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Amanda Melcher: Person of the World, Member of the Board, a native Arizonan, and a former and future ASU student.
She is passionate about the scope and vision of SPW, and has served as a member of the Board since April 2019. Being amicable to safe recreational drug use herself, she appreciates that SPW models their outreach and programs on applicable data and science, providing no-strings-attached services to folks.
Outside of her efforts with SPW, perpetually working in the service industry has afforded her time and a variety of opportunities to contribute within her community through volunteering, activism, and political employment. Formerly a Site Leader with Read Better Be Better, she empowered youth leaders to help solve the literacy crisis in AZ. Ever political, Amanda has worked locally for campaign finance reform and against dark money. She is especially excited by citizen-led referenda and initiative projects, having personally influenced over 350,000 acts of direct democracy across various campaigns, including Save Our Solar AZ, Independent Voters for AZ, Repeal SB 1516, and Outlaw Dirty Money. In this work, she’s proud to have worn many hats, from volunteer door-to-door canvasser all the way on up to State Field Director.
Amanda currently tends bar in downtown Phoenix at a politically-themed bar, The Theodore (of course).
Kendric Speagle is a seasoned healthcare entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience working in Pain Management, Opioid Addiction Treatment, Drug Development, and Clinical Research. Mr. Speagle has successfully developed and managed over a dozen health care business ventures in the areas of pain, addiction, and mental health. Mr. Speagle has been involved in the development and commercialization of novel medications for the treatment of pain, depression, and opioid addiction, by conceptualizing, implementing, and managing programs of research that support new drug approval.
Bianca “Brogan” Shell, MBA, joins Sonoran Prevention Works with a background in public health, local government, community engagement, racial equity, and food justice. She says her activism began in the third grade and hasn’t stopped since. They are a systems-level, data-driven, civically-minded asset with a passion for designing more inclusive processes. She sees her work as both a means toward personal survival as well as a practice in building solidarity through support. When they’re not at SPW, they’re probably talking politics, taking a million pictures of their dog, and working on their freestyle stroke.
Alexa is an AmeriCorps VISTA member currently serving with Sonoran Prevention Works in Prescott through July of 2020. She is an undergraduate student of psychology, as well as a lecturer and researcher at Utah Valley University in Orem, UT. She brings an array of personal and professional experience to her role with SPW through her lived experience with Substance Use Disorder and other mental health diagnoses and working in a mentoring capacity to individuals recovering from SUD. She has a passion for harm reduction and its underlying philosophies of radical compassion, human agency, and non-judgement of peoples. Alexa has a great fervor for justice for marginalized communities and has years of experience in advocacy for LGBTQ and Latinx individuals. She lives at home with her fiancé, Aiden, and their dog, Bruce, and enjoys playing video games and reading comic books in her spare time.
Karen Broman, MPH, MLS(ASCP)cm is a public health practitioner, epidemiologist, and medical laboratory scientist with a passion for engaging isolated communities and folks who experience health disparities borne out of structural inequities. She emphasizes evidence-based interventions that mitigate the individual and community impacts of substance use. Karen brings specific expertise in working with veterans, formerly incarcerated individuals, and the LGBTQ+ community. Hailing from Minnesota, she was taught to nurture neighborhood health and camaraderie among those with differing opinions on how to effect positive community change. Prior to accepting the position of Overdose Prevention Coordinator for Northern Arizona, Karen served Sonoran Prevention Works for a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA Member through Arizona Serve of Prescott College. She is incredibly grateful to be doing this work in memory of her loved ones lost to substance use-related causes.
My name is Nicholle Kennedy and I am the new Americorps VISTA member that will be serving with Sonoran Prevention Works in Phoenix for the next year supporting our volunteers. I am from Illinois and I recently graduated with my bachelor’s degree in criminal justice at Illinois State University. Most of my professional experience is in advocating for and supporting crime victims and their loved ones.
Monica Anderson Snyder is the Chief Administrative Officer for Crisis Response Network. Monica recognizes that drug use is a complex, multi-faceted phenomenon and believes that harm reduction at its most basic level is designed to reduce harms to individuals, their families, and communities by working from ‘where people are at.’ Monica is an Arizona native, mother of two amazing humans, partner to the funniest man on the planet and proud daughter to parents who taught her to “love hard.” Monica holds a Bachelor’s in Social work and a Master’s in Business and is a proud graduate of the Hispanic Leadership Institute.
