Yaya Por Vida

-----------.My sister, Yaritza Rollan (better known as Yaya ) dedicated her entire life to the arts. She tattooed, painted, drew, created murals and even got into Cosmetology. She began participating in local gallery events right out of high school, got herself into tattoo apprenticing all on her own and paved her own path to what would have been a bright future in the art world.

Sadly, she immediately met and became influenced by the darker figures of this profession and began a slow decline into opiate addiction. Nevertheless, she always held on tight to her art, still tattooed and still worked hard to stay on the path of her dreams regardless of her struggles. Sadly, the ten-year battle with drug addiction claimed her life December 28, 2019. That was the day another shining light in an otherwise grim world ceased to shimmer.

Her struggle was not in vain from where I see it. In the aftermath of her passing I learned how much she inspired those around her, especially at local community treatment center, Jesse Trice Jefferson Reaves House . In her worst moments (whether of her own accord or not) she always found a way to get clean again. Reaves house might have been her last stop on this earth, but it is certainly only one of many stops in her new journey across the universe.

Yaya por Vida has integrated work in the areas of harm reduction supplies, especially for our houseless SUD victims living on the streets with limited access to care. Meals, clothing, harm reduction with Naloxone kits, overdose reversal training, medical street team access, on site recovery peer support, community clean up, referral navigation for housing, medical, mental health, case management, sterile syringe programs, reproductive, sexual and emergency aid as well as access to alternative form of SUD healing (art as healing, all recovery meetings, etc.). Care kit drives are conducted 5 times a month (Miami Beach, Overtown, Stuart, Ft. Pierce and Downtown Ft. Pierce). Since our first drive in September 2020, we have passed out a total of 6825 care kits and 141 saved lives thanks to our participants using our Naloxone to revive a bystander or friend. 

2024 GROWTH:

- Outreach Collaborations with The Palace Bar Miami Beach, AHF and University of Miami IDEA Exchange SSP 

- Expansion to 6th Street Outreach City with A Second Chance Wellness Outpatient : Liberty City

- 6 Trauma Informed Space Grant Awardee and Graduate

- Compass Gilead University of Houston Taking Action Together Conference Plenary Speaker: Healing Justice* 

- Launching the first Mobile Drop in Center in the State This December and Art as Healing Skool edition for Miami Dade County Public Schools

- Completion of Three Murals on behalf of Cyst from our Artist Collective

- Awardee of The Miami Foundation and Catalyst 2 year Arts Access Grant

- Awardee of The Miami Foundation Tech Grant

- Awardee New Moon Fund

- Awardee SPARK Justice Borealis Grant and Cohort

- Contractors for Elton John AIDS Foundation on behalf of Florida Harm Reduction Collective

- Ultra Music Festival 2024 Harm Reduction partners with F Fentanyl, Decrim305 and Partnr 305

- COEC Disaster Response Center via Smile Trust Inc. for Hurricanes Helene and Milton

-  Collegiate engagement through bi yearly social justice art contests, overdose prevention training, recovery ally training, volunteer training, harm reduction training and HIV/AIDS sensitivity training.

- Florida Rising Disaster Response Fund Awardees

- Expansion of Art as Healing Recovery Edition with RiteLife services in Indian River, St. Lucie and Okeechobee counties

- Keynote Speakers for 3rd Annual Harm Reduction Conference Language Access Panel and Ancestral Healing workshop

- Keynote Speakers for University of Miami Overdose Awareness Day and Mckenzie Project Overdose Awareness Day Vigil

- Keynote Speakers for Miami Dade College Changemakers Week: Civic Engagements within the Latine Community