Brandie Wilson has her work cut out for her: On October 3, the legendary harm reduction organization Chicago Recovery Alliance (CRA) announced that she would be joining them as their executive director. The position was held for 25 years by Dan Bigg—the revolutionary harm reductionist credited with liberating naloxone from the confines of hospitals and putting it in the hands of people who use drugs—until his tragic death in 2018.
We are so honored to be included among an incredible list of mutual aid orgs in Chicago! Many thanks Jes Shine for acknowledging that Harm Reduction has always been about mutual aid and that people who use drugs are generous and take care of each other!
Our annual report for 2018. This report clearly demonstrates that CRA is a robust, health, innovative, envelope-pushing organization. Thanks to our staff and volunteers for all for the incredible work you do to assist our participants in making any positive change.
The Chicago Recovery Alliance team is grieving the passing of Antonio Williams. For well more than half of his life, Antonio was a devoted CRA volunteer. He also was a long-standing member of our Board of Directors. We feel honored that he chose to spend so much of his time helping Chicagoans who use drugs and do sex work achieve Any Positive Change on the terms they set for themselves.
Since America’s founding, our relationship with dependence has been fraught at best, fatal at worst. “Independence!” we cry, charging forth across a country we stole, armed with devices we cannot live without. The terms within which we discuss addiction have been moralized, medicalized, and politicized in waves for the past century. (CRA Director Greg Scott quoted in article).
