National Harm Reduction Coalition creates spaces for dialogue and action that help heal the harms caused by racialized drug policies. |
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+ NHRC WELCOMES NEW BOARD MEMBERS: We are thrilled to announce two new members have joined the NHRC Board of Directors! We’re happy to share Rajani Gudlavalleti and Lucy Trieshmann have joined our board, two brilliant trailblazers in their field who are committed to the intersections of harm reduction, community organizing, abolition, and disability and racial justice. We are fortunate to have them in our corner, and know their devotion to harm reduction and interconnected movements will further strengthen NHRC and the work we do. Learn more about them through their bios below.
Rajani Gudlavalleti (ruh-juh-nee good-love-uh-lay-tee, she/her) is on the executive leadership team of Baltimore Harm Reduction Coalition, serving as director of mobilization. In this capacity, she oversees and coordinates BHRC’s community organizing and public policy efforts guided by the voices of community leaders. She joined BHRC in January 2018, bringing with her over a decade of experience working at the intersections of social justice, public health, and the legal system. In March 2017, she partnered with BHRC and several other harm reduction leaders in Baltimore to create the BRIDGES Coalition for Overdose Prevention Sites. Rajani is a facilitator with Baltimore Racial Justice Action, a founder of Baltimore Asian Resistance in Solidarity, and a writer. Her writing can be found at https://rajanigudlavalleti.blog/. She lives with her husband and two bunnies in a corner rowhome in Baltimore, where she sips coffee while watching her lilies bloom.
Lucy Trieshmann (she/they) is dedicated to intersectional, community-led change and works at the intersection of disability justice and abolition. In 2022, Lucy graduated as a Root-Tilden-Kern scholar from the New York University School of Law. She interned for the ACLU’s Human Rights Project and Disability Rights Program, and the National Center for Law and Economic Justice. Lucy was also a 2021 Ella Baker Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights. They served on the founding board of the National Disabled Law Students Association and co-founded the Breaking Point Project. In December 2022, they started their legal fellowship at the ACLU Disability Rights Program, where they work on non-police alternatives for people experiencing mental and behavioral health crises. Lucy is also an activist and speaker on issues of disability, queerness, abolition, and intersectionality. She has guest lectured at various universities, led organization-wide disability trainings, and spoken on numerous panels. They have also been quoted in Teen Vogue, The Washington Post, USA Today, and more.
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+ NSSSP SURVEYS: Last call to participate in this year’s National Survey of Syringe Services Programs (NSSSP)! This survey provides crucial data to highlight the life-saving work as well as challenges SSPs face across the country. If your program has not received a survey invitation, you can request one here. The survey takes about 30 minutes to complete, and we’ll send your program $125 as a thank you. If you have any questions, please reach out to Lynn Wenger at [email protected].
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+ CONFERENCES AND EVENTS: -
Peer Network of New York is hosting its conference on Tuesday, August 8, 2023 at the Judson Memorial Church in New York, New York. To register for the event and more info, visit the registration link.
VOCAL-NY's 2023 Gala will be held on Tuesday, September 19, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. at Threes Brewing in Gowanus, Brooklyn. For more information and to buy tickets, see details here. -
NHRC is hosting our monthly national Peer Gathering Cohort after hearing the need for peers nationally to have a space to connect, talk, and network. The sessions— which take place the first Monday of each month — are open to peers with lived/living experience only at no cost, and folks from around the U.S. are welcome to join. Together, we'll work to build a support system through the states. Come as you are, this will be a non-judgmental space! To join, visit this link.
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The National Survivors Union will host "Liberating Methadone: Building a Roadmap and a Community for Change," a hybrid conference that will be held online and in person in New York City Thursday, September 21, through Friday, September 22, 2023. Among the presenters is NHRC's Community and Capacity Building Manager, Hiawatha Collins. For early registration for people with lived/living experience of methadone treatment, click here to register.
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The International Drug Policy Reform Conference, hosted by the Drug Policy Alliance, is happening in Phoenix, AZ from Wednesday, Oct. 18, through Saturday, Oct. 21, 2023. Learn more about the conference here, and click this link to register.
