Harm Reduction Activist George Williams Dies |
NETWORK NEWSApril 1996 |
Chicago Recovery Alliance founder and AIDS prevention activist George Williams died on February 15 of natural causes.
Williams got involved in AIDS prevention in the early 1980s in San Francisco. As a Community Health Outreach Worker, he worked with injection drug users to prevent the spread of the disease in that community.
In 1987 he moved to Chicago and worked on outreach to injection drug users through the University of Illinois. He also counseled people with AIDS through the Erie Family Health Center.
He founded the Chicago Recovery Alliance (CRA) in 1991. CRA now exchanges over 35,000 syringes every week at 15 sites around Chicago.
Williams is survived by his five children; his mother, Pearl Mae; his brothers C. Dell Jr., Richard, and Jerome; and two sisters Alice Mae Holliday and Faye Marie Simpson.
Contributions can be sent in his name to the Chicago Recovery Alliance, P.O. Box 368069, Chicago, Illinois, 60636, 312-471-0999.