Author: Aaron Young

Happy May!

It has been a whirlwind of a month! April was filled with conferences, financial literacy workshops, and new funding announcements. We are so excited to share that the Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission announced their first round of funding to incredible organizations. Those community partners will be able to provide services to communities that have been detrimentally impacted by the opioid crisis. If you had submitted an application, please know that there will be more opportunities to work on getting these funds across the state. We encourage you to follow-up and reapply as necessary.

May is Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage Month. We are constantly looking for opportunities to hold space for our friends from other walks of life. Please make sure to recognize our friends and learn more about the roots of this movement, here. You can find local events happening around the commonwealth to celebrate Asian American & Pacific Islander Heritage.

Additionally, we are teeing up to a busy summer! It was announced that MOBILIZE RECOVERY will be in our city hosting an event! This national recovery advocacy movement continues to be a beacon of awareness. We are so grateful to be working alongside them to bring more opportunities of conversations. The more we can show that recovery is happening around the country, the more we can change the narrative of what recovery looks like.

We are excited to work alongside you as we grow into the next chapter of our organization.

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Happy April leaders and supporters!

With the rainy weeks of April on the horizon, what better time to dive into some personal and professional development opportunities? April is Financial Literacy month at PAR and we will be sharing events and content that you can utilize for you, your staff, and those you serve.

March was an especially busy month at PAR. We ended the 2023 Kentucky General Assembly session with some great wins this year. We were able to work collaboratively with those from the Kentucky League of Cities, Kentucky Recovery Housing Network’s Advisory Board, and the treatment industry to put forward a robust piece of legislation, HB 248 that will regulate Recovery Residence’s in the commonwealth. The Governor, Andy Beshear signed this bill into law on March 24th. The great part – we are already doing this!! If you have volunteered to be a certified Recovery Residence through the Kentucky Recovery Housing Network (KRHN), you have already done the work! More details over the next few months on those who will need to be certified which will be shared by KRHN and/or the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

Additionally, we supported HB 353, which decriminalizes testing strips (like fentanyl test strips) in the commonwealth. The great point behind this is it will allow for more access to harm reduction tools that will save lives. On the last day of the 2023 General Assembly session, the Senate and House held a conference to come to a compromise for the bill. It was signed into law by the Governor on March 31st. There was a few other bills that PAR supported that will impact our community, like HB 21 which allows for unhoused individuals to gain access to obtaining an ID without a permanent address (shout out to the incredible work of the Coalition for the Homeless!).

Still, more work is to be done. Some bills that we supported did not make it through and others made it through that will detrimentally impact the health, mental health, and safety of our young people. PAR is committed to holding safe spaces for all people from all walks of life and identities. Know that with us at, PAR, YOU are safe and welcome.

We are excited for the work ahead! We have some incredible opportunities to get involved and learn more about leadership and advocacy. We have opened up applications for the Michael E. Townsend Leadership Academy. This is a 12-month commitment with a total of three retreats, a three-day workshop series and two single day retreats. Please email us for more details. We have also started our Rally for Recovery committee! We meet every other week. There are a lot of opportunities to get involved and learn from incredible leaders in the Recovery space. We look forward to seeing you and supporting you into the Spring!

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It is Women’s history month!

We could not be more excited to participate in this months activities, specifically because we are now a women’s led organization. It is vital to lift up recovery voices, especially women’s voices in this movement. This month we are partnering with several organizations to do just that! There are several networking events, appreciation lunches, and more. Make sure that you, your company or organization are holding space for the women in your community!

Now more than ever it is important to lift up those voices from our community, not only when its the month to do so – but every month! For those of you who are looking to create spaces for women, we stand with you and encourage you to work along side us to make women’s voices heard in the recovery movement and everywhere!

We look forward to working along side you to create more spaces to uplift voices that have been historically disenfranchised.

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