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Blog Post | May 20, 2019

SAFE Communities Launches National Outreach Campaign

We all know there’s no one-size-fits-all strategy to solving the addiction epidemic.

At SAFE Project, we also know the most important work responding to the opioid epidemic happens at the local or community level, through neighbors helping neighbors. We are also passionate about making sure those very communities have the tools and resources they need to successfully reduce the impact of the opioid epidemic.

That’s why SAFE is launching a national outreach campaign targeting 35 communities across the country. SAFE Communities will work with these cities and towns to match them to tools and best practices to make a positive impact on the addiction epidemic facing the country.

The SAFE team will work directly with these communities to implement the SAFE Community program, including the SAFE Community Playbook, to create a unique set of solutions customized for their specific needs.

Click on a state below to see its two-page infographic, and click here for the two-page infographic for the United States. The infographics highlight key findings for trends in drug overdose deaths from 2000-2017, show how each state’s overdose rates compare to the national average, and provide a high-level comparison of all 50 states’ overdose death rates broken down by each of the five drug types.

The above interactive map was provided courtesy of SHADAC.org.

Our program is focused on making sure communities across the country have the tools they need to combat the addiction epidemic along SAFE’s six lines of operation: Public Awareness; Full-Spectrum Prevention; Prescription Medicine; Law Enforcement and Medical Response; Treatment and Recovery; and Family Outreach and Support.

The SAFE Community Playbook is a step-by-step guide of how communities can organize, evaluate and create change to positively impact the addiction epidemic. The Playbook offers easy-to-use evaluation tools to help communities identify what gaps they need to fill, and then matches those gaps with best practices from around the country. Communities end up with a customized set of recommendations for implementation.

In creating our list of target communities, we wanted to create a list that represents a diverse mix of urban, rural, and suburban communities, places where SAFE has strong community partners, and communities that our team is connecting with around our SAFE Campuses effort. In the next 90 days, we will be reaching out to organizations in each of these locations to offer our help in creating a comprehensive set of solutions for the addiction epidemic.

The List Below Shows our 35 Targeted Communities 

Boston, MA | Portland, ME | Reading, PA | Erie, PA | Long Island, NY | New York, NY | New Brunswick, NJ | Charlotte, NC | Atlanta, GA | Kingsport, TN | Johnson City, TN | Bristol, TN | Clarksville, TN | Nashville, TN | Chicago, IL | Lexington, KY | Annapolis, MD | Huntington, WV | Washington, DC | Arlington, VA | Alexandria, VA | Columbus, OH | Lebanon, MO | Marshfield, MO | St. Louis, MO | Kansas City, MO | Tulsa, OK | Oklahoma City, OK| Dallas, TX | Houston, TX | Denver, CO | Miami, FL | Reno, NV | San Francisco, CA | Los Angeles, CA | Portland, OR | Seattle, WA

Want to get an idea about where to start? Download a free copy of the “SAFE Communities Playbook.”  

For more information on bringing SAFE to your community, email community@safeproject.us.