BOSTON, MA July 10, 2024 – The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is excited to announce its participation in the Police, Treatment, and Community Collaborative (PTACC)’s National Deflection Week, taking place from July 14 – 20, 2024. This marks the nonprofit’s second year of involvement in the event.
National Deflection Week aims to raise awareness about deflection, educate targeted audiences on the field, and highlight the significant impact of deflection-focused nonprofits.
PAARI team members Elizabeth Leingang, Kate Dominguez, and MaxBova Joseph have developed a National Deflection Week Social Media Toolkit. This resource offers public safety agencies downloadable graphics and sample captions to help spread the word. The tool kit can be found HERE.
Throughout the week, PAARI will host and participate in various deflection-centered events. The schedule is as follows:
- Wednesday, July 17: PAARI will host a 60-minute collaborative meeting between its Public Safety Council and Lived Experience Councils to share insights and learn from each other.
- Thursday, July 18: Join PAARI for its PAARI 101 webinar, an opportunity for departments to learn about PAARI and the history of non-arrest deflection models. Sign up HERE.
- Friday, July 19: PAARI AmeriCorps VISTAs and staff will engage in a day of service by volunteering in their local communities.
“We are excited to participate in National Deflection Week for the second consecutive year and eagerly anticipate our lineup of events,” says Zoe Grover, Executive Director of PAARI. “We invite our PAARI partners to join us in spreading the word about this important week by sharing the outstanding work they do every day.”
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ABOUT PAARI: The Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help law enforcement agencies nationwide create deflection programs (I.e.non-arrest pathways to treatment and recovery). Founded alongside the groundbreaking Gloucester, Mass., Police Department Angel Initiative in June 2015, PAARI has been a driving force behind this rapidly expanding community policing movement. We provide technical assistance, strategic guidance, connection to training resources, and other capacity-building resources to more than 700 police departments in 46 states.
PAARI works with more than 160 law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts alone. PAARI and our law enforcement partners are working towards a collective vision where non-arrest diversion and deflection programs become a standard policing practice across the country, thereby reducing overdose deaths, expanding access to treatment, improving public safety, reducing crime, diverting people away from the criminal justice system, and increasing trust between law enforcement and their communities. Our programs and partners have saved tens of thousands of lives, changed police culture, and reshaped the national conversation about the opioid epidemic since its founding in June 2015. Learn more at paariusa.org.
