Steady began in November 2015 as an “any positive change” support group. Steady founder, Conner Adams, facilitated those group meetings and with the help of friends delivered naloxone and needles throughout Western NC to folks who use drugs and their friends and family.
In the spring of 2016, Conner gathered a group of people together to form Steady Collective’s first board. Hill Brown, Steady’s director from 2018 to 2021, was part of that founding board.
In initial meetings we excitedly talked about the prospect of House Bill 972 becoming law and making syringe access programs legal in North Carolina. In July, 972 did pass and Steady board members and volunteers began the work of securing sites where comprehensive, nonjudgmental harm reduction services could be provided to folks who use drugs.
In October of 2016, less than a year after Conner’s first support group meeting, Steady had its first syringe access outreach day in the back of Firestorm Books in West Asheville.
We still set up shop outside Firestorm Books every Tuesday afternoon. We also now distribute clean injecting equipment and naloxone in several other locations in Asheville.
Conner’s vision, that Steady would be a collective that centered the voices of former and active drug users at every level of the organization, a “nothing about us without us” model, is alive and well. We believe in solidarity, and the needs and hopes of folks who use drugs come first in everything we do.
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