Recovery All Ways advocates for policies, funding, and public decisions that reduce harm, protect dignity, and support people impacted by substance use, homelessness, mental health challenges, and overdose loss.
We turn complicated policy issues into clear public actions so community members can understand what is happening, contact the right decision-makers, and help move lifesaving solutions forward.
Advocacy changes systems, but people also need help today. Call Recovery All Ways at 3100-RAW (585-310-0729). If someone may be experiencing an overdose, call 911, administer naloxone if available, and stay with the person until help arrives.
Deadlines and policy developments can move quickly. These are the most important items RAW is tracking now.
Federal housing update
HUD is accepting public comment on activities it proposes to encourage through the Continuum of Care program. The notice could help shape how communities are rewarded in future federal homelessness funding decisions.
Community members and organizations may review the proposal and submit comments by October 13, 2026.
Read the notice and submit a commentS. 4941 and H.R. 9790
The Modernizing Opioid Treatment Access Act 2.0 would create an additional pathway for qualified practitioners to prescribe methadone for opioid use disorder and for pharmacies to dispense it under federal safeguards.
Both bills have been introduced and referred to congressional committees. Public support remains important.
Review the campaign and contact CongressSeptember 29, 2026 meeting
New York's Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board carried motions recommending financial support for overdose prevention centers and continued funding for drug checking, coroner education, and drug user hubs.
These recommendations create momentum, but they do not by themselves authorize an OPC or guarantee funding.
Read the official meeting minutesRochester and Monroe County
New York cities and counties that receive Direct Share opioid settlement funds are responsible for telling the public how the money was used and making that information available online by November 1.
At this review, the state page listed Rochester and Monroe County without reporting links. RAW will continue monitoring both entries.
Review the settlement accountability campaignAdvocacy is one way we practice community care. It helps make sure public decisions are shaped by the people closest to the crisis, including people with lived and living experience, families who have lost loved ones, frontline workers, volunteers, neighbors, and organizations doing direct work on the ground.
We believe public systems should invest in what saves lives: harm reduction, naloxone, drug checking, syringe services, wound care, housing, mental health support, peer support, medications for opioid use disorder, overdose prevention centers, and no-barrier community-based care.
RAW's advocacy is grounded in a simple belief: people deserve safety, dignity, connection, and care whether or not they are sober, housed, insured, or ready for treatment.
Every person deserves the chance to survive an overdose and find support without shame or judgment. RAW is calling on Monroe County, the City of Rochester, and New York State to work together to establish a legally protected, adequately funded overdose prevention center in our community.
New York's Opioid Settlement Fund Advisory Board has now recommended financial support for overdose prevention centers. State legislation that would create a formal authorization framework remains in committee.
This is not about approving or condemning drug use. It is about keeping people alive. Recovery remains possible only while someone is still here.
Sign the petition, contact local and state leaders, review the research, and share the campaign with your community.
These are active opportunities to contact decision-makers, share accurate information, and help keep pressure on public systems to reduce harm, protect dignity, and save lives.
Help bring an OPC to Rochester and Monroe County while protecting naloxone, syringe services, drug checking, wound care, peer outreach, and no-barrier support.
Actions: Sign the petition, contact leaders, share the research, and speak at public meetings.
Status: S. 7617 and A. 4916 remain in committee. The state settlement advisory board has recommended OPC funding.
Support practical access to methadone for opioid use disorder through qualified prescribers and pharmacies while preserving the important role of opioid treatment programs.
Actions: Contact federal lawmakers and ask them to support expanded methadone access.
Status: S. 4941 and H.R. 9790 have been introduced and referred to congressional committees.
Keep opioid settlement resources connected to overdose response, demand transparent local reporting, and reduce financial barriers to outpatient substance use treatment.
Actions: Monitor Rochester and Monroe County reporting, contact state lawmakers, and share why accountable funding and affordable care matter.
Status: Direct Share information is due online November 1. State treatment-access and settlement-interest bills remain unresolved.
Not every important development is ready for a public campaign. RAW tracks these areas so we can respond when a deadline, vote, funding decision, or community action becomes clear.
State legislation, local authorization, legal protections, sustainable funding, and community implementation.
Direct Share disclosures, public reporting links, funded programs, community input, and measurable results.
Federal legislation, pharmacy access, insurance barriers, outpatient costs, and practical access to voluntary care.
Federal funding rules, Continuum of Care policy, public-comment periods, and decisions affecting low-barrier support.
Overdose patterns, emerging substances, drug-checking information, public alerts, and frontline observations.
Housing access, encampment policy, basic needs, outreach, shelter practices, and health-centered community responses.
You do not need to be a policy expert to advocate. Choose the action that fits your time, comfort level, and experience.
Add your name to the petition calling for overdose prevention centers in Rochester and Monroe County.
Call or email one decision-maker. Each campaign page includes verified contacts and a short script.
Send one advocacy page to a friend, family member, neighbor, service provider, or community partner. Public support grows through trusted relationships.
Attend a public meeting, submit a comment, or tell an elected official what you have seen in your community.
You may speak from lived, professional, volunteer, family, or neighborhood experience. You do not have to disclose private medical information, personal history, or someone else's story to make a meaningful public request.
Community advocacy becomes stronger when people can see how one action connects to the next.
Start with people directly affected and the workers responding every day.
Review official sources, current policy, public records, and credible research.
Translate complicated decisions into plain language and clear community stakes.
Give people a specific, practical way to contact the right decision-maker.
Track votes, funding, reporting, implementation, and the real effects on people.
Our positions begin with dignity, real-world experience, and the belief that every person's life has value.
We support evidence-informed tools that reduce overdose risk, prevent infection, and keep people connected without shame or judgment.
People who use drugs, people in recovery, families, unhoused neighbors, peers, volunteers, and frontline workers should help shape decisions.
People should not have to be sober, housed, insured, perfect, or ready for treatment to receive safety, support, and dignity.
People deserve affordable methadone, buprenorphine, counseling, recovery support, and other voluntary care without unnecessary restrictions.
Overdose response funding should be transparent, accountable, and accessible to trusted organizations doing direct community work.
Preventing overdose, reducing public harm, expanding housing, meeting basic needs, and connecting people with care all build a safer community.
RAW focuses on issues where community action is timely, grounded, and capable of protecting people or improving access to care.
Will the decision affect safety, survival, dignity, housing, or access to care?
Are the people closest to the issue being heard, respected, and included?
Is there a real deadline, vote, public meeting, funding decision, or accountable decision-maker?
Can the public claim be supported, explained honestly, and reviewed as new information appears?
Advocacy priorities change as bills advance, public comment periods open or close, new research is published, and local opportunities emerge. RAW reviews these pages regularly so community members can find current information and actions in one place.
If you know about a policy issue, public meeting, proposed law, or advocacy opportunity RAW should review, contact us at info@recoveryallways.org.
Deadline-sensitive information should always be confirmed on the linked official source before acting.
Every signature, call, email, public comment, conversation, and shared action reminds decision-makers that overdose prevention, harm reduction, treatment access, housing, and care are not abstract policy issues. They are life-and-death issues for people we love.
You do not have to do everything. Choose one action and help move it forward.