News
We are always hard at work to improve OCNEP and to ensure that everyone in Orange County and beyond has access to harm reduction services. Here are some recent developments in our mission to do so.
2017
May
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OCNEP wins the Associated Medical Student Government Student Organization Award for most influential medical student organization for the second year in a row
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OCNEP wins UC Irvine's Engage UCI Campus/Community Partnership Award for the UCI-related organization who provided the most exceptional work in service of the Orange County community
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OCNEP Steering Committee member Dallas Augustine wins the Gil Geis Award for Excellence in Research and the Dynamic Womxn Award for Community Engagement for her work on OCNEP
March
- Kyle Barbour and Miriam McQuade publish academic commentary advocating for increased student activism in harm reduction
January
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OCNEP featured on the front page of the OC Weekly, with interviews from founders Kyle Barbour, Miriam McQuade, and Solace's Aimee Dunkle
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OCNEP leader Kelley Butler featured in Orange Coast Magazine
2016
December
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OCNEP partner Aimee Dunkle, founder of the Solace Foundation OC, which provides naloxone and overdose prevention training every week on-site, named most influential of 2016 by the OC Register
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OCNEP highlighted in the Drug Policy Alliance's World AIDS Day article as "determined champions" against the war on drugs, written by long-time syringe exchange activist Laura Thomas.
November
- Miriam McQuade and Kyle Barbour speak about OCNEP and the CDPH approval process at the National Harm Reduction Conference in San Diego: pptx, m4v
September
- OCNEP awarded CDPH/NASEN Clearinghouse supplies, providing a sustainable source of syringes!
February
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Further media coverage: OC makes history with first needle exchange program; County gets its first needle-exchange program
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Op-ed published in the Huffington Post supporting OCNEP's opening: Landmark decision opens first needle exchange in conservative Orange County
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OCNEP is approved by the California Department of Public Health!!!! Opening day is scheduled for February 20, 2016.
January
- Kyle Barbour and Miriam McQuade present on harm reduction at the USC School of Social Work
2015
November
- Kyle Barbour and Miriam McQuade present at the American Public Health Association Annual Meeting on harm reduction activism: Obstacles in harm reduction implementation: lessons from founding the Orange County Needle Exchange Program
October
- The Orange County Register publishes an opinion piece supporting OCNEP: O.C. overdue for a needle-exchange program
- Miriam McQuade and Kyle Barbour present at the Substance Use Disorders Statewide Conference: Clean Needles Save Lives: a conversation about needle exchange
- Kyle Barbour publishes an article in the Huffington Post urging the implementation of OCNEP and other harm reduction programs: Harm reduction is essential to combat the addiction epidemic
- OCNEP awarded $120,000 in naloxone autoinjectors from EVZIO
August
- OCNEP resubmits application to the California Department of Public Health: submit comments!
July
- OCNEP awarded $20,000 from the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation
- The Orange County Register reports an update on OCNEP's application: State denies county's first needle exchange program in Santa Ana; organizers might appeal
June
- The California Department of Public Health denies OCNEP's application, citing political fears — OCNEP vows to continue fight
May
- The Orange County Register reports on OCNEP's first application: Orange County's first needle exchange program proposed in Santa Ana
April
- OCNEP awarded $12,000 from the Arnold P. Gold Foundation
2014
November
- OCNEP awarded first grant — $1,000 from the California Medical Association Foundation