CLEVELAND, Ohio— According to the Drug Enforcement Administration... Since January, there have been 208 reported fatal overdoses in Cuyahoga County.

  • The Northern Ohio Recovery Association opened the doors to its new building, which is located in the heart of Cleveland
  • The building provides a safe space for those who need help, but may be afraid or ashamed to ask for it
  • The building will not only be an addiction and mental illness treatment center, but also a multipurpose center that mentors youth and meets the hunger needs of the community.

“The numbers are scary,” said Lorna McLain, Cleveland Drug Enforcement Administration. “It’s a reality of what’s happening, opioid addiction, heroine, fentanyl, it’s in our community, and it’s up to us to make a difference and to change that.”

NORA, the Northern Ohio Recovery Association, is working to bring that number down by any means necessary. 

“I think we need to be strategic, we need to be swift and we need to move on this, we need to put some strategies in place and activate those strategies, because everyday we are losing someone,” said Anita Bradley, NORA executive director.

The community-based substance abuse prevention and peer recovery support organization held a ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday and opened the doors to their new headquarters.

NORA Executive Director Anita Bradley says the building, which is right in the heart of Cleveland, is a safe space for those who need help, but may be afraid or ashamed to ask for it. 

“I think that they internalize that stigma and it hurts them from reaching out and wanting to get support,” said Bradley.

NORA staff, clients, community members, and local and state officials gathered in front of the new headquarters to celebrate the opening.

William Denihan, who finished a long career on the Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board, says organizations like NORA are needed now more than ever before.

“10 years ago in Cuyahoga county, there were less than 50 people dying from opioids, today it’s 750-800… that’s not an epidemic, that’s an outrageous tsunami of people dying that need treatment…Nora deals with that directly, not only mental health, but drug addiction and we need the work that they do because they save lives,” said Denihan.

The building will not only be an addiction and mental illness treatment center, but also a multipurpose center that mentors youth and meets the hunger needs of the community.

“It’s a work in progress, so the vision boards is the direction that we’re going. It’s not going to happen overnight, so we’re just going to do a little bit at a time,” said Bradley.

Since its inception 15 years ago, NORA has served over 21,000 people, and each year they help lead over 2,000 people to recovery.