life,, positively
Our People: J. Donte Prayer Only Child, Big Brother and HIV Advocate
BY L’MONIQUE KING QNOTES STAFF WRITER
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n a chilly fall evening a group of friends volunteered at a local pantry to hand out food to people in need. Afterwards they went to dinner, as usual. Among the crew was J. Donte Prayer, who has routinely volunteered at the pantry since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. He spoke with qnotes following the meal about his life as a volunteer, an HIV advocate and an eligible bachelor, with dreams of marrying Cleveland Browns’ Wide Receiver Odell Beckham, Jr. Born and reared in Greenville, N. C., after graduating from Elizabeth City State University, Prayer relocated to Charlotte in 2016. What brought him to Charlotte? “A job in HIV Prevention,” Prayer told qnotes, “I started out at Quality Comprehensive Health Care. They had a prevention program called The Powerhouse Project where a dear friend of mine, Dr. Darrin, Johnson worked. He suggested I apply.” In the beginning, he assisted Dr. Johnson with research studies and ballroom related interventions. The two had worked together previously with Prayer volunteering his time towards HIV Intervention and Prevention activities. Later on, when he was hired as a Prevention Coordinator, Prayer’s responsibilities and passion for the work expanded. As a Prevention Coordinator he tested clients for HIV and HepC, performed valued community outreach, provided event coordination and nurtured community partnerships to spread the word on HIV awareness, care and resources. He did that for The Powerhouse Project for three years. Today, Prayer is a morehouse College student working towards his Master’s degree in public health. Currently, he works as a Health Access Coordinator for the North Carolina AIDS Action Network (NCAAN). “Basically, I do policy and advocacy work,” he explains, “One of my primary focuses right now is making sure there is Medicaid expansion in North Carolina and other states. That means making sure state budgets include HIV testing and other HIV comprehensive
experiments. Current services, whether it’s disparities, stigma prevention or care.” and situations like But that’s not his these prevent people only job. from seeing doctors.” Prayer is a busy HIV Intervention man who also serves and Prevention take as HIV Program up quite a bit of Manager for the Prayer’s time, both Center for Black professionally and Health and Equity. personally. Recently, “They were formerly he created and the National African spearheaded ROLE American Tobacco (Reach, Organize, Prevention Network. Learn, Empower) They started out Models. “It’s a soon focusing on tobacco to be non-profit prevention and over initiative that uses the years became more comprefashion as a health Community minded and a busy advocate: hensive, including promotion tool to inJ. Donte Prayer other services like fluence health equity, HIV Prevention. Many especially among the funders are apprehensive about funding Black Community. organizations with AIDS in the name, so I “Because I have a passion for fashion think that may have also factored into the and I also have a passion for health, I name change. Funders today seem to be decided to merge the two. I feel like when looking for programs and organizations it comes to LGBT Black people, we have an that offer more comprehensive services, image focus. We care about style. So, I felt especially harm reduction.” like adding a fashion component [to HIV Harm reduction includes syringe advocacy] would not only raise awareness, exchange programs, condom distribution, mental health awareness and access and substance use issues.” But wait – there’s more! Additionally he serves on boards such as the Getting to Zero Planning Council, the Ryan White Planning Body and the HPTN096 HIV Vaccine Study. With all that responsibility on his plate, one might feel inclined to ask, why so much? “I do this work because so many that share my intersectionality are impacted by health care disparities,” says Prayer, “Because I want Black people to advocate for themselves and know that it’s okay to go to a doctor because their clinicians are providing culturally affirming safe spaces. “I want to break down systemic barriers and historical trauma from situations like the medical mistreatment of Henrietta Lacks and participants of the Tuskegee
but also help make health awareness more memorable and lasting. [Once] I saw a lady wearing condom earrings. It was an immediate reminder of prevention options that include condom use.” Somehow though, with advocacy heavily coursing through his veins, Prayer still makes time to serve as a mentor and Big Brother for Big Brothers/Big Sisters of the Central Carolinas – something he quite enjoys doing. As an only child himself, Prayer knows a little something about feeling like “the only” and needing an extra someone who could offer guidance, safety and compassion. These are all things he hopes to impart while sitting on the floor playing with trucks and cars with a seven-year-old he spends time with through the program. When not working in HIV advocacy, Prayer enjoys travel, charity events, shopping and theater. “I’m very into anything involving the arts and performance, too. I [also] love amusement parks and have season passes to Carowinds!” When asked where he sees himself 10 years from now, he doesn’t skip a beat. “I hope that I will not be working in HIV because I hope it will have been eradicated or at least managed. But I do see myself continuing to make sure that all people still have equitable health care and access to health care.” : :
Nov. 12-Nov. 25, 2021
qnotes
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