will take place from 11a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday at the following locations:

In Cranston, at 311 Doric Ave. and 1090 Cranston St.; In Warwick, at 226 Buttonwoods Ave. and in Coventry, at 191 MacArthur Blvd.

Youths under 18 do not need parental permission to be tested. For more information, call (401) 562-8347 or e-mail jwatts@comcap.org.

African Community

The Ondo Elite Club’s annual fundraiser and awards night celebration will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday at the Jewish Community Center Memorial Hall, 401 Elmgrove Ave., Providence. Guest speaker will be Paul Fakunle of God Family Church, Providence.

Community service awards will be presented to Femi Lawal, Rameka Blakey and Sam Abiade.

Tickets are available at no charge, however donations will be accepted for the scholarship fund.

For more information or tickets, call Felix Akinjisola, (401) 474-6612 or Wale Akinkuowo, (401) 241-8046.

Cape Verdean Community

The Cape Verdean Museum Exhibit, 1003 Waterman Ave., East Providence, is closed until March, 2010. However, those wishing to arrange group visits, may call Denise Oliveira, president, at (401) 222-4137 or Yvonne Smart, education coordinator, at (401) 274-7852.

The Cape Verdean Progressive Center’s fundraiser holiday brunch and show is at 11 a.m. Sundayat the center, 329 Grosvenor Ave, East Providence. Tickets are $15. All proceeds will benefit the CV Club. For more information, call (401) 228-6411.

Gay Community

The Providence Gay Men’s Chorus will perform at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, , Saturday, and Sunday at Beneficent Congregational Church, 300 Weybosset St., Providence. Tickets are $15 and are available from members or at www.ArtTixRI.org.

An evening of special performance, stories and a celebrity roast will be presented by The Imperial Court of Rhode Island at Providence to celebrate Imperial Crown Princess Jacqueline DiMera’s 30th birthday on Dec. 6 at Mirabar, 35 Richmond St.

Cocktails will be served at 8 p.m. followed by the show at 9. Admission is $10.

Proceeds will benefit the Jacqueline DiMera Scholarship Fund for LGBTQ Students and the Imperial Court of Rhode Island at Providence.

Discuss issues important to the GLBTQQ community during QuARI’s Community Action Day, held from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, at 171 Chestnut St., Providence. RSVP to queeractionRI@gmail.com.

On World AIDS Day, Dec. 1, AIDS Care Ocean State will participate in a Red Ribbon Rally at 4 p.m. at the Black Box Theater at the MET Center, 325 Public St., Providence.

There will be presentations by Classical High School Steppers and Project UJIMA and speakers who are infected and affected by HIV/AIDS. AIDS Quilt RI will be present along with Youth in Action and Youth Pride Inc. Prevention Programs to remember those in our community who are living with, or have died from HIV/AIDS.

Following the rally, there will be a candlelight vigil at 6:15 p.m. at the Bank of America City Center, Kennedy Plaza, hosted by AIDS Care Ocean State and the City of Providence in conjunction with Mayor David Cicilline.

Indian Community

Pulitzer-prize winning novelist Jhumpa Lahiri will open a two-day literary festival at Brown University titled New Indian Writing: The Rising Generation. The event, also featuring authors Rana Dasgupta and Suketu Mehta, will be held Tuesday and Wednesday. It is free and open to the public.

The festival begins with a reading and conversation with Lahiri at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday in the Salomon Center for Teaching, Room 001. Born in London and raised in Rhode Island, Lahiri is a fiction writer best known for her prize-winning short story collection “Interpreter of Maladies.”

A reading by Rana Dasgupta, author of “Tokyo Cancelled” and “Solo,” will take place at 8 p.m. in the McCormack Family Theater, 70 Brown St.

Dasgupta, who grew up in Cambridge, England, now lives permanently in Delhi, and is currently working on a nonfiction book about his adopted city.

A panel discussion featuring Dasgupta and Mehta with Ashutosh Varshney, professor of political science, and Meera Viswanathan, associate professor of comparative literature, begins at 11 a.m. Wednesday in the McCormack Family Theater. Moderator will be Lina Fruzzetti, professor of anthropology.

The final festival event, a reading by Mehta, a New York-based nonfiction writer and journalist and author of “Maximum City: Bombay Lost and Found,” will be held at 8 p.m. in the McCormack Family Theater.

pjnews@projo.com