About Us
Recovery Changes Everything! Faces & Voices of Recovery is dedicated to organizing and mobilizing the over 23 million Americans in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. With the support of families, friends and allies, recovery community organizations and networks are able to promote the right and resources to recover through advocacy, education and demonstrating the power and proof of long-term recovery.
- Laws and policies enable recovery, health, wellness and civic engagement for people affected by alcohol and other drugs.
- Communities are organized and mobilized to address policies, practices and perceptions for people affected by alcohol and other drugs.
- Individuals, families and communities affected by alcohol and other drugs have universal access to quality, effective care and supports to achieve recovery, health, wellness and civic engagement.
For too long those most affected by alcohol and other drug problems have been absent from the public policy debate. Faces & Voices of Recovery was founded in 2001 at a Summit in St. Paul, Minnesota, the culmination of more than two years of work to provide focus for a growing advocacy force among people in long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs, their families, friends and allies.
Since then, the addiction recovery movement has exploded – in the US and around the globe.
In 2001, Faces & Voices of Recovery adopted a Core Positioning Statement, laying out the principles for a national campaign and elected a 22-member Campaign Advisory Committee to provide leadership to the campaign.
"Times have changed. The recovery community is unifying around key priorities – to gain needed resources and to end discrimination against people in recovery. We are working to eliminate barriers to recovery for every American, every family and to help today’s children and future generations, who often are the biggest winners in the process of recovery."
Throughout the U.S., recovery advocates were hard at work on local and statewide campaigns. In 2003, Faces & Voices of Recovery elected a 13-member Campaign Steering Committee to streamline and revitalize its work and make it more responsive to the recovery community. In 2004, Faces & Voices of Recovery was incorporated and received IRS designation as a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit corporation. In 2005, a 21-member Board of Directors was elected to advise and direct the campaign. The Recovery Bill of Rights was released as Faces & Voices took on new successful campaigns, including ending insurance discrimination facing people with addiction.
The groundbreaking Our Stories Have Power Recovery Community Messaging training has been used by tens of thousands of advocates to sharpen their skills as recovery communicators and deliver strategic messages in the media, to policymakers and the general public.
'We will shape the future of recovery with a detached silence or with a passionate voice." - Bill White
In 2011, with a growing membership of over 25,000 individuals and organizations, Faces & Voices celebrated its 10th anniversary. The Board released the first in a series of Public Policy Position papers, on:
Criminal Justice Recovery Advocacy
Discrimination
Now, we are led by a 13 member Board of Directors and have regionally-based staff located in the District of Columbia, Arizona, Texas, Minnesota, Montana, Pennsylvania, Vermont, Maryland, and North Carolina. We are making a significant impact on the federal level by influencing funding decisions for recovery support services through legislation such as the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) and the 21st Century CURES Act. We continue to train Recovery Ambassadors across the nation and offer educational webinars on topics important to the recovery community. Our social media presence focuses on putting a face & voice on recovery through sharing recovery stories to demonstrate that over 23 million Americans are living proof of recovery.
We are moms and dads, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, and friends of people regaining their health and lives through freedom from addiction. By organizing and speaking out together, we support and give hope to individuals who are still struggling with addiction and to those who have found the power of long-term recovery.
We have earned GuideStar’s highest seal of transparency:
Our Mission
Changing the way addiction and recovery are understood and embraced through advocacy, education and leadership.
Our Vision
We envision a world where the diverse voices of individuals and families affected by addiction are embraced and connected in communities, free from discrimination and injustice.
Race & Equity in Recovery North Star
Preamble
It is important to acknowledge that this document intentionally and unambiguously addresses the needs of Black and Indigenous communities. We understand that there are other marginalized groups that we have harmed; we recognize that this work cannot be completed in a single document. Each group has been harmed uniquely and will require different solutions that promote healing, equity, and justice. To blanket all groups under one approach would be to ignore their individual needs, strengths, and distinct experiences. We understand that taking a one-size-fits-all approach would be disrespectful and could generate further harm. We have piloted this project by first highlighting the needs of Black and Indigenous peoples. We are committed to making a more just community for all people in recovery. We look forward to future collaborations to meet our commitments to Black and Indigenous people in recovery, and to build initiatives for additional marginalized communities.
The work continues.
