Letter from our Executive Director

This year the National Harm Reduction Coalition is celebrating 25 years of standing up for the rights and well-being of people who use drugs. We’ve grown so much in 2019 — 56% of our team are new and based in different parts of the country including Alabama, California, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, Tennessee, and Texas, making us a truly national organization!

As we enter our 26th year we are THRILLED to share our 2019 Impact Report that highlights the seeds we’ve sown that will begin blossoming in 2020 and years to come. Y’all are definitely gonna want to stay tuned!

On behalf of the entire staff and Board of Directors, thank you once again for your support and collaboration. The progress we're making wouldn't be possible without you. We're excited for the evolution of the National Harm Reduction Coalition and invite you to continue walking with us along this journey.

The end of 2019 will close out a decade and our 25th year at National Harm Reduction Coalition! The harm reduction movement has seen a lot of growth this year and we have many reasons to celebrate together. In a movement impacted by shared loss, taking time to reflect on our wins together can be restorative. 

To share some of the work we have accomplished in the last year, National Harm Reduction Coalition put together our Annual Impact Report to present 19 Highlights of 2019. 

Major 2019 milestones included: 

• We launched our inaugural grant-making program, HepConnect, as the largest single grant opportunity to specifically fund harm reduction programs in U.S. history. 

• Faith in Harm Reduction partnered with unions of people who use drugs and regional harm reduction programs to co-create community power building advocacy, healing, and justice events in 10 states. 

• We launched Harm Reduction Champions, a new community of monthly donors — and had over 65 new monthly recurring donors across the country in the first two months! 

• National Harm Reduction Coalition created a new citywide overdose prevention and naloxone access campaign in San Francisco called Know Overdose that was designed and built for and by people who are most at risk of overdose. 

• We partnered with Drug Policy Alliance and in less than two years, we won over $15 million to create the first designated funding opportunity in California to harm reduction staff support in 10 years. 

• We announced the location of #HarmRed20 to be in San Juan, Puerto Rico from October 15-18, 2020 and we are working with community partners to ensure we host responsibly and offer education to prospective attendees.

National Harm Reduction Coalition works for the movement. Celebrate our collective wins and support our ongoing work to improve access to harm reduction programs and services across the country. 

Want your own copy? Donate $25 or more to receive a printed copy of the Annual Impact Report booklet after the new year. Whether you support the National Harm Reduction Coalition with a financial gift, sharing your time, or spreading the word we wouldn’t be celebrating 25 years of life-saving and system-changing work without your support.