About the Author: Lisa Raville grew up outside of Chicago, IL and graduated from DePaul University with a degree in Communications and a minor in Women’s Studies. Lisa is the Executive Director of the Harm Reduction Action Center, a public health agency that works with people who inject/smoke drugs. Lisa has been with HRAC since 2009. Lisa’s activist voice was cultivated with her experiences as an overnight homeless shelter coordinator, development work at a domestic violence agency, a former campaign manager for a CA County Supervisor, and an AmeriCorps VISTA at an AIDS agency.

Lisa is the Secretary of the Board of Directors of the Colorado Criminal Justice Reform Coalition. Lisa is the Secretary of the Board of Directors for Katal Center. In 2014, Lisa won the Colorado Public Health Association Award for Excellence in Policy and in 2018 won the Recovery Ally of the Year award from Advocates for Recovery Colorado.

Founded in 2002 to support Denver’s highly marginalized population of people who inject drugs, the Harm Reduction Action Center (HRAC) began with a compassionate commitment to mitigating health risks and centering immediate well-being. Today, HRAC has evolved into Colorado’s largest public health provider for People Who Use Drugs (PWUD), serving individuals who both inject and smoke substances. Nobody loves PWUD more than HRAC; our mission is grounded in the belief that everyone deserves support and the chance to live their safest, healthiest life today.

PWUD in the US are currently affected by overlapping syndemics of drug use, HIV, Hepatitis C, sexually transmitted infections, and a crisis of fatal drug overdoses. These syndemics represent an enormous amount of suffering that is largely preventable.  In addition to physical health concerns, PWUD face numerous social issues such as homelessness, mental health issues, minimal incomes, unemployment, and a general disconnection from the community.

The aim of the HRAC is to prevent overdose deaths, re-engage people who use drugs (PWUD) into community involvement, and protect against the transmission of HIV and hepatitis C. The HRAC prioritizes access to appropriate healthcare information to prevent infections of the skin, soft tissue, and other bacterial infections that are both painful to the individual and costly to the city’s healthcare system.  Public health and medical experts agree that syringe/pipe access programs are the gold-standard of care to reach PWUD with resources, education, and are cost-effective, while focusing on the whole-person approach.

As the region's only syringe and pipe access day shelter, HRAC welcomes nearly 200 people each morning- over 80% of whom experience homelessness or transitional housing. HRAC provides an essential moment of daily respite to check shame at the door, meet basic human needs, receive mail, and access life-saving health resources without judgment. 

As one participant shared: "Before I found the Harm Reduction Action Center, I was in a dark place. I didn’t believe I had any options left - I was just trying to make it through each day. When I first walked through those doors, they greeted me with kindness I hadn’t felt in years. They didn’t judge me or lecture me - they just saw me as a person who deserved care and dignity." 

HRAC leads this proposed work because our solutions are deeply participant-driven. HRAC ensures community members directly guide the systems change and safety interventions meant to serve them.

The overdose crisis is a public health emergency that demands a public health response. What we are currently seeing across our state and in Denver is that some policy makers are doubling down on the worst ideas of the drug war such as incarceration and criminalization. Those efforts only increase overdose deaths. We encourage people, such as healthcare providers, to use their voices and actions to help PWUD to be treated and supported. Join us for a healthier and safer community: www.harmreductionactioncenter.org