https://substack.com/@peopleforopcsinrochester

People For OPC’s in Rochester, NY, Rochester, NY (2025)

12/13/2025

📌 Facts > Fear: A quick reality check on the NY Post OPC story

A New York Post article is circulating claiming “46 people were rushed to the hospital” from NYC’s Overdose Prevention Centers, and using that to imply OPCs are unsafe.

Here’s the issue: the article doesn’t provide verifiable proof (no EMS records, no hospital data, no public documents to review), and it doesn’t reconcile its claim with OnPoint NYC’s publicly released Year Two data.

What OnPoint NYC reports for Year Two (11/30/22–11/29/23):

✅ 61,184 total visits
✅ 683 overdoses reversed, lives saved
✅ EMS called only 23 times, that’s 0.038% of all visits and 3.4% of overdose interventions
✅ 83% of participants connected to wraparound services (medical care, counseling, MOUD support, basic needs, and more)
✅ 50,232 instances of drug use diverted away from public spaces

Bottom line: People don’t stop overdosing because the drug supply got safer. People stop dying when trained staff can intervene. And the report shows the vast majority of incidents are handled on-site without ambulances or ER trips.

Rochester has lived this crisis for a long time. We owe our neighbors the truth, not stigma headlines.

https://onpointnyc.org/impact-report/

12/02/2025

Across Town, Same Story. ❤️

If you live near North Clinton, Joseph, Hudson or Lyell, you’ve seen the crisis up close.

But if you live in Greece, Webster, Henrietta, Chili, Penfield, Fairport, Pittsford, Irondequoit… you’ve seen it too. Just in different parking lots, different plazas, different cul-de-sacs.
✔️ People overdosing in cars outside corner stores and big box stores
✔️ Kids finding drugs on sidewalks and in school bathrooms
✔️ Families scared to answer the phone late at night, whether their mail says Rochester or Webster
✔️ Small businesses in the city and in the suburbs trying to keep their doors open while juggling safety, compassion, and burnout

This isn’t a “city problem” or a “suburbs problem.”

It’s a Monroe County problem.
And that means the solutions have to be county-wide, too.

Real investment in harm reduction, housing, mental health care, and evidence-based services (like Overdose Prevention Centers) doesn’t just help one neighborhood. It means:
✔️ Fewer sirens everywhere
✔️ Fewer funerals in every zip code
✔️ Less strain on ERs, first responders, and small businesses across the map

Whether your nearest corner store is on North Clinton or off Route 104, we all want the same thing: fewer empty chairs at the table and more people getting the help they deserve.

If this sounds like your street, city or suburbs, drop your neighborhood or town in the comments.

Let’s make it clear: we’re in this together. ❤️ 🗺️

11/30/2025

Rochester doesn’t have a “bad block” problem. We have a disinvestment problem.

For years, City Hall has leaned on the story that our overdose and violence crisis is driven by “outsiders coming in” to buy and use drugs.

That story might be convenient, but it’s not the whole truth.

What neighbors on Dewey, Lyell, Lake, West Main, Hudson, Joseph, Upper Falls, Clinton and every side street between have lived is this:
•Overdoses go up when investment goes down
•Public disorder rises when support collapses
•Businesses struggle when the safety net disappears
•Families, workers, youth and unhoused neighbors are left to carry what government walked away from

And now, when we talk about solutions, we’re told “we’re investing in housing” like that’s enough.

But unless “housing” means deeply affordable, low-barrier, permanent supportive housing in the very corridors that have been underfunded for decades… it’s just another talking point.

OPCs are one piece of what real reinvestment looks like, alongside actual housing, mental health care, treatment, harm reduction, and support for small business corridors that have carried this crisis on their backs.

This new piece breaks it all down:

👉 Why the “outsiders” narrative is a deflection
👉 How disinvestment across multiple corridors created today’s so-called “hot spots”
👉 What we really mean when we say “housing”
👉 Where Overdose Prevention Centers fit into a bigger strategy to stabilize neighborhoods and save lives

🔗 Read the full article on Substack here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/peopleforopcsinrochester/p/stop-blaming-outsiders-rochesters

If you believe every block in Rochester deserves investment, safety, and hope:

📝 Drop your corridor or neighborhood in the comments
📣 Share this with someone who still thinks this is just a “bad block” issue
💬 Tell us one thing you see on your street that leaders need to understand
✔️ Check the full article for more concrete actions easy to take for everyone.

We’re done letting anyone tell this story about us, without us.

11/28/2025

The City is holding public education sessions on opioids, and this is one of those moments where we’re being invited to come to their table.