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+ NEWS: Harm Reduction: Young People in Appalachia and the South Are Addressing the Overdose Crisis — NHRC's Harm Reduction Resource Coordinator Mariah Francis spoke with Teen Vogue about how, "Throughout the South and Appalachia, on campuses and off, students are working in harm reduction. 'I think there's a desire for them to be visible,' Francis said. 'And to have a stake in the decisions that are being made about them.' They pointed to ideas of youth agency: Young people should have the resources and information they need about drugs in order to make decisions. 'Some people use drugs, that’s inevitable,' Francis added, but 'people want to be more informed about their choices.'"
+ NEWS: Remarkable photos show what harm reduction actually looks like — The work people who use drugs and harm reductionists do to not only save lives but support the empowerment of their communities is stunningly beautiful. Check out these photos highlighting how love is at the core of harm reduction, as seen in Mother Jones here. This love is evergreen.
+ NEWS: Why we should abandon the term "black market" — Words matter. It's on all of us to look inward and see how phrases we use are harmful and damaging — and do better. ICYMI: "Many folks would ask what term I thought was appropriate. I would normally follow up by asking, 'What are you actually trying to describe? A market that is illegal? Unlicensed? Unregulated? The market existing before legalization or regulation?' Notably, for many folks what they meant was illegal. I’d say, 'Well then consider saying what you mean, don’t say ‘black’ when you mean ‘illegal.’” Read the full story as seen in Filter here.
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Image courtesy of Brooke Anderson, Movement Photography |
+ LEGISLATION AND POLICY ADVOCACY: -
CALIFORNIA MAKES HISTORY WITH HARM REDUCTION INVESTMENT: With the largest investment in harm reduction in California’s history, NHRC is profoundly ecstatic about the state budget’s inclusion of $61 million over four years for life-saving programs and services stemming from California’s Opioid Settlement Funds! NHRC's Acting Executive Director Laura Guzman said, "California’s own data confirm that programs funded under this initiative are the best way to prevent opioid overdose deaths, in particular among the most disproportionately impacted: Native American, Black, and Latino/x communities." To read the full press release, visit the link here. We are so proud to have collaborated with End the Epidemics, the Coalition of Syringe Services Programs (CASEP), Drug Policy Alliance, and so many harm reduction leaders, Syringe Services Program (SSP) staff, and program participants across the state to make this budget win a reality! We share our deep thanks for the offices of Assemblymember Chris Holden and Sen. Scott Wiener for championing this budget ask, and to the entire legislature, Governor Newsom, and budget committees for funding these lifesaving services. We also extend our sincere gratitude to Glenn Backes, NHRC's policy lead in Sacramento, who made this possible. As we say in CASEP, when we fight, we win!
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+ FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES: -
New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports (OASAS) will provide scholarships to Empire State University (SUNY Empire) for eligible Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselors (CASACs) and Credentialed Prevention Specialists (CPSs) to complete at least one semester toward the bachelor of science in addiction studies program with potential for continued funding through completion of the degree program. Empire State University will provide up to 93 transfer credit hours toward their bachelor’s degree. Credit may be awarded for knowledge acquired through work experience, licenses or certifications, military service, and so much more! Courses may be completed through independent study, online, blended, and/or face-to-face course programming. Please contact Thalia MacMillan, department chairperson and program coordinator for addiction studies at SUNY Empire, at [email protected] for additional information about these educational and scholarship opportunities. The deadline to apply and to begin in the fall 2023 term is August 1, 2023.
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+ RESOURCES: -
NHRC requests organizations to add or update their information on the Naloxone Finder map in an effort to ensure the resource is up-to-date. To add a new program, click here. To update existing program information on the map, please fill out this form. We appreciate your support in spreading the word about these life-saving materials!
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Old Pros provides several sex worker rights resource guides, including guides with focuses on reproductive justice, the LGBTQIA+ community, domestic and gendered violence, liberation talking points, and disability justice. Find the guides and more resources here.