Over the years, many Black and Indigenous(ii) community members have attempted to hold recovery organizations and recovery advocacy community leaders accountable by pointing out the lack of inclusivity and representation and overt acts that promoted marginalization. In some cases, organizations met these criticisms with vague promises of "doing better” or changing, but little effective change occurred. As 2020 was a year of upheaval on many fronts, it also served as a catalyst to refocus national attention on racial injustice, specifically the history and contemporary legacy of anti- Black racism in America, in addition to the multitude of white-dominant, racist, and discriminatory practices that block access to essential, life-saving services and supports. In response, the founding members of this group(iii) decided to attempt systemic changes within our respective organizations. We acknowledge the importance of directly addressing anti-Black racism in recovery as an essential starting point for equity. This document serves as a reflection of our commitments, and we invite you to join us and hold us accountable in this process.
The modern recovery advocacy movement took shape around 2001 and primarily evolved within white-dominant structures, systems, and beliefs(iv) that perpetuate racial inequities within the recovery continuum. We recognize a deficit of Black and Indigenous voices and leaders within our agencies and acknowledge participating in racist practices that have directly contributed to this problem. Lack of representation at the national level among our organizations emerges from and reinforces the systems that prevent equitable opportunities to participate in recovery. Black and Indigenous people often experience disparate, inequitable, and punitive pathways to recovery. We acknowledge that our organizations have directly contributed to and participated in anti-Black racist actions that have harmed Black members of the recovery movement and have led to inequitable access to leadership roles, and ultimately, inequitable access to recovery support services promoted by our organizations.
As leaders in the recovery advocacy community, we also recognize that not all who seek recovery have equitable access to their choice of treatment and recovery supports. We acknowledge that we have not supported all pathways to recovery, and we need to focus our influence to address equitable access to recovery supports and multiple pathways, while also addressing anti-Black racism within national standards, policies, and practices. To build a more just recovery community, we must examine the deeply rooted structures, systems, and beliefs of white supremacy; strategically implement anti-racist practices within our agencies, adjusting to suit the needs of each organization; and shift our priorities toward racial equity.
We, Association of Alternative Peer Groups, Association of Recovery Schools, Faces & Voices of Recovery, and Young People in Recovery, acknowledge that racism is deeply rooted in structures, systems, organizations, communities, and individuals, and we unequivocally condemn all forms of racism and commit to effecting change.
We have developed this Addressing Anti-Black Racism in Recovery North Star document to hold ourselves accountable, and we will work collectively and individually to dismantle systemic racism and white supremacy within recovery agencies, programs, policies, systems, and settings. We know that structures within recovery communities must be reformed, updated, or removed to ensure equitable representation of Black and Indigenous members in the recovery movement and to ensure equitable access to recovery and well-being.
Representation and Culture Shift
- We commit to elevating the individual and collective voices of all those who experience anti-Black racism.
- We commit to recruitment and internal restructuring of our designated organizations to ensure representation of Black and Indigenous people in our executive leadership, mid-level management, and Board positions.
- We commit to taking actionable steps to name and address cultural imperialism(v) within our organizations.
- We commit to addressing the underlying problems of a lack of equitable access for Black and Indigenous community members that lead to a lack of representation.
- We commit to uplifting and centering the lived experiences and resilience of individuals, families, and communities that we serve.
- We commit to critically increasing our knowledge of how racism impacts access to quality recovery support services for communities experiencing systemic oppression.
- We commit to supporting organizational policies and practices that promote individual agency in choosing services, including the freedom to choose in what context services are delivered and access to culturally informed recovery support services and resources.
- We commit to transitioning from additive racial equity work to weaving equitable and anti-oppressive practices throughout our entire organizations.
Advocacy
- We commit to a social and racial justice agenda, including opposition to the forced treatment and criminalization that have caused harm and trauma to Black and Indigenous communities, such as the War on Drugs and “Zero-Tolerancevi” school policies that funnel students of color into the criminal legal system.
- We commit to supporting all pathways to recovery and advocating for equitable access to one’s pathway of choice.
- We commit to using our influence over national standards to promote policies that ensure all who seek recovery have equitable access to the recovery supports of their choice, and eliminate systems, structures, and constructs that marginalize people by race and ethnicity.
- We commit to including a specific budget item to fund the racial justice/racial equity work of our agencies/organizations.
- We commit to advocating for the need for additional funds to support our organizations’ collective progression and for other organizations to join us.
Education
- We commit to ensuring that we, the Board, staff, volunteers, and members of our organizations, receive training and education on the layers of anti-Black racism and the ways structural racism creates barriers to inclusion, representation, and opportunities.
- We commit to educating members of the recovery advocacy movement from the unique mission and focal areas of each organization.
