Program Director and Founder
Punks with Lunch/Community Outreach Harm Reduction Team
FOCUS
Alexandra Del Pinal’s focus is on helping her community understand the challenges that marginalized and stigmatized people experience in their lives. She engages service providers and community members, helping them understand how to interact and work with those communities who are hardest to reach. Her goal is to bear witness to people’s experiences navigating services in their day-to-day lives, helping to open avenues of engagement and communication between disparate communities. Her hopes are to establish compassionate and nonjudgmental low-barrier access to health and social services.
STRATEGIC INITIATIVE: Expanding Access to Medicinal Herbal Treatments for Unhoused Communities & People Who Use Drugs in Oakland
My strategic initiative will focus on equitable access to herbal wound care, first aid, and support to people who use drugs and to the unhoused community in Oakland, California. Through this initiative, Punks with Lunch (PWL) and Curbside Care Clinic (CCC) plan to expand outreach and access to supportive medicinal, herbal treatments to unhoused communities and people who use drugs who may have developed a deep mistrust in the medical systems or may be unable to access medical support due to geographical location or finances. In the communities that PWL and CCC plan to serve, access to medical care is limited because of proximity to clinics, hospitals, and outreach providers who are stretched thin. Many people live with medical conditions, mental health issues, and substance use disorders and are unable to manage their health with costly prescription drugs or unstable living conditions. Through this initiative, PWL and CCC plan to host workshops, expand clinic hours, and develop easily accessible learning materials in print and on a website for other grassroots, community-based organizations to follow.
MORE ABOUT ALEXANDRA
Alexandra is inspired to fight and give voice to those who are marginalized and stigmatized. Her commitment to her values stems from her and her community’s real-life experiences. As an outreach counselor and founder of a non-hierarchical all-volunteer-run organization, her values are entrenched in every aspect of her life. She uses harm reduction and social justice as means to continue elevating the voices and experiences of the people she works with.
Click here to watch Alexandra’s Legacy Project video.