About The Positive Story Project


The Positive Story Project is a storytelling platform managed by ARcare Positive Connections. This is a space for people living with HIV to share our personal stories as a way to connect to and inspire others around us as we process our diagnosis.  

 Moderators are people living with HIV who are paid and/or volunteer staff with the ARcare Positive Connections program.  To protect each contributor's identity, names have been changed.

 If you would like provide a personal story, please contact us.

        

About our Moderators

Danny Harris

Statewide Outreach & Prevention Coordinator

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Danny is a prominent educator, public speaker, and advocate within the greater HIV community. Over his previous 10+ years with the Positive Connections program, he has developed and facilitated numerous community outreach, prevention and empowerment initiatives for ARcare. He is talented at creating HIV educational and awareness programs. Danny's exceptional relationship-building skills are seen through active involvement with state and national planning entities, diligently working toward the development of improved HIV prevention interventions---to the benefit of both ARcare and the state of Arkansas.

Danny's extensive track record of service has been built through leadership roles with HIV Arkansas Support Network, United States Conference on AIDS (USCA), Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA), Arkansas HIV Task Force and Empowerment, Arkansas HIV Planning Group (HPG), Southwest Arkansas-Northeast Texas HIV Coalition (SWA-NET), the National Latino HIV Leadership Counsel, and—most recently in the national spotlight—Arkansas’s Ending the Epidemic Task Force.

 Notable recognition includes being named ARcare HIV Program Employee of the Year (2011). Danny was named to Plus Magazine's Most Amazing HIV-Positive People (2016) and to POZ Magazine's POZ 100 List (2016), a national recognition to celebrate people working to end the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the South.

Danny holds multiple undergraduate degrees in Communications/Theology and a graduate degree in Theology. Prior to working in HIV, Danny served in multiple state and national ministry leadership positions, as well as various positions in sales and management.

Jeff Walker

Program Coordinator, Ryan White Part C & D

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Jeff's role with ARcare has quickly expanded since beginning with the Positive Connections program in 2017, beginning as a non-medical case manager in Northwest Arkansas, then serving as a district supervisor for the second largest district in the state of Arkansas. In his current position as a Program Coordinator, Jeff works predominantly with ARcare’s Ryan White Part C and D grant programs and will focus efforts on early intervention, outreach, and prevention.

 Jeff has been diagnosed with HIV since 2011 and made the decision early on to be out with his status as a way to bring a positive message to others about what it means to live with HIV in a world where stigma still prevails. He is grateful to Danny Harris, a prominent HIV advocate in the state of Arkansas, for mentoring he has provided over the years. It is with this support that Jeff assisted in building thriving support groups, developed training sessions focused on outreach for case managers, planned/facilitated World AIDS Day events, and assisted in building partnerships with community organizations/providers to meet unmet needs for people living with HIV in Arkansas.

In 2019, Jeff received program recognition as a Distinguished Community Connector and for his work in helping to build ARcare’s Positive Empowerment Program (a support program for people living with HIV) in the Fort Smith community. Jeff is active in the Arkansas HIV Planning Group (HPG).

 Before working in HIV, he served as a member of the administration team for a major homeless services agency in Northwest Arkansas. Prior to this, Jeff enjoyed a successful career in interior/product design for nearly 10 years. Jeff earned his MBA from Webster University.

         
This project is supported, in part, by the Health Resources and Services Administration of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under Ryan White Grants B, C and D, as well as a CDC Prevention grant awarded by the Arkansas Department of Health. The information or content and conclusions are those of the author(s) and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS, ADH, or the U.S. Government.

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