National Non-Profit, Facing Addiction selects Recovery Anne Arundel as Pilot Community

Project aims to address the public response to addiction through grassroots driven campaigns

Facing Addiction announced today that Annapolis / Anne Arundel County (AACo) has been selected as one of 15 communities to participate in the organization’s pilot community project. The project, first announced by Facing Addiction (www.FacingAddiction.org) in October 2015, will work to reform the public response to the addiction crisis in AACo via a grassroots-driven campaign strategy. Specifically, Facing Addiction will work with Recovery Anne Arundel and 14 other communities to:

• Secure increases in localized funding to adequately address the crisis
• Train advocates on proper organizational and advocacy techniques to reform their community’s response
• Invest time and resources in communication opportunities with elected officials and other policy makers
• Provide media guidance to garner press coverage to further highlight the solutions to the problem
• Develop political strategies and aid community stakeholders in the development of an overarching “campaign strategy”

“As addiction to alcohol and other drugs now impacts 1 in 3 households in America, we must urgently work to turn the tide on this health crisis. We received over 50 applications from communities across the country for this program,” said Greg Williams, Facing Addiction’s Co-Founder and Executive Vice President. “We are excited about the prospect of working to train, organize and mobilize citizens in Anne Arundel County to ensure a shift toward a public, health-centered response to those impacted by addiction.”

Angel Traynor, Coordinator of “Recovery Anne Arundel,” submitted the application for Anne Arundel County. “We are honored to be chosen for this important project. Families in Anne Arundel County and the surrounding areas are suffering from this terrible disease and epidemic,” said Ms. Traynor. “We look forward to working with Facing Addiction to help our communities understand the crisis, eliminate the stigma, and know that recovery is possible.”

Facing Addiction is a national non-profit organization dedicated to unifying the voices of the more than 45 million Americans and their families directly impacted by addiction. Facing Addiction is bringing together the best resources in the field in order to reduce the human and social costs of addiction, every year, until this public health crisis is eliminated. The organization was launched in historic fashion on October 4th, 2015, in front of tens of thousands on the National Mall at the UNITE to Face Addiction rally and concert, and recently was co-sponsor of the launch of the U.S. Surgeon General’s seminal report on the addiction crisis in America, in Los Angeles on November 17, 2016.

Recovery Anne Arundel supports an individual’s journey towards recovery and wellness from the disease of addiction by creating and sustaining networks, and by collaborating and developing partnerships with services to promote life-enhancing recovery for all individuals, families and communities in need.

Recovery Anne Arundel joins the following communities selected to participate in Facing Addiction’s Pilot Community Project:

Baton Rouge, LA – Billings, MT – Boise, ID – Chicago, IL – Cumming, GA – Fitchburg, MA – Martinsburg & Berkeley Springs, WV – New Canaan, CT – Rochester, NY – Safford, AZ – San Diego, CA – Springfield, MO – West Bend, WI – West Linn, OR

Questions on Recovery Anne Arundel can be directed to Angel Traynor, Executive Director of Serenity Sistas Inc., at serenitysista1@gmail.com.

Questions on the project can go to Facing Addiction’s National Director of Outreach & Engagement, Michael King, who can be reached at mking@facingaddiction.org.