Giving in Action
The Giving in Action recipient on Sunday, March 16th will be Harm Reduction Action Center.
The Harm Reduction Action Center (HRAC) was founded in 2002 as a program arm of Salt Lake City’s Harm Reduction Project. HRAC, then known as the Drop-in Center, was an initiative to broaden Denver’s network of homeless service providers to include the population of people who inject drugs (PWID). In 2008, Salt Lake City’s Harm Reduction Project closed and HRAC emerged in an organizational capacity to emphasize a client-centered approach to meet the evolving needs of the PWID community. HRAC serves a population that has long been stigmatized, marginalized, and under-resourced. Nobody in this state loves people who use drugs (PWUD) more than the HRAC.
On February 8, 2012, the HRAC was finally able to legally exchange syringes. HRAC Assistant Director, Ruth Kanatser, has been with HRAC for 21 of the 22 years. According to her, two former PWUD opened the doors of a little red house to the “most outside of the outsiders,” Denver’s PWID, and said “please, come in.” This truly community-based model has evolved into Colorado’s largest provider of public health services for PWUD. More recently over the past few years, we have expanded our services to serving people who smoke crack, meth, and fentanyl.
“Yeah, this place is open, no matter what. Rain or Shine. On Christmas day. Knowing that you can come in, check your shame at the door, and ask and hopefully receive exactly what you needed that day. Then the continuity of coming in, and having one point-person for something, And another for another. And, of course, the staff is very well versed. They smile and know my name. That is huge.” – Ben, age 37
