The Harm Reduction Action Center leads a weekly cleanup around Capitol Hill and the Golden Triangle using homeless residents they've provided services to.
The Harm Reduction Action Center has been leading cleanups with homeless residents for more than three years.A stereotype people often have about homeless individuals is that they leave the streets dirtier and uglier. But that couldn't be further from the truth at Denver's Harm Reduction Action Center.
"I see a lot of trash around the area, and I want to give back because I live in this area and I love Denver, I love the people, I love this place ," says Cali, a homeless resident who also struggles with an addiction to fentanyl."They've taken care of me; they've taken care of me when I didn't have anything, when I was cold, when I was sick and nobody else would even talk to me.
Raville and the center's team offer sterile needles and a place to dispose of dirty ones to stop the spread of HIV, as well as access to clean meth and crack pipes. HRAC also offers testing strips to detect fentanyl and xylazine — also known as tranq — in drugs, and free naloxone and Narcan to prevent overdoses. The center also offers referrals to help people get into recovery.
Iris Boswell, an overdose prevention coordinator who also helps lead the cleanups, says: "The trash cans by the bus stops are never empty, so they wind up getting full, and then people just put their garbage next to the trash can and we come by and pick it up." HRAC also advocates for policies that can help prevent overdose deaths. Close to 1,900 drug overdose deaths were tallied in Colorado by the Centers for Disease Control in 2021, the most recent year for which that statistic is available.
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