History of Why
In Victoria, the fixed site needle exchange was evicted and shut down on May 31, 2008. AVI (AIDS Vancouver Island) which had housed the Needle Exchange found that there was no place to distribute harm reduction supplies and connect to street level injection-using individuals around harm reduction. As Harm Reduction activists were petitioning the city to reinstate this life-saving service, they wondered why more of the service users weren’t on the front lines in council chambers, courtrooms, or at a march, rally or public forum organized in response.
The conditions got worse before they got better, the city created a “red zone”, where service providers and staff of the mobile needle exchange service were not allowed within a multiple block radius, overlapping with areas service users requested. During that time individuals from the local peer organization, SOLID, became even more crucial players in the gear distribution chain. When the recognized service provider, Harm Reduction Victoria, and SOLID, the peer group, collaborated they were able to defy the health authority’s order by way of a “Guerilla Needle Exchange”. The development of the educational programs that fall under the Street School & Street College umbrella came together through an ongoing working relationship between peers from SOLID and Harm Reduction workers at AVI. Street School and Street College draw from a tradition of Popular Education, developed by Paulo Freire, and Feminist Community Organizing.
In Victoria, the fixed site needle exchange was evicted and shut down on May 31, 2008. AVI (AIDS Vancouver Island) which had housed the Needle Exchange found that there was no place to distribute harm reduction supplies and connect to street level injection-using individuals around harm reduction. As Harm Reduction activists were petitioning the city to reinstate this life-saving service, they wondered why more of the service users weren’t on the front lines in council chambers, courtrooms, or at a march, rally or public forum organized in response.
The conditions got worse before they got better, the city created a “red zone”, where service providers and staff of the mobile needle exchange service were not allowed within a multiple block radius, overlapping with areas service users requested. During that time individuals from the local peer organization, SOLID, became even more crucial players in the gear distribution chain. When the recognized service provider, Harm Reduction Victoria, and SOLID, the peer group, collaborated they were able to defy the health authority’s order by way of a “Guerilla Needle Exchange”. The development of the educational programs that fall under the Street School & Street College umbrella came together through an ongoing working relationship between peers from SOLID and Harm Reduction workers at AVI. Street School and Street College draw from a tradition of Popular Education, developed by Paulo Freire, and Feminist Community Organizing.