NORTH CAROLINA SURVIVORS UNION
Our Mission
NCSU is a community-led statewide grassroots organization made up of people who are directly impacted by drug use. Our mission is to improve the lives of people who have been targeted by the war on drugs by:
1. organizing, growing and strengthening community-led grassroots groups.
2. educating, mobilizing and advocating for policies and programs grounded in harm reduction , healing, and disability justice.
3. providing direct services in areas where high-risk communities are denied even the most basic services.
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Our programmatic activities include running a user-led syringe service program (SSP) and community space in Greensboro, NC, community organizing, harm reduction -based education and leadership development, civic engagement, and harm reduction mutual support groups.
Core Values
1. Centering the voices of people who use drugs and building community led groups and horizontal team based leadership is grounded with the understanding that the people who are affected by a decision / and or problem have a right to be involved in the decision-making / and or problem solving process.
2. User led and community directed is structured with checks and balances and undertaken using a system which demands that the contributions of impacted people have the most influence around topic areas.includes the promise that the public's contribution will influence the decision.
3. Public participation promotes sustainable decisions by recognizing and communicating the needs and interests of all participants, including decision makers.
4. Public participation seeks out and facilitates the involvement of those potentially affected by or interested in a decision.
5. Public participation seeks input from participants in designing how they participate.
6. Public participation provides participants with the information they need to participate in a meaningful way.
7. Public participation communicates to participants how their input affected the decision.
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