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We All Belong in LA.
LA Belongs to All of Us.

By LA For LA is an evidence-based strategy to address the overdose crisis by collaborating with an alliance of community-based partners to provide health and social services across LA County.

We are interconnected in LA, and we all belong here. Working together—across cultures, across beliefs, across divides—we can build stronger communities and find sustainable solutions that reduce overdoses and serve all of us.

Overdose Prevention Strategies Include:

An illustration showing key overdose prevention strategies, including: harm reduction, treatment, and health promotion.
An illustration showing key overdose prevention strategies, including: harm reduction, treatment, and health promotion.
Harm Reduction not only addresses risks of drug use but also serves as a bridge to broader stability and wellness. Harm Reduction efforts serve as entry points to essential services such as housing assistance, substance use treatment, mental health support, employment and job training programs. Harm Reduction helps people rebuild their lives while supporting individuals’ autonomy and lived experience.

It All Starts With Health.

Overdose deaths now exceed deaths from car crashes and guns combined in LA County. They are the leading cause of death for adults under age 50. On average, eight Los Angeles County residents die from overdoses each day.

That’s why By LA For LA’s priority is health. Our community-based services are addressing physical health and substance use head-on. We also provide spaces for healing, safety, connection, and belonging.

Our new community health hubs are indoor centers that offer education, prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery. They are part of a comprehensive strategy that promotes health and safety throughout LA County. The long-term goal is to help people thrive by connecting them to whatever they need—jobs, mental health support, housing and more.

What Are Harm Reduction Services?

Harm reduction includes a range of supportive lifesaving services and supplies offered at no cost to anyone who needs them—people who use drugs, are justice-involved, are sex workers, or are experiencing homelessness.

Harm reduction providers distribute naloxone (Narcan), drug-checking strips, clean syringes, condoms, and more. With compassion and empathy, providers help people find housing, health care, mental health and substance use treatment, regardless of anyone’s readiness to stop using drugs.

As part of a comprehensive approach to care, harm reduction works alongside education, prevention, treatment, and recovery services to foster trusting relationships. These partnerships are key to reducing stigma and supporting individuals on their path to regaining stable lives.

People who use harm reduction services are…

3X

more likely to reduce or stop using drugs

5X

more likely to participate in drug treatment

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2023, November 14). Syringe services programs (SSPs). U.S. Department of Health & Human Services.
https://www.cdc.gov/syringe-services-programs/php/index.html

Meeting People Where They Are.

At our new health hubs, the focus is on meeting people where they are—whether they use drugs or not. This could mean a cup of coffee, sterile supplies, medication for addiction treatment, or connection to job training, housing, mental health services or evidence-based drug treatment. These centers are a place to develop relationships, build trust, and link people to life-saving resources and services.

Our Heroes:
Our Community-Based Partners.

For the first time in a decade, the number of drug overdose deaths in LA County is decreasing—thanks to the work of our community-based partners providing local health services in dozens of neighborhoods.