Influential BBE Member Profile

Norman Tanner, a long-time BBE member, has become the newest intern in the BBE program. This internship will give him an opportunity to develop new skills and knowledge around developing and implementing workshops, to facilitate discussion groups, and to prepare for public speaking.

"Back in 1993, I tested positive for HIV and was diagnosed with full-blown AIDS. The doctors gave me three months to live. It was also in 1993 that I saw the San Francisco AIDS Foundation's campaign 'Be Here for the Cure.'

"I wanted to be alive to see the cure, so I started to take control of my life and my health. At first I tried reducing the way my drug use was harming me, but soon I realized that HIV medications and street drugs just don't mix. I entered drug treatment in 1996 and have been clean and sober for almost ten years. Today HIV is undetectable in my system and I have 1000 T cells!

"The Black Brothers Esteem (BBE) program offers me--and my brothers--a safe place to grieve the people we have lost to AIDS, and it provides an open, honest forum to discuss what we're going through. BBE is the place where I turned grieving into learning. I learned about myself, overcame my substance use, and developed healthy relationships with friends, family and myself.

"My participation in BBE gave me the confidence and the tools to travel to Washington, DC to meet with my elected officials and discuss the challenges of living with HIV. As the membership of BBE grows, so does our presence at community events and our ability to reach people in the Tenderloin and Hunters Point, two of the neighborhoods hardest hit by HIV/AIDS in San Francisco.

"I'm proud to be a part of this program at the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. My work with BBE gives me purpose."