Advocacy
Support4Recovery has a long history of advocating for the recovery community, working with the Contra Costa County Alcohol and Other Drugs Advisory Board, Board of Supervisors and the community at large to advance issues and the rights of struggling addicts, those seeking help and people in long-term recovery. Among his inexhaustible efforts on behalf of the recovery community, Support4Recovery co-founder Tom Aswad has served on many national, state and local committees. In his role on the AOD Advisory Board for 30 years, representing Contra Costa’s District 4, he helped catalyze grassroots movements, liaising between the community, non-profits and the governing bodies with the power to implement change.
​
This cooperation between Support4Recovery and State/Local Government led to, amongst other things, the pioneering SLE Housing Grant program in Contra Costa County; the building of Discovery House in Martinez (a 41-bed men’s residential treatment program); and the founding of the Sober Living Task Force of Contra Costa County, which led to the building of the new Gayle Uilkema’s House transitional living facility in Martinez.
Today, Support4Recovery Board Members Logan Campbell and Dylan Johnston, serving AOD Advisory Board for District 5 and District 4, respectively, continue this tradition of cooperation between Contra Costa County and Support4Recovery. In 2021 we advocated for, among other things, the removal of marijuana dispensary billboard ads near schools and recovery facilities; fair treatment of addicts seeking treatment who were quarantined in hotels due to COVID-19; and for the expansion of treatment in our county’s jails – in 2021 this initiative received a huge boost with the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) grant.
Support for Hispanic Community
Este es un programa de ayuda especialmente para nuestra comunidad de habla hispana. El programa esta diseñado para animar y apoyar a esas personas quienes están buscando ayuda para la adicción de substancias. El programa también va evaluar si se necesitan otros servicios tales como: inmigración, clases de lenguaje, fondos para viviendas, programas médicos, y servicios para encontrar empleos. Nuestra meta es desarollar y expandir nuestros servicios en el Condado de Contra Costa.
​
In 2021, Support4Recovery established the Hispanic Outreach Program. This program is designed to support the Spanish-speaking recovery community. In addition to encouraging individuals to seek treatment, we are advocating for greater availability of other support services in Spanish, including immigration, language needs, housing grants, medical, employment guidance. Information on the needs of the Spanish-speaking recovery community may be found in the attached Recovery Month Presentation to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors in September 2021.
​
To accomplish its outreach efforts to this unique community, who are often illiterate in both English and Spanish, Support4Recovery has embarked on a novel program to educate through video. The organization hired ShadowPower, a locally-owned business specializing in documenting stories through video, to create an outreach video that will be circulated throughout Contra Costa County. Funding is being provided by John Muir Health, Bi-Bett and private donors.
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Addiction Treatment in Jails
Support4Recovery is leading a collaboration to fix an issue that runs deeper than containing coronavirus in Contra Costa County jail facilities – the lack of treatment options for addicts.
Co-founder Tom Aswad has drawn together representatives of the county’s Alcohol and Other Drugs Services (AODS), the Sheriff’s Department, Superior Court and other local officials’ offices.
Started in 2021, the new task force on jail treatment options is presenting ideas. While the path ahead is long, Judge Clare Maier said the group has made notable progress. The promise of humanizing addicts in detention through meeting them where they are drives the effort beyond roadblocks caused by the unexpected virus or the long-existing lack of county funding.
​
For more information, please see the following article here.
​
Clean Slate Program
The Clean Slate Initiative is a national bipartisan coalition that advances policies to automatically clear all eligible criminal records across the United States. The Clean Slate Program allows clients to avail themselves of opportunities to “clean up” their criminal records, even decades after their criminal case is closed.
Support4Recovery participates and promotes Clean Slate events in Contra Costa County, spreading the word and sponsoring events throughout the recovery community.
Support4Recovery, along with the Contra Costa County’s Alcohol and Other Drug Services (AODS), helped support a clean-slate event on Dec 19th, 2021. Individuals from the recovery community, along with treatment providers, were invited to participate. A few hundred people attended the event, including volunteers from the Public Defender’s Office, Meds Coalitions, and the Mexican Consulate. In addition to accessing legal services, attendees were offered information about voter registration and rights, government benefit assistance, and COVID-19 vaccinations.
As a result of the success of the event, the Alcohol and Other Drug Services Advisory Board (AODSAB) will now promote at least two events in 2022, in order to help clients of AODS and people in the recovery community to have greater access to these providers.
Community Input
S4R is always reasessing and reevaluating how to better serve the recovery community.
Please take a few minutes to assist in our efforts by filling out our 2021/2022 Needs Assessment Survey