Since the Recovery Advocacy Project was founded, it has embraced an organizing strategy of thinking and acting locally. The issues impacting our communities and states on the grassroots level should always be a changing variable in guiding advocacy work. For example, what is happening in Providence, Rhode Island is most likely different from what the recovery community is experiencing in Louisville, Kentucky, or Las Vegas, Nevada.  Each state held listening sessions and was able to identify pillars to their state organizing platforms. These platforms were created by the grassroots recovery community to help focus on community and legislative solutions.

While each platform was unique to each state, the Recovery Advocacy Project also wanted to identify and report the priorities most associated within the state platforms to show some common barriers and advocacy commonalities across the country. 

After going through each individual state platform, the four top focuses for organizing are:

• • Recovery Support Services
    • Expand peer-led support on the community level
    • Embrace recovery-oriented systems of care, everywhere!
  • Recovery Housing
    • Safe, Affordable, Standard Driven Recovery Housing
    • Barrier-free, nondiscriminatory access
  • Justice Reform
    • Recovery support in the justice system and upon reentry
    • Decriminalize, Divert, & Expunge
  • Harm Reduction
    • Overdose prevention through Narcan distribution
    • Health access sites where people use drugs

All of these pillars are woven together with an expectation that there will be equitable access for marginalized communities, while addressing racial disparities, removing barriers, and expanding culturally appropriate services, regardless of neighborhood, race, age, gender, sexual orientation, recovery pathway, insurance or socioeconomic status.