Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities and National Partners Release Roadmap to Address Overdose Deaths Among Black Adults, Especially Those Over 50
QUEENS, NY — October 23 — Today, Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities released the Executive Summary of The State of the Black Overdose Epidemic in America, a landmark national report revealing the devastating and disproportionate toll of the overdose crisis on Black communities, particularly among older Black adults. The report was developed with support and insight from national partners including National Black Harm Reduction Network, Global Black Economic Forum, Council on Black Health, Black Faces Black Voices, and the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions.
The report presents a bold, actionable framework for policymakers, funders, and healthcare leaders to reverse the trend and invest in solutions that work.
Between 2019 and 2021, opioid overdose deaths among Black Americans rose by 77%, with Black men over 50 experiencing some of the highest fatality rates in the country. Today, drug overdose is the leading cause of preventable death for Black adults, surpassing gun violence and car accidents.
“This is both a public health emergency and a racial justice crisis,” said Saeeda Dunston, CEO of Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities. “For decades, Black communities have been denied equitable access to care, while bearing the brunt of punitive drug policies and systemic neglect. This report offers a diagnosis and a roadmap to bring healing, justice, and accountability.”
To turn the tide on the overdose epidemic in Black communities, this report issues a bold call to action. The included recommendations are rooted in the principle that the community must be at the center:
- Policy Reform: End punitive drug laws, expand access to life-saving treatments like methadone and buprenorphine in Black communities, and enforce civil rights protections in healthcare delivery.
- Funding Equity: Direct opioid settlement funds and public grants toward Black-led organizations, addressing longstanding disparities in how addiction services are resourced.
- Community Education & Stigma Reduction: Launch culturally responsive campaigns and support grassroots initiatives like Elmcor’s Hope Over Harm and the National Black Harm Reduction Network’s You Can Save Lives Campaign.
- Stronger Harm Reduction & Recovery Services: Make naloxone, fentanyl test strips, and wraparound care widely available — including in barbershops, churches, community centers, and mobile health units.
- Grassroots Organizing: Empower Black communities to demand change, following the model of HIV/AIDS organizing that combined care, advocacy, and public pressure.
Rooted in the lived experience of frontline providers like Elmcor and the deep knowledge of national experts, the report underscores that effective solutions already exist — but require investment, accountability, and urgency to scale.
This report’s Executive Summary comes after a briefing earlier this year in which leading voices in health equity, recovery advocacy, and public policy came together to discuss how systemic inequities in healthcare, criminal justice, and housing continue to drive overdose deaths higher among Black Americans and emphasized the importance of culturally competent, community-rooted responses.
“For decades, Black-led organizations like Elmcor have served as deeply trusted community anchors. This report affirms what we’ve always known: meaningful, life-saving interventions already exist within our neighborhoods. What’s needed now is the political will and equitable investment from elected officials and policymakers to scale them,” said Tracie M. Gardner, Executive Director, National Black Harm Reduction Network.
“The overdose epidemic isn’t just a public health crisis, it’s an economic one, particularly for Black communities. The financial strain from overdose deaths includes lost productivity, increased healthcare costs, and the burden on social services. This exacerbates economic disparities in these communities. Addressing the overdose crisis requires economic policies that provide stability and opportunities for Black individuals and families,” said Alphonso David, President & CEO, Global Black Economic Forum.
“We know this [epidemic] is a result of policies and systems that have long failed Black communities through underfunded services, lack of access to care, overcriminalizing people, and a healthcare system that often treats us with suspicion instead of support,” said Dr. Melicia Whitt-Glover, Chief Executive Officer of the Council on Black Health.
“Black communities have not experienced the same gains [as other communities], and we need to tell these stories over and over again. We can shape the narrative and shape the stories. Exposing the stories is critical in terms of what’s happening within our communities,” said Dr. Aletha Maybank, Founder/CEO of NovellaWells.
“The overdose epidemic demands more than temporary attention, it needs our full attention and we need to address the stigma around substance use disorder within our communities. We need to do the ‘for us, by us’ internal work to recognize it is a disorder that can be treated,” said Philip Rutherford, Founder, Black Faces Black Voices.
“It is time for us to think about taking this report and letting it be the beginning of a sustained approach to improving the health and well-being of African American men, and as a result of that, the African American family and community,” said Dr. Roland J. Thorpe, Jr., Founding Director, Program for Research on Men’s Health, Johns Hopkins Center for Health Disparities Solutions.
To review the report’s full executive summary, please visit The State of the Opioid Overdose Epidemic in Black America.pdf. Video and audio from the previously held briefing is available here.
Contact
Brittany G. Cummings
About Elmcor Youth & Adult Activities
Elmcor is the oldest Black-founded and Black-led nonprofit in Queens, New York. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, Elmcor provides a broad range of comprehensive services that support the lifespan, from preschool-aged children to older adults. What started in 1965 as a small, volunteer-based organization has grown into a multi-service human justice organization, reaching over 12,000 individuals annually through a wide range of services including after-school activities, recreation, college preparation, older adult centers, food pantry, career pathways, reproductive health education, violence interruption services, universal pre-k, housing, and substance use prevention, treatment, and recovery.
