CENTER Community Advisory Board

The Community Advisory Board (CAB) is a self-led group of community members that have direct and indirect experience with Black people who use drugs. They help to oversee and guide the CENTER project. Activities of the CAB include:

  • Identifying pathways for community education on drug user health, harm reduction, and  equity.

  • Interpreting and sharing project findings with other CABs, advocacy groups, and  organizations focused on addressing the impacts of structural racism in the St. Louis region. 

  • Making recommendations for policy, state agencies, community organizations, and  grassroots efforts to improve services and support for Black people facing addiction and  overdose. 

  • Helping establish a Coalition focused on improving the health and wellness of Black  people who use drugs in North Saint Louis. 

  • Rev. Burton Barr

    Rev. Dr. Burton Barr, Jr. has served as an associate minister of the West Side Missionary Baptist Church since 1994. He retired from his position as Director of Prison and Substance Abuse Ministries in 2019. He now serves as a State Opioid Response Consultant for UMSL and teaches Overdose Education & Narcan Distribution classes.

  • Arial Collins

    Arial graduated from Harris Stowe State University with a B.S. in Finance. Her passion for harm reduction clustered from the environment she grew up in. She’s excited for the current climate of harm reduction and to advocate for people to use their voices to share lived experiences, knowledge, and a shoulder.

  • Charo Davis

    Supervising U.S. Probation Officer for the Eastern District of Missouri. I’ve been a federal law enforcement officer for over 21 years. St. Louis Chapter for the National Association of Black Law Enforcement Executives (NOBLE).

  • Gerald Dennis

    Gerald graduated from Washington University with a B. S. degree in Economics. He served in the Marines after a brief stay in an Investment firm and started off in the mid 80’s working in the Urban league where he found his passion in helping recovering addicts in the substance abuse and mental health field. He worked his way through the system and landed at Preferred Family Healthcare as a Program Director for sites in St. Louis County and City. He has been in the mental health and substance abuse field for 35 plus years.

  • Keith Lofton

    Keith Lofton is a Community Outreach Coordinator with William and Associates and he is very dedicated to the community and providing them with the resources that are needed to thrive.

  • DeVonte McMiller

    Devonte is a Certified Peer Specialist and recovering opioid addict. He joined the CAB to help other black men like himself who are struggling with opioid addiction. As a CAB member he shares his insight on what he’s seeing in the community and uses our resources to help black men.

  • Harriet Montgomery

    Harriet is on the CAB because of her passion to bring awareness and information to black people who use drugs. She is an alumni from BASIC treatment center and wants to spread hope, change and be and example for people who look like her.