If we don’t show up, decisions get made about our neighborhoods, our loved ones, and our people who use drugs without us in the room. These meetings are a chance for:
✔️ People who use drugs
✔️ Families who’ve lost someone to overdose
✔️ Neighbors, workers, outreach folks, faith leaders

…to say, “This is what we see. This is what we need. This is what must change.”

Please come if you can. Bring your voice, your story, and your questions.

📌 All the dates and details are on the flyer, save them, share them, and tag a friend who should be there with you.

But it can’t stop at just “coming to their table.” In addition to attending these meetings, we can do the following;

🏘️ Bring others with us, friends, family, neighbors, coworkers.

🗣️ Name clear needs, housing, low-barrier services, overdose prevention, mental health care, harm reduction, etc.

📋 Ask for concrete action, “What will you do in the next 3 to 6 months?” “How will you measure success?”

📞 Follow up, email or call after the meetings and ask what’s happening with what we shared.

🪑 Keep building our own tables, community meetings, outreach, mutual aid, carrying Narcan, supporting local orgs doing the work every day.

Showing up to these sessions is one way we claim our power.
Staying organized and loud after the meeting is how we make sure our people are not forgotten.

11/28/2025

La Ciudad está organizando sesiones públicas de educación sobre los opioides, y este es uno de esos momentos en que nos están invitando a “venir a su mesa”.

Si no estamos presentes, otras personas toman decisiones sobre nuestros barrios, nuestras familias y nuestra gente que usa dr**as sin escucharnos. Estas reuniones son una oportunidad para que:
✔️ Personas que usan dr**as
✔️ Familias que han perdido a alguien por sobredosis
✔️ Vecinos, trabajadores, líderes comunitarios y de fe

…puedan decir: “Esto es lo que vemos. Esto es lo que necesitamos. Esto es lo que tiene que cambiar.”

Por favor ven si puedes. Trae tu voz, tu historia y tus preguntas.
📌 Todas las fechas y detalles están en el volante, guárdalo, compártelo y etiqueta a alguien que debería ir contigo.

Pero no puede quedarse solo en “venir a su mesa”. Además de asistir, también podemos;

🏘️ Invitar a más gente, amistades, familia, vecinos, compañeros de trabajo.

🗣️ Nombrar necesidades claras, vivienda, servicios de baja barrera, prevención de sobredosis, salud mental, reducción de daños, etc.

📋 Pedir acciones concretas, “¿Qué van a hacer en los próximos 3–6 meses?” “¿Cómo sabremos si está funcionando?”

📞 Dar seguimiento, enviar correos o llamar después de las reuniones para preguntar qué está pasando con lo que compartimos.

🪑 Seguir construyendo nuestras propias mesas, reuniones comunitarias, brigadas, ayuda mutua, cargar Narcan, apoyar a las organizaciones locales que están en la calle todos los días.

Ir a estas sesiones es una forma de reclamar nuestro poder.
Mantenernos organizados y con la voz alta después de la reunión es cómo nos aseguramos de que nuestra gente no sea olvidada. 💜

11/27/2025

NYC’s Overdose Prevention Centers are already proving what happens when a city chooses compassion over punishment:

Lives saved.
Streets calmer.
Less chaos. More care.

This clip comes from our new Substack piece about why Rochester and Monroe County need OPCs too.

🔊 Sound on.
📰 Read the full article on Substack: Because Every Life in Rochester Should Make It to Tomorrow (link in comments).

11/27/2025

Rochester is losing people we don’t have to lose.

New York City already tested what happens when a city opens Overdose Prevention Centers instead of letting people die alone. The results are in: fewer deaths, fewer 911 calls, less public use, less syringe litter, more people connected to care.

We just published a new piece breaking down what NYC’s data means for Rochester and Monroe County, and why this isn’t “enabling,” it’s basic human dignity and public health.

📰 Read the article here:
https://open.substack.com/pub/peopleforopcsinrochester/p/because-every-life-in-rochester-should

If you believe every life in this city should make it to tomorrow, please read and share this with a neighbor, a friend, or someone in power.

11/22/2025

“Not sweeps. Not our fault. Not working.”

Rochester is being told two stories at once.

On one side, we’re told:

“These aren’t sweeps, they’re compassionate closures.”
“We’re connecting people to services.”

On the other side, we’re watching:
⛺️ tents and blankets tossed into garbage trucks,
🛤️ people pushed from bridge to doorway to vacant lot,
📈 overdose memorials grow and grow while life saving solutions get stalled.

You can’t rebrand a sweep into “compassion” just because you said “resources” into a microphone.

You can’t hold press conferences about “doing everything we can” while blocking proven tools like Overdose Prevention Centers and real housing options.

