Allegheny County Confronts Disproportionately High Black Overdose Death Rate with Community Outreach Campaign

Called Connect Protect Recover, the campaign aims to: (1) help local family members link to available SUD recovery and treatment programs for a loved one while supporting them throughout the process; and (2) build the capacity of SUD provider agencies to deliver culturally competent treatment and services.  

In Allegheny County, the incidence of accidental overdose deaths among Black communities   increased disproportionately in the past five years.  

Black residents are dying from overdoses at a rate more than three times that of white residents (Allegheny County Overdose Dashboard.) 

The 2023 data show: 

• The overdose death rate for Black individuals was 141 deaths per 100,000 (232 deaths). 
• The overdose death rate for White individuals was 43 deaths per 100,000 (428 deaths). 

Further, from 2018 to 2023, Black overdose death rates nearly tripled (from 51 per 100,000 in 2018 to 141 in 2023), while White overdose deaths during the same period remained mostly flat (from 41 in 2018 to 43 in 2023). For Whites, the peak was 67 deaths per 100,000 in 2017. 

National and statewide overdose deaths follow a similar pattern, with Black overdose deaths occurring at a far higher rate than those of Whites. However, the gap is much higher in Allegheny County and continues to worsen.  

“From our community-driven design approach, we learned how and why we were falling short in relating to populations who are historically marginalized, underserved, and distrustful of institutions,” said Erin Dalton, DHS Director. “We realized that to break through those communication barriers, we needed a culturally relevant awareness campaign, and then deliver on treatment and recovery services with non-judgmental ease at every possible entry point.” 

“The overdose death rates impacting Black people are a community epidemic, not an individual issue,” said De'netta Benjamin-Miller, Executive Director of The Sojourner House, a provider of substance-use recovery and housing services for families in the Pittsburgh region. “The Connect Protect Recover campaign is an instrumental resource to help Black and marginalized families access culturally relevant education and services. The campaign promotes healing for persons and loved ones impacted by SUDs.” 

The campaign also stresses the free harm-reduction tools that are available through the Health Department’s harm reduction website, and the County’s provider network, including access to Naloxone and xylazine test strips and training on how to use them.   

Creating and implementing the Connect Protect Recover campaign is behavioral-health communications firm MEE Productions Inc. which has supported the County in several community-engagement initiatives. During the pandemic, for example, MEE created and executed United Against COVID, an awareness and prevention campaign for the County, focusing on delivering trusted, accurate information to Black and Brown, poor, immigrant and marginalized communities that consistently over-indexed in COVID hospitalizations and deaths. 

“The Connect Protect Recover campaign was developed to engage and inform populations in Allegheny County that have been disproportionately impacted by this ‘third wave’ of the opioid epidemic,” said MEE Founder and President, Ivan Juzang. “We’re targeting family members and close friends of those in addiction, because they can be both supporters and influencers along the journey of SUD treatment and recovery. At the same time, we know that they are stressed out and need supports to care for their own wellness needs. This campaign provides support for both.”