Joby brings a passion for harm reduction and an intense desire for societal change with him to the Sonoran Prevention Works Harm Reduction Outreach Program team. Joby has been a volunteer with the Syringe Access Program, organized radical street-based outreach groups, co-facilitated peer-led support groups with a harm reduction focus and identifies as a person with lived experience. Within the next few years, Joby hopes to see increased programming for people who use drugs (especially for those who use stimulants) and the decriminalization of drug use.
Turiya (Tur-ee-ya) Coll (Call) is a Program Director at Sonoran Prevention Works with a long term dedication to harm reduction. She brings 15 years experience with HIV/HCV/STI and overdose prevention, as well as advocating for health care rights for pregnant women, people who inject drugs, people with substance use disorders, and other marginalized populations. Turiya has a BA in Health Justice, and has trained with the Center for Disease Control on evidence-based prevention interventions, crisis counseling, and trauma informed care. Turiya has recently developed a Harm Reduction Outreach program to focus on marginalized populations in Arizona and address their social determinants of health related to using drugs for better health outcomes.
Sarah’s experience in drug policy began in Washington as a research assistant on investigations of drug trafficking and money laundering in South America. After a stint organizing congressional advocacy campaigns to raise awareness of Venezuelan humanitarian crises, she moved to Santiago, Chile to conduct research for a think tank on drug flows between Peru, Bolivia, and Chile. She returned to the US in the midst of the overdose epidemic, determined to advocate for policy that moves from a criminalization model to an approach based in health and human rights. When she’s not working you can find her playing volleyball or eating sour candy.
Michaela joins Sonoran Prevention Works after being a social work intern with SPW for 9 months. She is a student at Arizona State University, graduating with her Bachelor’s in Social Work in May 2019, and beginning a Master’s in Social Work the same year. She has volunteered with a local syringe service program since the summer of 2018 and has worked as a data collector for two different data projects looking into the health and need for services for people who inject drugs. She has also worked in wilderness therapy for three years. Harm reduction has given her the ability to let go of shame she felt about her past experiences and she hopes to bring that acceptance to others in the community, especially as she helps structure the Sonoran Prevention Works Community Health Advisory Committee, which will function as group for people who use drugs to advocate for their needs and the needs they see in their communities.
Deseree Barbee joins the SPW team with a huge amount of hope, determination and an enormous drive to be a part of any positive change in the lives of all people. She come to us from opioid prevention where she spent time learning about harm reduction and the special needs of rural communities. She is honored and excited to join the SWP family and will be working as a Harm Reduction Outreach Worker for Gila County.
My name is Roberto Carlos Garcia, I am the oldest of four. I have a BS in Psychology and a Masters of Ed in Human Relations. I been clean from drugs (cocaine, mushroom, acid, ecstasy, weed, pills) for almost thirteen years. I stopped when I was twenty years old. I have worked in the behavioral are for the past three years. I started working as an outreach specialist then I became a Peer Support Specialist Trainer as well and a Peer Support. This experience has given me the inside to meet and work with people who have different addictions or mental problems and has taught me to be able to work with them in their own pace. Also, what I believe has helped me is that I have taken some courses in Neuro Linguistic Programming in Mexico and that has given me more tools to work with people and see what they need to make a change in their lives. I hope this experience will help me to keep serving those who are in need.
Rachael Sweet joins the Sonoran Prevention Works team with a long term dedication to patient care. She brings 21 years as a Registered Medical Assistant with the last three years working for the Ryan White Program of Mohave County doing coordination of care. She has experience with HIV/HCV/STI prevention, and brings with her training and certifications from the University of Nevada in Drug Related HIV, Hepatitis and Harm Reduction, and Suicide prevention. She is excited to join the SPW family and will be working as a Harm Reduction Outreach Worker in Mohave County.
As a young child, Angelica grew up in a tight knit community in Mexicali, Baja California. Angelica learned the value of being part of a community and just how much neighborhoods can accomplish when people come together. When Angelica immigrated to the US as a teenager, it was natural for her to get involved in the community and be of service to people in need. Angelica’s passion grew when she had the opportunity to volunteer and later work for a non-profit that was focused on ending a variety of health disparities in the Latinx community in Maricopa County. Angelica brings with her over 12 years of experience in the HIV/HCV/STI prevention field and is thrilled to be a part of the SPW family. Angelica’s personal and professional goals are to be a supportive presence in people’s journey to a healthier life.
