what is the ocrf accelerator program?
The goal of the OCRF Accelerator Program is to bridge the founders of community-based overdose response programs
From: operating on the basis of self-funding (e.g. financing their work with 2nd jobs and credit cards), and only providing the volume and range of services that can be financed on the basis of self-funding (e.g. rationed naloxone distribution),
To: securing sustainable financing from appropriate sources (Fed/state/county grants, regional foundations, donors with long-term commitments), and providing the full volume and range of services needed in their communities (incl connection to treatment, referrals to housing, etc.)
how does it work?
To achieve these goals, the OCRF Accelerator Program provides founders with A) unrestricted funding, and B) access to resources to facilitate the transition to appropriately-funded sustainability, including...
Mentors/coaches from the Stanford GSB alumni network, like current Presidential Innovation Fellow, Karin Underwood. Karin is working with Talia Rogers (see below) on budgeting, creating a strategic plan to reach sustainability, and back-stopping of critical decision-making,
Connection to a nationwide network of larger, more established overdose response programs that are available to share material assistance through mutual aid, and strategic assistance re failure paths to avoid during scale-up,
Introductions to advocates/lobbyists at Federal and state levels, who can include our founders in conversations with elected officials to change drug policy, and
Access to prospective fiscal sponsors, pro bono counsel (for help with incorporation and 501c3 status), and providers of out-sourced fin/admin/ops services.
who are the founders currently in the ocrf accelerator program?
Jessie Blanchard (albany, GA)
Jessie Blanchard has a daughter who is currently living on the street. What started as Jessie's effort just to save her own daughter's life has grown into a program that serves all of Albany, Georgia, which is one of the two major urban communities in the poorest region of the state. Jessie is a registered nurse, so in addition to harm reduction and overdose prevention supplies, Jessie provides clients with street medicine that includes wound care, recognition of possible bacterial and viral infections, and referrals to hospital care and addiction treatment with partners at local healthcare systems. OCRF is Jessie's first institutional funder, and when we provided her with her first payment of $4,000, she broke down in tears and said, "Now I don't have to use my credit card."
Michelle Pepin (Ocala, FL)
Michelle Pepin's son Ian died of an overdose in 2018. Since then, from her base in Ocala, FL, Michelle has bootstrapped a harm reduction and overdose prevention program that routinely distributes +800 doses of naloxone and collects +2000 used syringes per week. With no govt or foundation funding, two volunteers who are in long-term recovery, and $12,000 out of her own pocket, Michelle has built a program that serves hundreds of clients 4 days a week, including until 3am on Saturdays to provide outreach to sex workers. OCRF is Michelle's first institutional funder. As a next step, Michelle would like to be able to purchase a mobile unit, so that she doesn't have to store supplies and provide outreach out of her own car.
Talia rogers (northeastern missouri)
Talia Rogers is a person with lived-experience of homelessness and IV drug use, having spent several years of early adulthood in tent encampments in Oakland, CA. After stabilizing in rural Missouri, she built a program that provides naloxone, medical necessities, education, and referrals for clients who are living in a resource desert two hours from any services addressing the needs of people in active use. By empowering dozens of her program’s participants as secondary peer distributors, hundreds of bags of life-saving supplies make it into the hands of the most stigmatized, under-served members of Talia's community every month. Due to the legal environment for harm reduction work in Missouri, Talia’s services are intensely criminalized at the local level, despite their being advocated by the state's public health authorities, the CDC, and the World Health Organization. OCRF is Talia's first source of institutional funding and, prior to OCRF, Talia self-funded her program with 62.5% of a minimum wage income.
how can i work with the ocrf accelerator program?
We've helped Michelle, Jessie, and Talia make a start...but they are going to need a lot more support to get to self-sufficiency.
And, if you can believe it, OCRF already has a pipeline of additional founders across the US who are in the same position as Michelle, Jessie, and Talia...but we don't have the money to help them yet.
Any level of support is welcome here: https://www.ocrfund.org/donate. If you like, use the "write us a comment" option, and type "accelerate." Please consider becoming a monthly donor to OCRF.
If you are a philanthropic foundation or any other institution/individual capable of making a larger gift...
$10,000 buys Michelle, Jessie, or Talia a significant amount of further runway
$20,000 allows OCRF to bring an additional founder into the Accelerator Program
$50,000 supports Michelle, Jessie, and Talia, and lets us bring a new founder into the Accelerator Program
$100,000 supports Michelle, Jessie, and Talia, and lets us recruit an entire 2nd cohort into the Accelerator Program