March 1, 2023

National Harm Reduction Coalition creates spaces for dialogue and action that help heal the harms caused by racialized drug policies.

+ BLACK HISTORY MONTH AND BEYOND: NHRC honored Black harm reductionists, past and present, and celebrated their profound impact on history, society, and community in the face of injustice, racism, and oppression. We spotlighted folks on our blog and across social media, naming their significant contributions to the movement and their dedication to using their voices to uplift the experiences of people who use drugs. We aim to continue highlighting the important work, energy, and care Black harm reductionists pour into the movement — well beyond Black History Month.

+ CONFERENCES AND EVENTS:

The 46th Annual ASA Conference, AppalachiaFest: From Surviving to Thriving is happening Thursday, March 16 through Sunday, March 19, 2023 at Ohio University in Athens, OH. Learn more about the conference here.
Harm Reduction International's HR'23 HRI Conference, Strength in Solidarity, takes place Sunday, April 16, through Wednesday, April 19, 2023, in Melbourne, Australia. Learn more about the conference here, and click here to register.
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.
Peer Network of New York (PNNY) is hosting a virtual community rap session on Monday, March 13, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. EST. The peers-only session is for peers across the country to discuss their experience as peer workers and what this looks like. The organization aims to discuss concerns and issues and explore different topics the network can discuss and bring to light during the peer conference happening in July 2023. PNNY will have preset questions to generate conversation, and we encourage peers to speak about what can be improved in the peer workforce and what has benefited them. The Zoom link can be accessed by registering here. For more information, contact NHRC's Hepatitis C + Harm Reduction Associate, Jose Martinez, at [email protected].

+ NEWS: Organizations including NHRC fight for life-saving funding as grant nears end — Funding harm reduction saves lives. In California, a grant that helped do just that is coming to and end, threatening organizations to cut back on services available or potentially shut down entirely. As NHRC's Associate Director of Community Mobilization Jenna Haywood notes in this Los Angeles Times story, "such operational funding is crucial if the state wants to successfully thwart opioid overdoses with Narcan."

+ NEWS: Pregnant people who use drugs deserve support, not criminalization — Pregnant people who use drugs — who already face heightened stigmas and barriers to services and support — should have access to treatment and medications where and when they need them. This STAT piece names the obstacles put in the way of pregnant people who use drugs, and how our collective approach can change this. NHRC's "Pregnancy and Substance Use: Harm Reduction Toolkit," created in collaboration with the Academy of Perinatal Harm Reduction, can serve as a resource for pregnant and parenting people who use drugs, their loved ones, and services providers.

+ NEWS: Fentanyl trafficking 'crackdown' will further harm communities — As NHRC's Director of Overdose Prevention Policy & Strategy Mary Sylla points out in this coverage from The Guardian, "Criminalization of drug use trafficking is the opposite of harm reduction." Sylla notes that if these tactics worked, criminalization would have already worked in reducing overdoses and trafficking.

+ MUST READ: NHRC is thrilled to support the work of several BIPOC activists, writers, healers, and editors as they share their lived experiences and put history into context through the book, “Towards Bodily Autonomy: A Healing Justice Anthology Decolonizing Sex Work and Drug Use,” compiled by Justice Rivera. The liberation of sex workers and people who use drugs is possible — and we’re called to build a world where we go beyond life-saving work and focus on true safety, healing, and thriving through the transformation of violent systems into empathic care models that dignify individual choice. Pulling context from the book, NHRC is lifting up important messages as a launching pad for deeper conversations about how harm reduction shows up as a response, solution, and tool to foster alternative futures for our communities.

