Coalition Building to Save Lives: Solutions to the Addiction and Opioid Epidemic

Session description: The National Sea Change Coalition was established in 2021 to crush the stigma that surrounds substance use disorder (SUD) and its victims by uniting two vital forces: boots-on-the-ground, harm reduction focused Recovery Community Organizations, and Community Organizers. We work to share best practices in policy and implementation, develop communications and narrative, and foster compassionate support to identify a path to full harm reduction. We are building power to de-stigmatize and end the devastating addiction and overdose crisis, pushing back on a “war on drugs” that has systematically stigmatized, criminalized, and isolated people with SUD. Our goal is to support those who have been negatively impacted by SUD by normalizing harm reduction at scale across the country. As a collective of pragmatic, compassionate individuals with lived experience, we fight for and win evidence-based solutions.

In this session we will share the Sea Change Recovery Community Organization’s current work at the state level in New Jersey, and NSCC’s national scale up efforts in base-building, partnership alignment, leadership education and organized action. Please join us for a conversation about tackling this health and humanitarian crisis by working collaboratively at the intersection of community services and organized power. We will seek your input as we map our work forward. With intentional strategy and lived experience, we deeply believe that it is possible to create greater health equity, human dignity, and mutual respect.