Tripti Choudhury comes to Sonoran Prevention works as one of our new Harm Reduction Outreach Workers for Maricopa County. She realized her passion for people who use substances through her personal experience and loved ones lost along the way. Tripti was raised in New Jersey and moved to Arizona over 3 years ago to pursue the completion of her counseling degree at Grand Canyon University. Over the brief period of time in the southwest, her passion became her drive and every week she brought clothing, food and water to help at various parks surrounding the Phoenix area because she lives through the harm reduction values of “meeting people where they are at.” She lives in the east valley and brings her strong east coast voice to stand up for people who often feel isolated through substance use.
Enrique joins SPW eager to apply his lived experience in service to others in his community. He brings with him a high capacity to relate and engage with participants “where they are at”, and embodies the ethos of Harm Reduction through a belief that we are all equal, worthy, and deserving of the respect and care that Sonoran Prevention Works exist to deliver to the state of Arizona.
Monique joins SPW with a background in public health, education and prevention. She is a first generation American driven to support marginalized folx and communities within Arizona. Although she will be caravaning around six counties of Southern Arizona with her HROW counterpart, you can find her in Tucson on her time off jamming at one of the local dance studios.
Harm reduction is very close to my heart. I have lost close family and friends to the effects of using drugs and suicide. Prior to SPW I worked in administrative medical roles at a naturopathic medical clinic as well as a chiropractic assistant and massage therapist. I myself have been in recovery for 5 years. Outside of SPW, I enjoy mini golfing with my 4-year-old and teaching my 19-year-old how to drive.
5:30-7:30
South Mountain Community Library
7050 S 24th Street, Phoenix, AZ 85042 (Room TBC)
7-7:30 *This is just for people who use drugs
2431 E Van Buren St, Phoenix, AZ 85006
5:30-7:30pm
Mohave Community College Neal Campus
1971 Jagerson Ave., Kingman, AZ 86409
Phoenix AZ Advocacy Day Trainings
Burton Barr Public Library
4th Floor Lecture Room
1221 N Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004
9:30am-11:00am – Training
11:30am-1:00pm – Training
1:00pm-2:00pm – Drop in Story Framing Workshop
This is where we will work one on one with individuals or teams on how they would like to share their story and message. Drop on in!
Contributions to Qualifying Charitable Organizations
An individual income tax credit is available for contributions that provide assistance to the working poor. The credit is available only to individuals. You report the name of the Qualifying Charitable Organization you donated to as well as the dollar amount of your donation to the Department of Revenue on Form 321. You must also total your nonrefundable individual tax credits on Form 301 and include all applicable forms when you file your tax return.
Maximum Credit Amount for Contributions
Taxpayers filing as “single” and “head of household” status may claim a maximum credit of $400. Taxpayers filing as “married filing separate” may claim a maximum credit of $400. Taxpayers that file as “married filing joint” may claim a maximum credit of $800.
Only Allowed to Claim the Contribution as a tax credit, not a deduction
You may only claim a tax credit for your charitable contribution on your Arizona state return if the organization you donated to is considered a Qualifying Charitable Organization. A complete listing of Qualifying Charitable Organizations is published on the Department of Revenue’s website. Donations made to organizations not listed on the department’s published website are typically allowable as deductions. You cannot claim both a deduction and a credit for the same charitable contribution on your Arizona return.
Period for Making Eligible Contributions
Beginning with the tax year (month of January for each year) credit eligible contributions made to a Qualifying Charitable Organization that are made on or before what is considered the last day to file taxes in April (usually between the 15th – 20th day of the fourth month following the close of the taxable year) may be applied to either the current or the preceding taxable year and is considered to have been made on the last day of that taxable year.
Sasia Reyes, the Development Coordinator for Sonoran Prevention Works, is responsible for researching and developing grants and fundraising initiatives to drive and support SPW’s continued growth and community impact. Sasia studied English Literature and Nonprofit Management at Arizona State University. She is committed to providing compassion, respect and dignity to all people in Arizona. Outside of her professional work, Sasia enjoys reading and discussing Renaissance revenge tragedy lit, spending time with her family and expanding her indoor plant collection.
