The Anarchists Reshaping Harm Reduction & Outreach in the TL

Rain or shine, every Sunday at 11pm, a group of anarchists are feeding the needy in SF’s Tenderloin neighborhood. The Harm Reduction Outreach Collective (HROC) is a small group of people who are committed to supporting The Tenderloin where many of them have lived for decades. When they weren’t able to rely on outside service providers, they did the next best thing which was to become the providers themselves.

HROC focuses on distributing hygiene supplies, outdoor gear such as tarps and blankets, socks, beanies, hot home-cooked meals, as well as information and referrals. Ry, one of the organizers at HROC talks more about how HROC got started;

“The idea for HROC was conceived in 2018, when a few of us worked together on an outreach team for the AIDS Foundation. It was never a formal thing but the idea was a peer-run entity of its own, and Kaos made a lot of badass art to distinguish the concept. Six years later, in 2024, that concept became a necessity when two Tenderloin-based harm reduction programs shut down (St. James Infirmary and San Francisco Drug Users Union).

Members of our core team had worked and volunteered at both of those organizations and it was really, really hard to watch the neighborhood get stripped of such critical resources. In the cases of both of those orgs, the staff and community had no power to challenge the closures. The only power we had was to find ways to keep providing critical resources to the Tenderloin, org-less, in whatever capacity we were able, and that’s exactly what we started doing. We decided to get organized to form a new organization, one that was truly community-run, one that an outsider board couldn’t control. HROC already had some history and, again, badass art, so we asked Kaos if we could expand on her 2018 vision, and so we became HROC. In the year and a half we’ve been doing this work we’ve accomplished a ton of big things and our capacity to help our community is definitely growing in very exciting ways.

At its core, harm reduction is about building trust, reducing risk, and meeting people where they are while giving them resources that they need. If there’s one takeaway from this article, it’s this: providing safer supplies and necessary resources saves lives and creates a more compassionate community grounded in care. Ry elaborates on what harm reduction is and how it saves lives,

“For those who get it, harm reduction is clearly a life-saving intervention that is both cost-effective, and, well, just plain effective.

It’s true, we do give out “safer use supplies” which means sterile equipment for consuming drugs. The harms reduced by these supplies include the risks of overdose death, spreading/contracting transmissible infections and diseases, developing infectious wounds, and other drug and sex-related health risks. We don’t give people clean needles so that they can get high - we give them clean needles because they’re going to use a dirty one if that’s all they have. And with pipes - since glass pipes were made available, injection drug-use rate dropped as people chose a less-harmful option of smoking drugs, which was huge! (Injection rates appear to be climbing since SF banned contracted providers from distributing smoking supplies).

One of the most important tools in harm reduction, though, is connection. That’s why we know we gotta do this ourselves. People on the street have a lot of trauma and negative experiences with systems that should provide care, but often judge and treat them like shit. We can gain trust of people who need services because we are those people, ourselves. We know how it is! Gaining that trust is the first step in encouraging people to access any resources in the vast “continuum of care” landscape.

The bottom line is, the reason we provide harm reduction services is because we know first hand that it saves lives. Without these services, those of us who have survived the drug war this long wouldn’t still be here. There’s so much evidence to support harm reduction’s impact on transmissible disease reduction and overdose death it is overwhelmingly clear that this work does exactly as described: it reduces harm. Bless it be.”

Long after the city quiets down, HROC is still out there—wagons in tow, feeding people, handing out supplies, checking in. It’s not glamorous work, but it’s essential. And in those small, consistent acts of care, something bigger takes shape: a community looking out for its own.

What’s special about HROC is that they aren’t waiting for the system to help them do what needs to be done. They are getting out there regularly and leading with compassionate care towards people within their own community. Week after week they show up.

Because HROC is self-funded and not affiliated with a government agency, it allows them to lean in and help without the restrictions others have who are beholden to government oversight.

HROC initially relied on grassroots fundraising efforts, including punk shows and raves, to support its work. The collective also generates income by selling merchandise designed by its members through its online store.

“We did a Hep C navigation pilot with End HepC SF which allowed us to provide extra services for that project’s duration. More recently we received a small foundation grant, which is always rad to be awarded those. Right now we are implementing a project with a HIV/Hep.C testing study, which is a collaboration between the University of Miami and Gilead. That project will bring in the most funds we’ve ever received, by far.”

Their plans for the future include offering HIV and Hepatitis C testing when possible. If you want to get involved, keep an eye on the HROC Instagram for details in where you can help out. 

Help support HROC by buying some of their gear: hrocsf.bigcartel.com

IG: @hroc.sf

Website: hroc-sf.org