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Season 4 of Coming Together for Sexual Health, a podcast from the California Prevention Training Center, has begun. The first three episodes are on harm reduction using the ecological model from individual and organizational, to structural and social. In the first episode, host Tammy Kremer sat down with "Narcan Queen" Kochina Rude to discuss her efforts to educate LGBTQIA+ community members about how to administer naloxone and safer drug use/partying practices. She talks about how punk inspires both her drag and her harm reduction work. Her performances at SF Oasis with Lisa Frankenstein have included giving out over 2,000 bottles of nasal Narcan. Listen on your favorite platform by searching for Coming Together for Sexual Health or click here.
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+ TRAININGS: -
We're thrilled to kick off our latest round of Foundational Fridays training sessions, happening monthly, that focus on building basic knowledge about various intersectional public health issues! The free sessions are for providers, peers, and anyone in the harm reduction community as well as anyone looking to learn more about the field. To sign up for the first session, "Harm Reduction 101" happening July 28, visit this link. Each session runs from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. EST the last Friday of each month. Stay tuned for more details about the trainings, happening through June of next year! For more information, contact Capacity Building and Hepatitis C Coordinator, Jose Martinez, at [email protected]. The rest of the training schedule dates are as follows, with registration links included in hyperlinks below:
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NHRC is excited to launch our new free online training modules for NYC residents, covering safer use, stimulants, and wound care for non-clinicians! For more information and to sign up for each of the modules, visit this link.
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NHRC hosted an Office Hours training, which will be available on demand on our YouTube titled, "Transcending Oppression: Uniting Against Anti-Trans Legislation & Inspiring Action" on Tuesday, July 25. This transformative event brought together a diverse panel of experts to shed light on the flood of anti-trans legislation with the hope to unite and inspire fellow harm reductionists to come together against threats to the well-being and bodily autonomy of TGNCNBI (Transgender, Gender Non-Conforming, Non-Binary, and Intersex) individuals. Speakers provided legal insights navigating the complex legal landscape, offered crucial perspectives on the healthcare implications for transgender individuals, particularly youth, and talked about how legislation can hinder access to vital resources. Most importantly, attendees gained valuable knowledge and actionable steps to mobilize their organizations and create meaningful change to empower and support TGNCNBI people.
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Provide, Inc. is providing free virtual trainings, titled, "Connecting Abortion Referrals and Harm Reduction: How You Can Combat Stigma and Promote Autonomy" through August. Through each 4-hour training, attendees will learn their state's legal landscape around abortion, substance use, and harm reduction, how to recognize stigma against people who use drugs and people seeking abortion, how to combat stigma through promoting client autonomy and helping folks make decisions best for them, and how to navigate common barriers to care for people who use drugs and people seeking abortion. Sign up for one of the trainings here.
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Reframe Health & Justice and In The Works partnered to create and produce a free e-course, "Taking Action On Racial Equity In Drug User Health Programs," as a way to scale racial equity education specifically designed for providers offering services to people who use drugs. In recognition that harm reduction organizations must take on racial equity work to address racial disparities in overdose and other harms created by the racist war on drugs, Vital Strategies funded this project to ensure programs have foundational basics and move to self-identifying their own practices to address internal and external racial disparities in overdose and impacts of the racist war on drugs.
-Module 1 covers foundational racial equity principles and practices and highlights the intersections of drug use and criminalization
-Module 2 reviews approaches to identifying and changing organizational practices to better promote equity and inclusion
-Module 3 provides strategies to use data to identify disparities and move toward action in your own community
Throughout the course, hear from harm reduction advocates from across the country as they share their tried and true practices and lessons learned through their work in organizations, coalitions, and partnerships. Enroll today via this link! |
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If you support emergent and exciting work at National Harm Reduction Coalition, please join our community of monthly donors, the Harm Reduction Champions! |
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Hiring? Send us a note about open positions in harm reduction to [email protected] to have a job post shared here. |
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