Juliana has been active in harm reduction education for over a decade, training with MAPS (Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies) in crisis intervention and integration care, and offering workshops in safer drug use at music festivals. She covered the global drug war for a UK publication and volunteered on the Operation Identification project to identify the remains of Central American refugees who died in the desert fleeing to the U.S. She has a degree in anthropology and her academic work focuses on traditional plant ceremonies and intergenerational/historical trauma. As a Coahuiltecan and Maya descendant, her advocacy centers on the disproportionate impact of the drug war on Indigenous communities and improving access to culturally-sensitive healthcare.
Courteney Wettemann joins Sonoran Prevention Works as a dedicated advocate for health equity and dignity for people who use drugs. She has worked as a volunteer throughout Arizona doing community outreach, providing Naloxone supplies and education, and supporting syringe access programs. She draws on personal experience to inform her work with people at risk for overdose and their communities. Courteney is currently pursuing a degree in public health with an emphasis in sexual and reproductive health. If you can’t find her in the office, she is probably out exploring with her dog, Rascal.
Maria Jagles joins Sonoran Prevention Works with a passion for nurturing healthier communities through empowerment and advocacy. She brings to SPW 12 years of experience in HIV/STI/HCV prevention, testing & education, and linkage to care for individuals experiencing homelessness, domestic violence, mental illness, substance use disorder, as well as those in transactional sex work. She’s facilitated CDC evidence-based prevention interventions and has conducted community outreach throughout Maricopa County. She was born and raised in the small mining town of Globe-Miami, AZ and currently resides in Tempe, AZ. She enjoys the arts, soul-moving music, and a good laugh. Maria continues to be dedicated to enriching the lives of marginalized communities and is excited to be joining SPW on this crucial mission.
Christopher Lee Thomas AA, C.P.S.S, F.P.S.S,is a survivor of the War on Drugs and a compassionate advocate for evidence based, harm-reduction strategies that improve the quality of life for people who use drugs and their families. Christopher uses his background in substance use, recovery, peer support, and harm reduction work to identify and navigate peer networks so as to better engage stigmatized individuals into services such as substance abuse treatment, syringe access, and overdose prevention. He was most recently managing the SAP at SAAF as a Sr. Health Education Specialist while also conducting HIV/HCV testing, linking clients to care, providing overdose prevention and distributing naloxone, and leading cohorts of the SHIELD evidenced-based intervention. Christopher is the Southern Arizona Overdose Prevention Coordinator at Sonoran Prevention Works
Jill Bird joins the Sonoran Prevention Works team with many years of interest in SPW and overdose prevention work. She comes to SPW with personal experience having lost a life partner, several family members, and close friends to overdose. Jill has worked in the Accounting/Bookkeeping and administrative fields for seven years, most recently having spent time operating a business that focuses on botanical alternatives for wellness and Ayurvedic medicine. Jill has wanted to be involved with SPW for several years and is excited to help implement our mission as our Office Administrator.
Denise Wisdom considers herself a “Jill of All Trades”. Arriving in the Valley of the Sun from Colorful Colorado, with over 20 years fund development, operational, and programmatic experience in community-based organizations, Denise is dedicated to working with nonprofits to strengthen programs and services, build resource capacity, and create a stronger community impact via grant writing, fundraising, and relationship-building. She possesses a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Psychology from Millikin University and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration with a certificate in Nonprofit Management from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. Denise balances work with playful life endeavors of sight-seeing travel, smooth jazz concerts, and cultural festivals.
Nathan Leach has helped cultivate a variety of community-based projects in Phoenix, including a local bike co-op that provides resources and education to community members who rely on bicycles as their main form of transportation. In 2011 Nathan co-founded the first syringe access program in Maricopa County and in 2016 he completed a master’s level clinical internship focusing on harm reduction counseling in rural areas. He is passionate about the integration of critical theory and creative processes within psychotherapeutic modalities, and hopes to bridge the gap between radical sociological research and counseling approaches while utilizing creative, art-based interventions.
Patrick received a BA in Creative Writing in 2001 and a BS in Psychology in 2013. Entering the behavioral health field in 2014 with La Frontera in Tucson, he worked with the GMH and SMI population for almost a year before moving to the Hope Center, his agency’s methadone clinic in January, 2015. In addition to duties as a recovery coach, Patrick has spearheaded his clinic’s naloxone prescription program, the first such program at a behavioral health agency in the state of Arizona. After successful implementation, Patrick worked to expand the program to all of La Frontera’s outpatient clinics. Patrick also works as a volunteer with Sonoran Prevention Works.
