Community Partners

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Mission: The Phoenix is a national, free, sober active community that helps people in recovery build strength, resilience, and new friendships through fitness, creative expression, mindfulness, and social connection. With classes and events in Boston (CrossFit, rock climbing, yoga, boxing, jiu jitsu, Pilates, run clubs, and more), The Phoenix offers a peer-to-peer model where the only requirement is 48+ hours of continuous sobriety. Research partners like Harvard and Texas A&M validate its core belief that recovery is strengthened through connection, and data shows 83% of new members who stay for three months remain in recovery. The Phoenix has served over 1 million people nationwide and continues to expand with in-person and virtual programming (including the NewForm app).

The City of Boston Office of Recovery Services (ORS) leads recovery policy for the Boston Public Health Commission and is the first municipal recovery office in the nation. ORS works with partners across government and communities to address substance use disorder and support people who use drugs through outreach, engagement, advocacy, referrals, harm reduction, and recovery services. The office helps individuals access the support they need—including treatment, recovery support, and overdose prevention—and connects them to community resources. Residents can reach ORS through the City’s confidential 24/7 referral center, 3-1-1, for substance use treatment and recovery services. ORS also oversees PAATHS (Providing Access to Addictions Treatment, Hope and Support), a one-stop shop for substance use treatment information that offers phone support, community support, and walk-in services at 774 Albany Street, Boston, MA. ORS serves anyone in the Greater Boston area needing information about substance use, regardless of insurance status, and provides Spanish-speaking staff and transportation assistance.

Health Resources in Action (HRiA) is a national nonprofit founded in 1957 in Boston, MA, with a mission to help people live healthier lives and create healthy communities through prevention, health promotion, policy, and research. With a staff of about 250 professionals, HRiA has over 60 years of expertise in developing, implementing, and evaluating solutions that improve health and reduce inequities. The organization connects, consults, and collaborates with individuals, organizations, and communities to transform practices, policies, and systems that advance health equity. HRiA’s services include landscape research, strategic planning, grantmaking strategy, program design, program management, evaluation, and research capacity building (including scientific convenings, science communication trainings, and mentorship). The Biomedical Research division works with foundations and trusts to direct funds that catalyze change in the research ecosystem and accelerate medical discoveries. HRiA partners with funders committed to advancing community health and biomedical research, connects organizations to life-changing technology and informative materials, and uses data-informed priorities and evidence-based approaches to improve community health. Their equity-centered approach engages leaders and community members to understand initiative effectiveness and impact, and they co-create equitable solutions for change.

The Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS) is part of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. BSAS oversees the statewide system of prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery support for people affected by substance addiction. Its responsibilities include licensing treatment programs and counselors, funding and monitoring prevention and treatment services, providing access to treatment for uninsured residents, developing substance use policies and programs, and tracking substance use trends across the state. BSAS also supports community prevention efforts, offers resources for parents and youth, and promotes stigma-free approaches to treatment through campaigns like “State Without Stigma.” For help finding services, residents can use the free, confidential 24/7 Massachusetts Substance Use Helpline.

Mission: Supporting families impacted by opioid overdose with financial assistance, resources, and hope.

HALO Initiatives | Healing After Loss To Overdose

690 Adams Street, Dorchester, MA 02122 (617) 436-6900

Children's Librarian: Sarah Bahn

690 Washington Street, Dorchester, MA 02124 (617) 436-8214 

Branch Librarian: Janice Knight

Mission: Haley House uses food with purpose and the power of community to break down barriers between people, empower individuals, and strengthen neighborhoods.  We believe in radical solutions: solving problems at their root by challenging attitudes that perpetuate suffering and building alternative models.

Haley House – Food with Purpose and the Power of Community

Mission: To advance justice and public safety through community engagement, evidence-driven practice and ethical prosecution. 

Coordinator of Community Engagement: Chelsie Jones

Suffolk County District Attorney's Office

Mission: Community Reentry Services Program (CRSP) is a reintegration program that creates a pipeline from prison to progress for men in Massachusetts correctional facilities.  The program helps reunite participants with their families and provides wraparound services that include: empl, education, mentorship, housing and diverse counseling services. 

Director of Reentry Services: Milton Jones

https://ldbpeaceinstitute.org/

MISSION: In a comforting embrace of creative expression, Children Healing by Expression soothes children's hidden pain after sudden loss through all forms of creative expression.

Founder and Executive Director: Beverly Parham

Website: https://www.healingbyexpression.org/

MISSION: We Are Better Together Warren Daniel Hairston Project (WAB2G) connects and heals women and girls affected by homicide and incarceration to prevent the cycles of violence and victimization.

Founder and Executive Director: Ruth Rollins

Website: https://www.wab2g.org/