We were asked 3 questions about our year from Open Collective, here is our groups reflections on these questions. 

1. What did you accomplish during 2023? How did you use money?

2023 was our first full year for our organization! This year we were able to connect hundreds of people in Brooklyn with safer use supplies, as well as provide trainings and connections to harm reduction resources across the borough. We mainly used our money to help us purchase supplies for distribution at a variety of events including underground raves, drag shows, bars, and restaurants — as well as on the street at community block party events and mutual aid sites. We also distributed materials via direct outreach to individuals. Additionally, we used our funds to host Narcan and Harm reduction training and distribution events in collaboration with other community groups, public libraries, businesses, and more. Some of our events and outreach this year included providing free supplies at venues: National Sawdust, C’mon Everybody, Metropolitan Bar, Nowadays, Market Hotel, Sincerely Yours, Purgatory, All Night Skate and Vers BK; at events: Mx. Nobody Pageant, Bitchfest, Melting Point, Kitty Collective, I’m Finna Talk; and at locations:  Troutman Open Streets, Banker’s Anchor, Cooper Park Houses. We also had many collaborations with the Jackson Street Block Association, Center for Brooklyn History, Greenpoint Library, Bushwick Ayuda Mutua & Collective Focus and partnerships with Vocal, GMHC, OnPoint, After Hours Project, DSA and North Brooklyn Mutual Aid. 

2. What challenges did you face during 2023? What did your Collective learn? How did you change or grow? 

Our main challenges this year were centered around creating a consistent flow of supplies to meet the needs of our community. We’ve had a hard time finding people who can make purchases upfront on our behalf to be reimbursed from our Open Collective account. Fortunately our volunteers are resourceful and we’ve made great connections with other community orgs with whom we are able to collaborate on getting access to the lifesaving materials we distribute. This past year we have grown in visibility within our community and have gained recognition as a trustworthy group that will provide help in accessing harm reduction supplies and information. Our success has come from our ability to adapt to the needs of our community and our team’s ability to always find another way to help meet those needs. We've learned that the needs of our community are constantly changing and evolving, our best assets this year have been the connections we have to people at other organizations, community groups and broader community at large, who share their experiences and information which helps inform our work. When we founded this group we chose the word Cooperative with the intention of truly working cooperatively with the communities in Brooklyn to provide more access to harm reduction resources, we believe that we have achieved the beginnings of reaching that vision and look forward to doing more in the new year.

3. What are your plans for 2024? Anything exciting coming up?

In 2024 we plan to continue to form stronger connections with the Brooklyn community and expand our volunteer group to be able to more effectively meet the ongoing needs of our community. We hope to provide more drug checking resources and to host more healthcare related events including but not limited to free HIV/Hep C testing, blood pressure screenings, dental check-ups, CPR training etc. We also hope to get more community feedback in the new year so we can better serve the needs of the individuals and groups we work with. We hope to continue to provide free harm reduction resources to whoever is in need as much as we possibly can. 

Thank you to all who have volunteered their time, energy and efforts, as well as our financial contributors, you all make this work possible! We are eternally grateful for your support and belief in our vision to increase access to harm reduction to Brooklyn and beyond!

We wish you a joyous and safe end of year, 
The BKHROC team <3