Artwork stating 'Education Destroys Barriers', 'We Demand Treatment', and 'I Need A Chance'

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  • Under an L.A. Freeway, a Psychiatric Rescue Mission

    Los Angeles County’s Homeless Outreach & Mobile Engagement (HOME) program uses street psychiatry to get psychiatric medication to people experiencing homelessness in an effort to get them a step closer to housing. The HOME team has 223 full-time staff members and served 1,919 people last year, 22% of whom ended the year housed.

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  • Fatal overdoses often happen when users are alone. Hotlines, sensors can save lives.

    Technology like chatbots, motion detectors and hotlines are helping prevent overdose deaths, which typically happen when people use alone. The Never Use Alone hotline which was started in 2019 by volunteers with experience using drugs or who have lost someone to an overdose. Since starting, they have received more than 45,000 calls and have called emergency responders about 200 times.

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  • The Best Way to Fight Meth Addiction? Gift Cards

    CalAIM’s contingency management program gives people gift cards for not using drugs. For every negative drug test, patients receive gift cards, and the payouts increase after each test. Patients who test negative every time over six months can earn up to $599. The treatment style is based on the concept of reinforcement as an effective motivator. Studies suggest the excitement of getting a gift card mimics the dopamine rush from using drugs.

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  • The Poachers Who Could Save Mexico's Vaquita

    Seeking to protect the endangered vaquita, a charity in San Felipe, Mexico, is encouraging fishers who poach totoaba, another endangered species, to swap their gillnets for cimbra. The hook-and-line style fishing equipment allows them to target totoaba that are worth more, meaning they can catch less while making the same or more income and keep other species out of the often harmful nets.

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  • Writing within prison walls

    The American Prison Writing Archive hosts almost 4,000 pieces of writing by people who are incarcerated. It offers a glimpse into the system that is not usually available to the public, a critical outlet for writers, and a social connection to the rest of the world.

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  • Cherokees take new approach to helping addicts

    The Cherokee Nation harm reduction program provides supplies like clean needles and Narcan to those using drugs and even offers safe, clean environments for drug use with staff available to assist during overdoses. As opioid addiction has disproportionately impacted Indigenous communities, the program also provides opportunities for people in recovery to participate in cultural activities. So far, the program has encountered several thousand people and has saved 44 lives with Narcan distribution.

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  • Decline in Veterans' Homelessness Spurs Hopes for a Broader Solution

    Housing vouchers from HUD-VASH are helping decrease rates of homelessness among veterans by providing support that pays for a portion of their rent, while the federal government covers the rest up to a local ceiling. Congress expands the program every year and has so far created about 110,000 vouchers available nationwide.

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  • Substance abuse treatment program offers care and counters stigma

    Project CARA (Care that Advocates Respect/Resilience/Recovery for All) supports pregnant and parenting people with substance use disorders, providing healthcare, addiction resources and obstetrics care in one spot. The program's hub-and-spokes model makes care more accessible, especially for those in remote areas. Data from the Project also indicates that participants of the program are more likely to attend prenatal and postpartum appointments than those outside of the program.

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  • Work expands to prevent opioid overdoses for people leaving prison

    Research has found that providing medications for opioid use disorder can help prevent overdoses after release from prison. The state’s Department of Adult Correction recently launched a pilot program to test this theory. 229 of the 287 participants received treatment, several of whom said the access to the medications helped save their lives.

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  • Denver gave more than 800 people up to $12K to find housing. See what happened a year later

    The Denver Basic Income Project gave no-strings-attached funding to people experiencing homelessness, with some participants receiving $1,000 per month, some receiving a lump sum of $6,500 followed by $500 monthly payments, and some receiving $50 per month. After one year, almost half of the participants had found stable housing, and research showed that the program likely saved the city nearly half a million dollars in costs for services like ambulance rides and shelter stays.

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