About
Massachusetts Harm Reduction Workforce Coalition, established in 2024, is a statewide organization created by a fearless group of five who collectively bring 142 years of harm reduction experience. We exist to strengthen, connect, and sustain the harm reduction workforce across Massachusetts through community, training, mutual support, and collective action. We work to dismantle systemic inequities and help build a future where compassion and support replace stigma and neglect.
Mission
Our mission is to build a statewide, sacred, and safe community for harm reduction workers across Massachusetts—grounded in workforce development, mutual support, and collective power. We prioritize and center people who use drugs (PWUD), while actively addressing internalized stigma and honoring the lived and living experience, wisdom, and labor of those doing this work.
Vision
We are fueled by unwavering hope and a fierce commitment to advancing harm reduction across the state. This extends beyond mere advocacy; we seek to empower those who are most vulnerable to the injustices of structural violence and the harsh realities of classist and racially biased drug policies. Together, we will champion a future where compassion and support replace stigma and neglect, ensuring everyone can thrive in a society that values their lives and well-being.
Our Values
Inclusion: We strive for an environment inclusive of individuals with diverse experiences, perspectives, and abilities, including drug use and incarceration. We encourage individuals to be their entire, authentic selves and communicate openly.
Compassion: We are empathetic to the challenges faced by everyone we meet. We understand that these challenges shape the lives and behaviors of all individuals and let that understanding guide our interactions.
Ethical Conduct: We work according to ethical standards to ensure equity, scientific rigor, transparency, and trust. We strive to create active and sustainable engagement with the communities and partners involved in our research.
Care: We will support the physical and emotional needs of our employees, students, volunteers, and community partners, by understanding that the topics and work can be challenging and fostering open dialogue. We prioritize safety, knowledge sharing, and connection to local and national resources to create a safe and supportive environment.
Core Team
Kim Powers currently serves as the executive director of the Massachusetts Harm Reduction Workforce Coalition (MAHRWC) and is the founder and executive director of Access HOPE, a community-based harm reduction outreach program providing life-saving services to people across the Cape and Islands.
Kim has four decades of experience building low-barrier health systems for marginalized communities. During the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis in the late 1980’s, she joined the harm reduction movement through the activist group ACT UP Boston, where she was a founding member of the IV League, ACT UP Boston’s underground syringe exchange.
In 1996, she founded the Sex Worker Advocate Group (SWAG)—a groundbreaking, no-judgment space for people engaged in sex work across Massachusetts. Today, SWAG has held more than 360 consecutive monthly meetings (famously known as Condoms & Cookies) and stands as a testament to consistency, dignity, and community-led care.
Today, Kim is a member of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health’s Harm Reduction Advisory Council and a frequent expert witness before the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) and the State Legislature on harm reduction policies. Kim was a key contributor during a pivotal legal battle, the case led to a landmark 2017 SJC ruling, which affirmed that private organizations can legally distribute syringes without local municipal approval, effectively changing how needle exchange laws are enforced statewide.
Kim’s work has always been grounded in one core belief: “We act as catalysts for community resilience, dismantling systemic inequities and fighting for a future where compassion replaces stigma—and where the people doing this work have the support they need to sustain it.”
Kenneth is driven by a passion for harm reduction, rooted in his work with at-risk youth. For nearly 10 years, Kenneth has served in the public health sector, managing and implementing numerous programs and initiatives aimed at improving the lives of marginalized communities and combating stigma. His lived experience has given him a deep understanding of the challenges related to racism, classism, and substance use, motivating him to become a leader in the field.
Today, as the assistant director of AHOPE Needle Exchange, Kenneth manages the daily operations of various AHOPE programs and builds new partnerships and collaborations with community groups across Boston.
Jess was introduced to harm reduction in 1996 and has dedicated her life to the movement. Her expertise in harm reduction has earned her an international reputation. In her nearly three decades of being in the harm reduction community, she has been on the frontlines of syringe access, overdose prevention, and drug policy.
She serves as the executive director of the New England Users Union, one of the first drug user unions in the country. She is also the co-founder and co-director of HRH413, a fully mobile organization, led by people who use drugs, that provides harm-reduction services to individuals who cannot or will not access traditional fixed sites. She has occupied and explored many roles in typical non-profit structures, but her passion remains community-driven front-line service provision.
Jess is a co-creator of Harm Reduction Works, a fully scripted mutual aid harm reduction meeting model now being implemented across the country. The script is available in Spanish and French. More information on the project can be found at harmreduction.works.
Currently, she is working to identify and educate drug-using leaders in outreach, community building, advocacy, and policy work.
When she’s not nerding out on all things drug policy related, you can find her making smoking kits.
Mary Wheeler is one of the founding members of NOMAD (Not One More Anonymous Death). She began as a volunteer outreach worker in Boston in 1999. Since then, Mary has worked for both Boston and Cambridge syringe exchanges and, in 2005, began working in Lynn, MA. Mary currently works as a program manager for the Healthy Streets Outreach Program in Lynn, MA, which provides drug user health programming North of Boston.
Gary has been involved in the harm reduction movement since the late 1980s, when he volunteered with an independent group that provided underground needle exchange on the North Shore. He has developed several well-respected, cutting-edge, harm reduction-focused HIV prevention programs. In 1997, Gary co-founded the New England Prevention Alliance, which provides syringe exchange and naloxone distribution to underserved communities. Gary has also provided technical assistance to communities through programs funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, SAMHSA, and NIDA.