Windy City Times
November 10, 2011
by Ross Forman, Windy City Times 2011-11-09
From Windy City Times:
Donte Smith has gone full circle with Heartland Human Care Services, from needing their help personally to working there and now helping others.
Smith, 25, who is gay and lives in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood, is an HIV prevention worker at the Ravenswood facility.
Ironically, Smith was going to Heartland Services in late-2010 for his own needs, starting with treatment for complications arising from his HIV-positive diagnosis, which he received in April 2009.
“It’s really rewarding to be on the other end. In the past, I have used Heartland Services. Like many Black gay men, I have been homeless,” said Smith, originally from Houston and living in Chicago for the past five years.
“To be the one now providing services, or helping people connect with services [ for their battle with HIV/AIDS ] , that feels really good, like I’m giving back to the community. I love my job; it’s very rewarding.”
One fall day, for instance, he did outreach, walking around Chicago and handing out condoms, talking about safe-sex and HIV.
“I’ve had a lot of people help me, a lot of people take me under their wing. I’m now trying to help others.” Smith said. “I’m at a place today where things are starting to flourish—all from my own determination to change my life and get medical care.”
But Smith’s world hasn’t always been roses. He’s endured plenty of thorns over the past 10 years or so.
Let’s see, he was kicked out of Georgetown University for being a political organizer. He was incarcerated in 2006 for political organizing. He’s battled unemployment, has been homeless many times and, for the past two years, has had to deal with the stigma of being young, gay, Black and HIV-positive.
When Smith first went to Heartland Services in late-2010, he was living in a foreclosed home in Chicago, with medical issues, in need of medical care and yet no funds or insurance to pay for it.
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