Greetings from all of us at The Humane Organization for Substance Awareness, Inc., DBA The Zach Project.
Over the past year, we have continued our outreach to schools and community partners, sharing vital information about substance use disorder (SUD). We have distributed marketing materials to educational institutions and received growing interest in our presentation, It’s Not You Until It Is You. We have already visited health classes across Long Island, and our footprint continues to expand.
As we move into 2026, our work has accelerated. We are actively exploring partnerships with a wide range of organizations to broaden the reach of accurate, science-based information about SUD. While there is encouraging news—deaths related to heroin and fentanyl have declined—this progress is tempered by a troubling reality. Governmental, medical, academic, and scientific organizations continue to report rapid growth in polysubstance use involving synthetic and illicit drugs. These substances are flooding communities across our country and the world, placing an increasing burden on families, healthcare systems, and social services. Sustained and expanded funding at all levels of government remains critical.
Our team remains deeply committed to expanding our reach across diverse populations. We are pleased to welcome Sean Insler as our Director of Technology, where his expertise will help strengthen our digital infrastructure and outreach efforts. Alongside our Corporate and Organizational Outreach Director, Scott Layne, we are engaged in ongoing conversations with schools, community groups, and other institutions interested in bringing our programs to their communities.
We are also in the early stages of evaluating the impact of our presentation through research. Dr. Regina Musicaro, a researcher at Einstein Medical, has begun working with our program to help quantify its effectiveness—an important step in strengthening our mission and demonstrating measurable outcomes.
We continue to need your help. Please consider reaching out to educational leaders, public and private schools, community organizations, and other institutions to encourage them to invite us into their communities. At this time, we operate primarily within the greater New York metropolitan area.
For inquiries, please contact us at thezachproject@substance-awareness.org
Visit us online at voicesfromtheopioidcrisis.com
With gratitude,
Harris Insler
and the team at The Zach Project
Reach out to us if you’d like to schedule a visit to your school or community at large. We’d be glad to bring the conversation to you.