The Recovery Bill of Rights
is a statement of the principle that all Americans have a right to recover from addiction to alcohol and other drugs. Learn more…
Pennsylvania Recovery Organization - Achieving Community Together (PRO-ACT)
Faces & Voices of Recovery honors Pennsylvania Recovery Organization – Achieving Community Together (PRO-ACT) in 2009 because it embodies the power of the organized recovery community. PRO-ACT, hosted by the Bucks County Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc. (BCCADD), was founded in 1997 to promote the rights of, and ensure opportunities for, those still suffering from the disease of addiction. PRO-ACT is led by the recovery community and embraces all pathways to recovery. Since its founding, PRO-ACT’s primary focus has been on improving access to opportunities and programs that sustain long term recovery for individuals and families.
Faces & Voices established The Joel Hernandez Voice of the Recovery Community Award in 2008 to recognize one local, state or regional recovery community organization for its success in assessing the specific needs of its community and carrying out a vision and mission of mobilizing resources within and outside the recovery community to increase the prevalence and quality of long-term recovery from addiction to alcohol and other drugs.
Over the past 12 years PRO-ACT has developed into a robust grassroots recovery community organization. It has developed visionary strategies in public education, policy advocacy, and recovery support, making peer-based and other recovery support services available and accessible.
PRO-ACT’s public education programs have an impressive scope. For example, its volunteer-run family education program has served over 1000 families with addictive disorders. After a committee assessed the recovery community’s information needs, PRO-ACT produced three separate guides on sober housing, medication-assisted recovery, and state insurance laws.
By actively advocating for and representing the recovery community, PRO-ACT has successfully influenced policy at the state and national level for many years. It is a key player in the “V3” coalition, a group of organizations supporting prevention, treatment and recovery support services that is advocating for increased funding in budgets at the federal, state and local levels. PRO-ACT holds an annual Recovery Walk, attended by over 4000 people in 2008. The Recovery Walk activities included an Advocacy Tent and featured appearances by Philadelphia’s Mayor and other elected and appointed officials.
PRO-ACT’s peer- driven recovery support services are core to its mission. PRO-ACT has organized several Community Recovery Centers in the state. In just one year, almost 11,000 people and families in recovery were served by the centers. PRO-ACT’s peer support programs are fueled by principles of service and volunteerism. At the core of its organizing and programming is empowering the recovery community and building recovery capital. Some of PRO-ACT’s peer and other recovery support services include: safe sober housing, a support hotline, recovery coaching, resume development, parenting, sober recreation activities, and life skills education.
In just over a decade, PRO-ACT has demonstrated how the recovery community can come together as an organized force to mobilize community resources and improve the lives of individuals, families and communities. Faces & Voices of Recovery’s Board of Directors is pleased and honored to bestow the 2009 Joel Hernandez Voice of the Recovery Community award on the board, staff and members of Pennsylvania Recovery Organization – Achieving Community Together.