In light of the recent developments in the heroin and opioid crisis, Vox Populi presents a panel discussion and Narcan training. The panel will cover topics from the origins of the epidemic, its sociopolitical undercurrents, and strategies of intervention and harm prevention. The panel features activists Tino Fuentes (NY), Aisha Mohammed, Paul Cherashore, and Nora Wilson. Fuentes and Wilson will also conduct a overdose reversal training on how to administer through Narcan. We will have multiple kits on hand to give to individuals with immediate or pressing need besides zines and educational materials on resource access. A mock up of a safe injection facility (SIF) will be available for those who are curious about the purpose and history around these spaces. Performances will precede and follow the panel and training.
The event will take place on Sunday, April 29th, from 7-10PM.
Admission is $7-10, although no one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Funds will go to Project SAFE and Philadelphia Overdose Prevention Initiative (POPI).
Panelists
Tino Fuentes
“My road to becoming a harm reduction advocate and activist was hard won and reflects my own personal story. I was born and raised in Brooklyn, NY. I grew up very poor and became a drug dealer and user at a young age. I was also involved with the criminal justice system and have been incarcerated. My life changed when I ran into an old friend who was dope sick and looking for drugs who led me to a legal safe place to get free syringes, which I later found out was the Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center (LESHRC). While there, I began talking with a staff member who explained that the purpose of the center was to keep users alive. I was fascinated and could not believe there were places and people that cared so much about drug users’ health and lives. He suggested I volunteer, and the very next day I was there learning and volunteering. That was about 15 years ago, and I have dedicated my career to furthering the harm reduction movement to ensure that all drug users can use safely ever since.
I started as a volunteer at LESHRC, and was eventually hired as staff. I also did some consulting for the Positive Health Project and later worked at the Washington Heights Corner Project. Most recently, I served as Director of Syringe Exchange Programs and Director of Naloxone Programs at Saint Ann’s Corner of Harm Reduction. Since leaving SACHR, I have consulted with individuals and organizations throughout the country, in France, and in Ireland on naloxone, overdose deaths, fentanyl deaths, and fentanyl testing so that users can test what they are getting and stay safe.”
Aisha Mohammed
Aisha Mohammed is a member of Project SAFE, a grassroots direct-service and peer-based advocacy organization of: women, non-binary, gender non-conforming, and trans people, providing women and femme-centered harm reduction services to people involved in the street economies in Kensington, Philadelphia. Aisha is also a founding member of the Philadelphia Red Umbrella Alliance, a collective of sex workers and allies that advocates for the human and labor rights of sex workers. She has been advocating for sex workers and substance users for 10 years.
Paul Cherashore
Paul Cherashore has 25 years of experience in the harm reduction and drug user human rights fields. A founding member of ICARE, one of the first US drug user organizations in the modern harm reduction era, Paul and his fellow volunteer colleagues at Lower East Side Needle Exchange Program created Junk TV in 1994 in collaboration with Manhattan Neighborhood Network. Paul later edited Harm Reduction Coalition’s newsletter, Harm Reduction Communication as well as The Straight Dope series of educational materials for drug users. He also oversaw a nationally respected community health education program on hepatitis C prevention and response. Since moving to Philadelphia Paul co-founded Philadelphia Overdose Prevention Initiative (POPI) with the late Paul Yabor. Lately he has found himself working at the confluence of harm reduction, urban horticulture and the arts.
Nora Wilson
I am a 20 year old printmaking student at Tyler School of Art. When I can find the time between work and school I lead trainings for administering naloxone, and have also written a small zine on the topic that has been cycled around. I hope to get more involved in the OP community as time goes on. I have Paul Cherashore to thank for taking me under his wing.
Performers
Orion Sun
“The one-woman project of Jersey-born, Philly-based singer, producer, and multiinstrumentalist Tiffany Majette crafts music that is relatable, and cathartic.”
http://thekey.xpn.org/2018/02/22/orion-sun-interview/
https://soundcloud.com/orionsun
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc6dq7QfTmc
Hero/Victim
Hero/Victim is Dominic Martin. A sonic attempt at translating unanswered and unheard emotions. Visceral and physical; so as to both, engage and purge the evolving dissonance. Never content. With sound as a context-sensitive metaphor, stories are heard.
https://soundcloud.com/user-139550849
Supported Programs
Project Safe
Established in Philadelphia in 2004, Project SAFE is an all-volunteer grassroots organization providing advocacy and support for women working in street economies. SAFE’s mission is to promote human rights-based public health among women working in the sex and drug trades on the street in Philadelphia*. SAFE is an organization dedicated to ensuring the health, safety and survival of women on the street by providing advocacy, education and support using a harm reduction model. SAFE seeks to reduce the spread of HIV, hepatitis C and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) among working women, promote health and safety by empowering women with relevant information and resources, and connect women to programs and services which are appropriate to their needs and interests.
Popi
Philadelphia Overdose Prevention Initiative (POPI) was founded in August 2013, after early attempts to create a harm reduction garden project failed the previous spring. In 2013-4 POPI was part of the working group that advocated for Pennsylvania’s Naloxone/Good Samaritan legislation. In 2017 Paul Yabor Garden was established in the memory of co-founder Paul Yabor.
