Shreeta Waldon is a living testament to the power of community-driven solutions. As a Board Member of the National Black Harm Reduction Network and Executive Director of the Kentucky Harm Reduction Coalition, Shreeta’s work meets people where they are with compassion, care, and a commitment to justice.

“They were resilient enough to live through a bunch of other epidemics—H.I.V., crack, Covid, multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis—only to be killed by fentanyl.” These were the words I shared recently in The New York Times, and they reflect an undeniable truth: the systems that claim to protect Black lives, while extracting money and talent from our communities, have failed us again and again.