4 GROUNDCOVER NEWS HARM REDUCTION Harm reduction refers to policies, programs and practices that aim to minimize the negative health, social and legal impacts associated with drug use, drug policies and drug laws. Harm reduction is grounded in social justice and human rights. Crisis response refers to the immediate actions and strategies implemented to address and mitigate the impacts of a critical event or emergency. It involves planning, mobilizing resources, providing assistance and communicating effectively to minimize harm and facilitate recovery. Before I go further, I would like to highlight a few things in the executive order signed by President Donald J. Trump called “Ending Crime and Disorder on America’s Streets.” The order says (paraphrasing): the unhoused have made the streets unsafe and that most are on drugs or mentally ill or both; mandates shift unhoused individuals to long-term institutions for humane (but involuntary) treatment including ails, mental institutions and so-called drug treatment programs. The executive order also goes on to say: "Do not fund programs that fail to achieve adequate outcomes, including so-called 'harm reduction' or 'safe consumption' efforts.” As a direct result, harm reduction and crisis response organizations nationwide are facing major federal grant funding cuts. Here in Washtenaw County are two harm reduction and crisis response organizations that work together to keep the unhoused community safe. LEAF and Care Based Safety are nonprofit organizations that provide free services for the unhoused in our community. LEAF — Liberation Empathy Advocacy for the Future LEAF harm reduction is dedicated to enhancing public health and safety through comprehensive harm reduction programs including drug checking services and community engagement efforts. By reducing infections, preventing overdoses, and providing critical health education, they strive to create a healthier, safer community for all. Through a compassionate and innovative approach, LEAF not only supports individuals who use drugs but also fosters a more informed and engaged community by improving quality of life through dignity, autonomy, and compassion. It’s the missing link that can be applied to all levels of care. I recently talked to Corn Williams, the lead organizer at LEAF, who gave Care-Based Safety crisis response Care Based Safety is an unarmed response community established in September, 2023 in Ypsilanti. Their main objective and purpose is to keep safe people of color, Indigenous, undocumented, unhoused and LGBTQIA+ individuals using drugs, and/or experiencing mental health struggles through means of: • Conflict resolution (of arguments, dsagreements) • Basic first aid (wound care, wellness checks) • Overdose prevention, reversal and aftercare • Noise complaints and neighbor MIKE JONES Groundcover vendor No. 113 me a tour of the new location on 211 East Michigan Ave. LEAF has been a non-profit organization since April 2024 and was first located in the downtown Ypsi-area on Pearl Street in Centennial Plaza. Corn let me know how he got into harm reduction. He is an ex-addict who overdosed several times and got into legal trouble. During his legal troubles he realized jails and treatment programs didn’t offer a true path to recovery for him. Corn came to learn about a new form of recovery called “Harm Reduction.” From this realization he started to give back to the community and to push back on a penal system that punishes people who use drugs by advocating for harm reduction and informing others of its benefits. Now he is a full-time harm reductionist serving the unhoused community by providing life saving drug checking technologies such as FTIR which enable users to know whether or not fentanyl is present in drugs they are about to use. FTIR, which stands for Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy, is a powerful analytical technique used to identify and quantify materials by analyzing how they absorb infrared light. It's widely used in various industries and academic research for applications like material characterization, quality control and chemical analysis. SEPTEMBER 5, 2025 Harm reduction and crisis response in Washtenaw Wander and Williams co-leading an overdose reversal workshop in Ypsi. concerns • Distress related to mental health and other stressors Care Based Safety is building a community response program that brings loving, unarmed support to people directly impacted by structural violence. From June to September 2024, CBS hosted a pilot space at the Growing Hope location in downtown Ypsilanti for games, activities, connection and care two nights a week. During that time, they successfully: planned/delivered wellness and community building activities that averaged around 28 participants per event over eight weeks; distributed resources and supplies; and provided rapid response crisis management including court and jail support, shelter need support, conflict de-escalation and mental health support. Winter 2025 CBS transitioned this place-based pilot to a new location and expanded it to include an on-call component. Sheri Wander from Care Based Safety let me know that CBS is in a challenging space due to the lack of funding but is moving in a capacity of trust in the unhoused community. She said, “We know that we want a phone number 24/7 to respond to the unhoused community without the police, without guns and without fear of being punished. We were limited in the last couple of years because we didn’t want to put a phone number out to the public and two months later the phone number gets cut off because of the lack of funds. All that said, CBS partners with other organizations like LEAF, Fed-Up Ministries and Growing Hope to engage effectively to meet the needs of those in our community. But now CBS has a non-emergency phone number where people can leave a voicemail or text message. Someone will return your phone call within 48 hours. Call 734-219-2318 for court, medical support, and to navigate resources.” Why harm reduction and crisis response? Kat Layton is a community organizer, social worker at the Ypsilanti District Library, harm reductionist and licensed clinical social worker. I talked to Kat, and I had one question for her: why is harm reduction and crisis response needed? She showed me a chart explaining Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It is a psychological theory proposing that humans are motivated by a series of needs arranged in a pyramid, from basic physiological needs like food and shelter to higher-level needs like self-esteem and self-actualization. The theory suggests that individuals must satisfy lower-level needs before focusing on higher-level ones. Key Components of Maslow's Hierarchy: 1. Physiological Needs: These are the most basic needs for survival, including food, water, sleep and shelter. 2. Safety Needs: Once physiological needs are met, individuals seek safety and security, including personal security, financial security and health. 3. Love and Belonging Needs: These involve feeling connected to others, including having friendships, family relationships and a sense of belonging. 4. Esteem Needs: This level includes the need for self-esteem, confidence, achievement and respect from others. 5. Self-Actualization Needs: This is the highest level, representing the desire to reach one's full potential and become the best version of oneself. She continued to say that the first two of the five steps in the pyramid are the most important because if these essential needs are not met — like food, water, shelter and personal security — that individual is in crisis and in need of immediate help. Homelessness is a national crisis. LEAF, Care Based Safety and people like Kat try to meet the needs of those see CRISIS next page
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