If it’s not sweeps and not your fault…
then why is it not working?

This cartoon isn’t about being mean.
It’s about naming what we see:
‼️ Mayor Malik Evans continues to allow “closures” that leave people with nowhere safe to go.
‼️ County Executive Adam Bello continues to talk about the overdose crisis while refusing to champion the most effective, evidence based tools we have: OPCs, harm reduction, housing first.

Meanwhile, our neighbors are freezing outside.
Meanwhile, people are dying alone in parking lots, stairwells, and public bathrooms.

Rochester deserves better than spin.

We deserve:
Overdose Prevention Centers so people don’t die using alone.
Real investment in housing and low-barrier shelter, not just displacement.
Policy rooted in evidence and humanity, not political comfort.

If you’re tired of the gap between the press conference and the sidewalk:

➡️ Share this.
➡️ Tag Mayor Malik Evans and County Executive Adam Bello.
➡️ Mayor's Office Contact at 585-428-7045 or info@cityofrochester.gov
➡️ County Executive Contact at 585-753-1000 or countyexecutive@monroecounty.gov
➡️ Tell them Rochester wants real solutions: OPCs, housing, harm reduction, not more “not sweeps” and not-our-fault speeches.

Our people are not disposable. Our city can do better.

And we’re not going to stop saying it out loud.

- People for OPCs in Rochester

11/21/2025

“OPCs sound expensive.”

You know what’s more expensive? Doing nothing.

Every fatal overdose means:
🚑 EMS response
🚓 Police presence
🏥 Emergency room or medical examiner costs
💔 Lost wages, lost parents, lost community members

Nonfatal overdoses also carry huge costs: hospital visits, ICU stays, infections, long-term care.

OPCs help reduce:
🚒Emergency calls
👨🏽‍⚕️ Hospitalizations from overdoses
🩺 Complications from unsafe injection practices

We can spend money reacting to disaster over and over…

Or we can invest in a model that prevents the worst outcomes and connects people to help upstream.

It’s not just morally sound, it’s fiscally responsible.

- People for OPCs in Rochester

11/21/2025

Some people hear “Overdose Prevention Center” and think:
“So we’re just surrendering?”

It’s actually the opposite.

“Giving up” looks like:
•Ignoring the crisis
•Pushing people out of sight
•Pretending that more punishment will magically fix addiction

OPCs are what it looks like when a community refuses to give up:
•We refuse to accept preventable death as normal
•We refuse to throw people away because they use drugs
•We refuse to let fear and stigma be louder than evidence and compassion

We already know that criminalization alone hasn’t solved this.
We already know people are dying in parking lots and public bathrooms.

Overdose Prevention Centers are us saying:
“We see what’s happening. And we’re going to respond with care, not cruelty.”

That’s not surrender. That’s courage.

- People of Rochester for OPCs

11/19/2025

“Why don’t they just stop using?”
If it were that simple, we wouldn’t be in an overdose crisis.

Substance use disorder is deeply tied to trauma, mental health, poverty, chronic pain, housing instability, and more. People use for reasons that go far beyond “bad choices.”

OPCs don’t require people to be “ready to quit” to receive care.
They flip the script:

“You deserve not to die today, even if you’re still using.”

That simple shift does a few powerful things:
•Reduces the shame that keeps people hidden and isolated
•Builds trust with staff who are consistent and nonjudgmental
•Keeps people alive through the most dangerous periods of use

Many people who eventually enter recovery pass through harm reduction spaces first. Not because anyone forced them, because they finally met someone who saw them as fully human.

OPCs are not the opposite of recovery.

They are often the bridge to it.

- People for OPCs in Rochester

11/18/2025

Right now, many businesses and congregations are dealing with:
•Syringe litter in doorways and parking lots
•People using in bathrooms or alleys
•Overdoses happening on their property
•Staff feeling completely unprepared and overwhelmed

An OPC gives all that chaos a designated place to go.

Instead of someone using in your doorway, they have somewhere safer to be.
Instead of staff discovering an overdose in the bathroom, trained workers see it coming and intervene.

OPCs can partner with local businesses and churches to:
•Offer training on Narcan and safer disposal
•Be a point of contact when someone is in crisis
•Help reduce public use and emergency scenes right outside their doors

The question for communities isn’t “Do you want drugs here or not?”

The question is, “Do you want the chaos unmanaged, or do you want a place that’s designed to handle it?”

— People for OPCs in Rochester

People For OPC’s in Rochester, NY

12/13/2025

12/02/2025

11/30/2025

11/28/2025

11/28/2025

11/27/2025

11/27/2025

11/22/2025

11/21/2025

11/21/2025

11/19/2025

11/18/2025

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