From the president
Charlotte Combe is a sophomore who has advocated for substance use harm reduction practices in Colorado Springs through a student organization, Substance Use Harm Reduction at Colorado College (SUHR @ CC), which she co-created as a first-year student. El Paso County, where Colorado College is located, has the highest overdose rate in all of Colorado. Charlotte has experienced community and family loss through fatal overdose, and when she arrived at Colorado College, she was motivated to advocate for harm reduction in this community. SUHR @ CC formed a collaborative partnership with local harm reduction nonprofit Love Alive, which provides life-saving syringe exchange services, Narcan, and countless resources to community members who need to access them. Harm reduction practices are grounded in the understanding that everyone deserves to be treated with compassion and respect, regardless of whether they use drugs or not. Since the club's inception, SUHR @ CC has made thousands of outreach kits for Love Alive with wound care supplies, safer snorting kits, and fentanyl test strip kits; collaborated with offices on campus to train students on Narcan and overdose prevention; spoken with campus and local media and tabled at events to drive awareness and education; and much more.
Personal Statement
In my senior year of high school, a student overdosed and passed away at a gas station a block away from our school during his lunch break. After this loss in my community, I learned about the life-saving concept of harm reduction. The purpose of harm reduction is to keep people who use drugs alive through practices like access to Narcan, clean syringes, and education about safe drug use. When I moved to Colorado Springs for college, I learned that El Paso County has the highest fatal overdose rate in all of Colorado. I started a student organization called Substance Use Harm Reduction at Colorado College. We work closely with a community nonprofit called Love Alive that provides free overdose prevention resources, education, and training to the community. Our action is grounded in direct service: we pack thousands of wound care and overdose prevention kits for Love Alive monthly, organize warm clothing drives and Narcan training, and table at community events to spread awareness about overdose prevention. My experience working to address the overdose crisis in a politically, economically, and socially diverse place like Colorado Springs would be a valuable asset to strategizing for social change with other fellows.