Several hundred gather in DC to advocate for recovery
… plus watch highlights from the opening sessions and America Honors Recovery Gala
By Jeremiah Gardner
NOTE: This was published for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s monthly Recovery Advocacy Update. If you’d like to receive our advocacy emails, subscribe today.
Hazelden Betty Ford was proud to sponsor Faces & Voices of Recovery’s annual recovery leadership summit, equity dinner, America Honors Recovery gala and Hill Day, held June 4–7 in Washington, DC. It was a huge success, and as a Faces & Voices board member, I was thrilled with the energy, turnout and impact.
Watch highlights from the opening sessions and America Honors Recovery Gala.
More than 500 recovery leaders attended the summit, and 300 advocates stayed for Hill Day — visiting more than half of the offices on Capitol Hill. Here are the recovery priorities for which we advocated:
- Increase funding for the annual SAMHSA block grant and include for the first time a 10% recovery set-aside to ensure a portion of the block grant is used by states to support recovery community organizations (RCOs). RCOs across the country fill gaps in our treatment and recovery system by providing peer-support services in a variety of settings, including hospitals and community centers — meeting people with substance use disorders where they’re at before, during, after and sometimes in lieu of treatment. The block grant already includes a set-aside for prevention services. Most of the rest goes to publicly funded treatment. Our ask was to increase the amount of the block grant and dedicate a portion of the increase to these community-based recovery support service providers.
- Pass the Re-Entry Act of 2023, which would permit Medicaid benefits to restart 30 days before an inmate’s release, enhancing treatment access and lowering overdose risk and recidivism.
- Pass the RESTORE ACT, which would repeal the SNAP Drug Felony Ban and codify a USDA administrative waiver to SNAP state agencies that allows individuals to apply for SNAP 30 days prior to their release from incarceration. SNAP — the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — provides food benefits to low-income families to supplement their grocery budget so they can afford the nutritious food essential to health and well-being. This bill is important because we know that initiating or continuing recovery after re-entry is all the more difficult if one is food insecure.
It was great to have many policymakers speak at the summit as well, including ONDCP Director Dr. Rahul Gupta; Congressman David Trone, who heads up a bipartisan caucus championing recovery-oriented policies; and Paolo del Vecchio, who heads up the new recovery office within SAMHSA, which announced at the summit a new National Model Standards for Substance Use, Mental Health, and Family Peer Worker Certifications.
Learn more and get involved at facesandvoicesofrecovery.org.
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Jeremiah Gardner is director of communications and public affairs for the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation and a national board member for Faces & Voices of Recovery.