Six graphics are compiled in a rectangle format, separated into 3 rows of two graphics. Image 1: Black-and-white lines pattern borders top and bottom of graphic. White background speckled with small black dots fills rest of frame. Bold, black, all caps font reads, ''UNDERSTANDING CHOICE, CIRCUMSTANCE & COERCION'' at left, with small font in black in bottom left corner reading, ''Adapted from ''Towards Bodily Autonomy: A Healing Justice Anthology Decolonizing Sex Work and Drug Use'' edited by Justice Rivera. Some font in text box is highlighted yellow. Photo of book cover at bottom right. Image 2: Black-and-white lines pattern borders top and bottom of graphic. White background speckled with small black dots fills rest of frame. Bold, black texts at center reads, ''Bodily autonomy is about so much more than reproductive justice. It's about having control over your inherent right to do what you want to do with your own body - whether that be drug use, sex work, or abortion. We're breaking down how folks are involved in the sex trade through the ''three C's.'' Some words highlighted in yellow. Black arrow points to the right in bottom right corner. Image 3: Black-and-white lines pattern borders top and bottom of graphic. White background speckled with small black dots fills rest of frame. Black font reads, ''Like anything else, conversations about sex work require nuance to tease out the layers of complexity. By breaking down sex work into the ''three C's'' (choice, circumstance, and coercion), we can tackle the prevailing issue of conflating sex work with sex trafficking.'' Black arrow points to the right in bottom right corner, some texts highlighted in yellow. Image 4: Black-and-white lines pattern borders top and bottom of graphic. White background speckled with small black dots fills rest of frame. In black, bold, all caps font, at left reads, ''CONTINUUM OF SEX WORK'' with small font reading, ''Source: Reframe Health and Justice (2018) at bottom left. At middle, blue arrow points in both directions on vertical line. At right, text reads, ''Choice - full consent, can leave at any time to explore other employment options but choose to stay for variety of reasons.'' ''Circumstance - Consent, but would like to do other work in the sex trade, or would like to leave and needs to stay (typically for financial reasons, but can vary).'' and ''Coercion - Does not consent to work. Being tricked, forced, or otherwise exploited by another individual(s). Also called ''sex trafficking.'' Image 5: Black-and-white lines pattern borders top and bottom of graphic. White background speckled with small black dots fills rest of frame. Black, bold text reads, ''The next slide is a way to look at what constitutes coercion. To quote the book, “The presence of coercion does not automatically mean that trafficking is occurring as coercion is much broader” (p. 90). For example, the lower left quadrant of the graphic represents someone experiencing trafficking, while the lower right corner demonstrates when a third party has control of the individual’s situation, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will be coercive.'' Some text highlighted in yellow. Image 6: Black-and-white lines pattern borders top and bottom of graphic. White background speckled with small black dots fills rest of frame. At bottom left, text reads, ''Source: Kate D'Adamo, 2017; now part of Reframe Health and Justice's trainings on sex work and harm reduction.'' Black circle fills middle of frame, with blue arrows separating circle into four sections of a circle graph. Text to middle left of circle reads, ''Existing access to resources'' and text at top middle of circle reads, ''Autonomy in the situation.'' Clockwise from middle left, text alongside arrows reads, ''Severe need,'' ''Full discretion,'' ''Little to no need,'' and ''Severe coercion.''

+ FUNDING AND GRANT OPPORTUNITIES:

The GroundWork Project — which supports organizations on-the-ground working on grassroots organizing, civic engagement, and electoral or community organizing with communities that have been marginalized — is offering a grant program in Mississippi, Oklahoma, and West Virginia, with the first round due Friday, March 17, and another round in the fall. The GroundWork Project also offers mini grants on a rolling basis. To learn more, click here.
SAMHSA's 2023 "Communities Talk" stipend cycle is underway. Click here to register, and request a stipend ASAP.

+ 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!

+ TRAININGS:

Lighthouse Learning Collective developed an 8-session LGBTQIA+ harm reduction training series titled, "Lighthouse Learning Series." The virtual series is for harm reduction providers in NYC who would like to build on their harm reduction knowledge to provide better services to LGBTQIA+ folks. The sessions, running from January through April, focus on topics ranging from sex work to sexual and reproductive health, disability justice, chemsex, and more. For more information, click here.
Join NHRC for a virtual training, Hepatitis C Patient Navigation, happening Friday, March 10, from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST. You can register by visiting this link. This 3-hour training is designed to provide patient navigators, caseworkers, test counselors, and other prevention counselors with a basic overview of Hep C and its impact in NYC, in addition to providing successful patient navigation strategies.

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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+ LEGISLATION: The policy team at NHRC is excited to see legislation move forward in several of the states we are working in. Thus far, we are witnessing some great legislation being introduced in Texas, Nebraska, and other states! Click here to check out a glimpse of the legislative news in Nebraska.

+ Integral Care is hiring an Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) and a MAT LPHA.

+ AIDS Care Group is offering an APA-accredited one-year residency position.

+ NYC Department of Health & Mental Hygiene is hiring for several roles, including:

Hiring? Send us a note about open positions in harm reduction to [email protected] to have a job post shared here.

You're receiving this e-mail because you're a colleague providing services, research, advocacy, or other supports for people who use drugs.

National Harm Reduction Coalition
243 Fifth Avenue
Box 529
New York, NY 10016
United States

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