- We commit to educating ourselves and others about the many unacknowledged advantages a white supremacist society bestows upon white people. We acknowledge that one of these privileges is the ability to remain unaware of others' cultural practices and experiences.
- We, therefore, commit to challenging our ignorance.
- We commit to taking personal responsibility for educating ourselves about Black and Indigenous communities’ resilience and reducing our complicity in perpetuating racial trauma.
Accountability
- We commit to creating self-correction goals, sharing them publicly on our organizations’ websites, and publicly issuing quarterly progress updates regarding how and when we are meeting those goals.
- We refuse to prioritize white comfort over the safety of Black and Indigenous people. We are committed to bringing issues out into the open, naming them for what they are, and dialoguing with each other. We hold that it is not divisive to acknowledge that racism— particularly anti-Blackness—is happening around us, but rather, a starting point for healing.
- We commit to reviewing our policies and practices regularly through an equity-centered and anti-Black racist lens. When policies are written or revised, we will ensure that we consult Black and Indigenous leaders and stakeholders.
- We commit to disaggregating our data to analyze anti-Black and racist patterns and covert disparities in order to support multiple pathways.
To measure our progression, we commit to:
- Circulating and initiating research, analyses, data, etc., to inform the work of the group.
- Posting this document on our sites/distributing among membership.
- Incorporating explicit anti-racism language into proposals, materials, deliverables, etc.
- Convening quarterly meetings of the participating organizations.
- Developing and sharing model anti-discrimination policies that serve as a targeted response to anti-Black racism at the organizational level and influencing state/federal policy through our national advocacy work.
- Assessing the changes to leadership of this group/others in our organizations over the coming months/years.
- Issuing quarterly progress updates among the participating organizations.
i. In 1847, the abolitionist Frederick Douglass published the first issue of the North Star newspaper, named after the star escaping enslaved people followed to reach the Northern United States & Canada. We therefore use this phrase as a deliberate through-line between the anti-slavery advocacy of Douglass and his contemporaries to today’s Black Lives Matter Movement and other racial justice causes. For though time has passed, the issues of anti-black racism in America persist – including within recovery spaces and our organizations. In this titling, we seek to honor that history and stay the course.
For more information, see The Fredrick Douglass Newspapers (1841 to 1874) Collection (Library of Congress, online.)
ii. Throughout this document we use the terms Black, Indigenous, and Black & Indigenous, but this is not done interchangeably. We must be intentional and specific when setting equity commitments, especially in our language. Terms like People of Color (POC) or Black, Indigenous, People of Color (BIPOC) can quickly lose their impact due to improper usage in documents such as this – namely, saying POC when an issue predominantly affects Black or Indigenous people. This language trend obscures who is most impacted by what practices. We submit that if we center Black and Indigenous peoples and address the structural inequities they face, then this work may be used as a guide to effect systemic change for all People of Color with adjustments for each populations’ unique needs.
We use these terms as a linguistic reminder that Black and Indigenous peoples across the United States—through criminalization and other injustices—most frequently and severely experience the biased impacts of our white supremacist structures’ approach to substance use and substance use disorder. We do our best not to sacrifice nuance and specificity for a “one size fits all” approach to inclusivity. Doing so robs us of our valuable differences and lessens the impact of the work.
See Why the term “BIPOC” is so complicated, explained by linguists & BIPOC: What Does It Mean?
iii. Association of Alternative Peer Groups, Association of Recovery Schools, Faces & Voices of Recovery, National Alliance for Recovery Residences, the Association of Recovery in Higher Education, White Bison, and Young People in Recovery.
iv. See White Dominant Culture and Something Else Worksheet from CA
v. Cultural imperialism refers to “the idea of the culture of one powerful civilization, country, or institution having great unreciprocated influence on that of another, less powerful, entity” to a degree that the less powerful entity is expected to reject their own culture and embrace that of the dominant power. See Cultural Imperialism & Communication.
vi. also referred to as the School-to-Prison Pipeline
What We Do
Faces & Voices of Recovery works hard to advocate for public policies and funding that support addiction recovery for all.
By uniting RCOs around the nation through ARCO, Faces & Voices of Recovery recognizes and supports all pathways of recovery.
Through public events, trainings, workshops, webinars and conferences, Faces & Voices of Recovery works to educate and advance the recovery community.
Partners
Faces & Voices of Recovery is proud to partner and collaborate with fellow organizations, partners, and allies to further our mission to organize and mobilize the over 23 million Americans in recovery from addiction to alcohol and other substances.
Support our efforts and become a partner, today!