CHR had a big month!
Earlier this month, CHR was invited to attend the first ever Eco Festival hosted by Community Synergy Solutions at the beautiful Oldfield Oasis just outside of Bisbee. Many nonprofits and environmentally focused organizations were invited to attend, and the event featured live music, facepainting, a natural building demonstration, and a collaborative community art booth. We had wonderful conversations with attendees and are so grateful to have the opportunity to share resources along with our mission and vision.
On Tuesday 9/29, CHR tabled at the University of Arizona’s Overlapping Neurobiology of Pain and Addiction Conference in Tucson on our way up to Scottsdale. We tabled alongside SAAF and SPUN, offering naloxone training, supplies, and teaching conference attendees about our work. We also got to hear the DPRAB team present on community-based participatory action research!
From there, we headed up to Scottsdale for TRANSPIRE, NASTAD’s annual conference. We were so grateful to get to spend time there, see so many friendly faces, meet new folks, and connect with NASTAD staff. CHR’s ED, Lu, presented at a session designed for health department HIV, hepatitis, and drug user health program managers who shape funding, strategy, and data systems. We shared about how CHR does our work, how a peer workforce of people with lived and living experience builds trust and retention, how our opt-out delivery model removes barriers, and how low-barrier data collection helps us improve the quality and impact of our work. We invited attendees to consider what is replicable in their own jurisdictions and how health departments can support rural harm reduction through technical assistance, data infrastructure, regulatory flexibility, and political support, in addition to funding.
Following TRANSPIRE, the Arizona Harm Reduction Coalition (AZHRC) held a meetup with local and state public health entities, coordinated with much support from Kirsten at NASTAD. Members from CHR, RIOT, The Urban Front, Shot in the Dark, SPW, SWRA, and SPUN met with individuals and agencies from local and state health departments to network and identify opportunities for further collaboration and coordination. Afterwards, we had a closed AZHRC meeting to plan for year 3 of our work as a coalition. That evening, AZHRC members got to visit RIOT and SWRA sites to support and learn from one another.
It was great to see everyone, and we look forward to continuing this work with state and local health departments to build an Arizona where people who use drugs are safe and resourced.