Thoi was born and raised in the Valley of the Sun, and has a deep love and strong connection to the people and places he grew up with. His experiences living and working in Phoenix have informed his engagement in community organizing which began in 2012. He hopes to work alongside his neighbors to build powerful solutions to the problems we face, by doing what needs to be done when and where it is needed. Thoi’s professional experience includes stints as a dishwasher, bank teller, cook, street advertiser, and freelance photographer. He is a second-generation Asian American and in his spare time he likes to grow, cook, and eat food.
(@Layalzebub) is a third culture kid who has spent years practicing the fine art of parachuting into projects as the need for her skills arises. She takes an intersectional approach to her work in immigrant rights and public health and does not shy away from any cause where injustice is present and her contribution is welcomed and necessary. Her experience lies in traditional and digital communications using all mediums from her own voice to videos to writing to tweeting, assembling audience-specific information for delivery in an infinite amount of ways. An infinitely curious researcher and an obsessive collector and assembler of information, she is often seen managing projects, playing a supportive role in the background and amplifying the voices of those directly affected by injustice in her community. Fluent in English & Arabic, knows a few words in Spanish & Armenian.
Sonoran Prevention Works’ program is close to Brendan’s heart. Many friends and loved ones have been affected by the disease of addiction and he enthusiastically supports the program in its growth and development. Brendan began his career as an Auditor at Deloitte & Touche LLP, supervising audit teams for public and non-public entities. Most recently Brendan has been worked as a Financial Controller. As Treasurer of Sonoran Prevention Works Brendan is involved in overseeing the management and reporting of the organizations finances, Brendan graduated from the University of Arizona with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Administration in Accounting, earning a Master of Accountancy from the same institution the following year. He is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in the state of Arizona.
Calicia White is the Program Director for the Ebony House Outreach Department, a division of Ebony House, Inc. that works to increase health outcomes for African Americans who are HIV-positive and reduce new diagnoses in the community. Calicia’s goal is to eliminate the stigma of HIV in the African American community to ultimately eliminate HIV transmission. Calicia has been a part of the Arizona community for over 30 years and works tirelessly to improve the health status of Arizonans. Mother of a wonderful son and member of the community she services, Calicia loves her family, friends and community. A graduate of Keller Graduate School, Calicia earned her Master’s in Public Administration Health Services Management and is dedicated to decreasing health disparities in the African American community as a means to increased lifestyle.
Zeenat Hasan is a learner and an amateur anthropologist who looks for innovative and mundane ways to make healthcare equitable. Her interests include ethics and human rights, immigration/migration issues, humanitarian aid, activism, reproductive justice, racial justice, and population health. She has held jobs/volunteer positions as a/n helper in her mother’s dry cleaning/tailoring businesses, receptionist at doctors’ offices, volunteer for hospital radiation department, brain trauma rehab assistant, bio lab instructor, program/policy director, co-chair for Aim for Equity National Coalition, Co-founder of Arizona Chapter of the National Asian American Women’s Forum, and most recently, mother of one. The last of these has reinforced her drive to create equitable and ethical spaces in healthcare and the systems that support it. Zeenat moved to the valley in 2004 and stayed because of the beauty and vastness of the Arizona desert and the open community of people she found here.
Stacey Cope comes to Sonoran Prevention Works with a fierce passion to improve the lives of Arizonans who use drugs and their loved ones. Stacey has enacted her dedication to harm reduction in the work she has done as an advocate for survivors of domestic and sexual violence, supporting formerly incarcerated youth living in group homes, HIV and Hepatitis C testing, education and linkage to care, and in serving one of the top few syringe access programs in the state. Stacey is a fourth generation Arizonan. She lives in Tucson with her wife and two dogs, where they spend most of their time on Mt. Lemmon.
Haley Coles has been working to improve the health of people who are marginalized by drug use, criminalization, and mental illness in Arizona since 2006. She was born and raised in Central Phoenix and studied English and Public Health at Arizona State University and University of Arizona. Before founding Sonoran Prevention Works she coordinated health literacy and Hepatitis C screening projects for people who inject drugs in Tacoma, WA; provided direct care for homeless women and young adults in Seattle, WA; and taught independent living skills to current and former foster youth in Maricopa County.