A Newly Minted BTAN Chicago Prepares for the Future

Chicago BTAN

For the past year, the Chicago chapter of the Black Treatment Advocates Network (BTAN) has been under construction and has emerged with new leadership: HIV/AIDS advocates Atara Young and Sherman Bryant. One major goal of these new leaders is to help bridge gaps between the plethora of city organizations that could work better together rather than in silos.

"Many trusted and successful organizations have been around for decades doing great work, but don't always work together or use each other's resources and contacts to meet our collective goals and needs. But now that is changing," says Young, who has worked in public health for the past 15 years. "We're not just talking about it, but actually leaving meetings with agenda items that are getting done. We recognize that the advocacy and service we provide matter, not just locally but nationally."

The first monthly BTAN Chicago meeting under the new leadership took place in August. That meeting was attended by Phill Wilson, the president and CEO of the Black AIDS Institute, and more than 20 representatives from agencies around the city, including Southside HIV/AIDS Resource Providers, Westside HIV/AIDS Resource Providers, the AIDS Foundation of Chicago and the Chicago Department of Public Health.

"The Chicago chapter has a new energy and a new momentum," says Wilson. "I'm very optimistic about the future and excited about their contributions to the lives of PLWHA and high-risk negatives in Chicago."

The second meeting, in September, grew in attendance and focused on a range of goals, including how to empower African Americans living with HIV/AIDS, conduct conversations about risk factors more effectively, and collaborate and leverage each organization's strengths to create more effective programs with greater reach.

BTAN Chicago also aims to enhance HIV/AIDS literacy among HIV advocates. Bryant, who is living with HIV, attended the African American HIV University (AAHU) Science and Treatment College, an intensive 30-day training course held at UCLA.

"To be a responsible co-chair, I needed to know more," Bryant says. "I knew a lot about HIV/AIDS but had never studied the science. Going to AAHU was a great opportunity, and now I can better educate our members."

One way BTAN Chicago will spread the science of HIV, especially around prevention, is by holding a local Black PrEP Summit, scheduled for Nov. 18, 2015—one stop on the Black AIDS Institute's National PrEP Tour.

"The studies show that PrEP reduces HIV transmission, but a lot of folks in the community don't know what it is," says Bryant. "We are going to bring in some amazing PrEP experts of color to help us understand how PrEP works, create outreach strategies for Black communities and talk about how to work together to make it available for our clients."

Darriane Martin, the Black AIDS Institute's newly appointed mobilization manager, runs the Institute's field operations and oversees the 16 BTAN chapters, including Chicago.

"It's really incredible where we are moving with our chapters, especially Chicago, which is in this synergistic and exciting phase," she says. "We are committed to doing the work in a different way."

The revitalization of BTAN Chicago is a must for the city. Not only was Chicago hit by a meningitis crisis this summer that disproportionately affected Black MSM, but organizations are facing major proposed HIV/AIDS budget cuts at both the state and city levels that will likely impact African Americans, who bear the brunt of this epidemic.

According to AIDS Foundation Chicago, although African Americans account for almost 37 percent of Chicago residents, they represent 59 percent of Chicagoans living with HIV. In 2009 more than half of those newly diagnosed with HIV were African American. More than half of these cases occurred among MSM—most between the ages of 20 and 29. In Chicago 80 percent of women diagnosed with HIV are African American.

"We have so much work to do," says Young. "We have clinics and agencies being shut down in high-risk areas, people experiencing serious stigma and a lack of information, and HIV-positive people so disconnected from treatment and care. But that won't stop us, because this is a battle that we cannot afford to lose."

For more information about BTAN Chicago or to find out how to get involved with your local BTAN, visit blackAids.org. To learn more about other stops on the National PrEP Tour, see the Events section of the Black AIDS Weekly.

Kellee Terrell is an award-winning Chicago-based freelance writer who writes about race, gender, health and pop culture. Her work has been featured in Essence, BET.com, The Advocate, The Root, The Huffington Post and The Body.