For over 15 years, Savannah has been committed to working at the interpersonal, community and statewide levels to advance the health of those most vulnerable to structural violence. She is experienced in facilitation, diverse coalition building, and program design. As the Associate Director of National Harm Reduction Coalition, she led the California Harm Reduction Initiative (CHRI), the largest state investment into harm reduction programs in U.S. history. Additionally, while in that role she supported the establishment of 20+ new syringe access programs, and built harm reduction services in emergency departments. Prior to that she created and implemented the first ever countywide overdose prevention and naloxone distribution program for Alameda County at HIV Education Prevention Project of Alameda County (HEPPAC). She received her Master of Social Work from the University of Michigan with a scholarship for her work in integrated health care, and her bachelor’s degree from the University of California at Santa Cruz. She has extensive experience with HIV clinics, women’s healthcare, jails and prisons, and harm reduction services, and this shapes how she provides technical assistance to organizations, her research and writing, and how she shows up in meetings.
Related Projects:
Developing and Evaluating a Philanthropic Giving Strategy for Gilead Foundation
Facente Consulting is helping Gilead Foundation develop a theory of change and evaluation strategy for their three-year, $20 million initiative to advance education equity throughout the United States.
Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless Strategic Planning
Facente Consulting worked with Alameda County Health Care for the Homeless (ACHCH) to facilitate a strategic planning process, with an emphasis on community input and engagement, to determine priorities for the initiative for the next three years.
Strategic Planning to Better Support Homeless Families
Facente Consulting helped Raphael House to develop a realistic vision of “what can and should be,” with the explicit purpose of seeking funding that will transform the fiscal standing, scope, and reach of the agency in the future.
Capacity-Building Assistance Evaluation
San Francisco’s Center for Learning and Innovation hired Facente Consulting as an external evaluator for their five-year grant providing capacity-building assistance to CDC-funded organizations focused on non-clinical HIV testing and HIV prevention in the Western Region of the United States.
Tobacco Free Project Evaluation Support
Facente Consulting collaborated with the Tobacco Free Project over the course of three years to guide, design and implement a range of evaluation activities, including survey data collection, key infomant interviews, public opinion polls, and training of community data collectors.
Harm Reduction Training and Capacity Building for the Overdose Response Network
Facente Consulting, through a contract with the University of Missouri-Kansas City, provided multiple trainings to the members of the Overdose Response Network (ORN) to build the capacity and knowledge of its network of TA providers and technology transfer specialists, who respond to a variety of requests nationwide.
California Department of Public Health Strategic Plan Implementation
Facente Consulting is supporting the California Department of Public Health and various counties throughout the state with technical assistance to develop and deploy the Implementation Blueprint in support of California’s Integrated Statewide Strategic Plan for Addressing HIV, HCV, and STIs from 2022-2026.
Curriculum Development on Nevada’s Good Samaritan Law for the Larson Institute at the University of Nevada, Reno
Facente Consulting was hired to develop a curriculum and virtual training for public defenders in Nevada on the state’s Good Samaritan Law.
Development of a Survey and Report to Assess Harm Reduction Capacity in Nevada
Facente Consulting developed a survey tool to measure statewide capacity of harm reduction interventions and delivering of a report on survey findings and recommendations.
Evaluation for CDC-Funded Workforce Development for San Francisco Department of Public Health
Facente Consulting worked with the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s Center for Learning and Innovation to support the design and implementation of Project INVEST (Innovations that Value Equity and Stength in Teams), a workforce retention evaluation initiative.
Assessment of San Francisco’s Clinical Implementation of Long-Acting Injectable PrEP and ART
Facente Consulting was hired to conceptualize and complete an assessment of clinical implementation efforts for LAI PrEP and ART.
Affirming Trans Access to Housing Curriculum Development
San Francisco’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing hired Facente Consulting to develop a curriculum designed to affirm access to housing for transgender and gender nonconforming people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
Strategic Support for the California Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Initiative
Facente Consulting provided strategic support gathering data and stakeholder input and developed a document to guide NHRC’s internal infrastucture and capacity-building work.
Facilitation of the Community Advisory Team for RTI International’s Strengthening Syringe Services Project
Facente Consulting is facilitating a newly formed Community Advisory Team that will guide the Strengthening Syringe Services project, led by RTI International.
Program Planning for Rafiki Coalition’s UMOJA Health Access Point
Facente Consulting provided program planning, retreat facilitation, and implementation technical assistance to the Rafiki Coalition to launch UMOJA, a Health Access Point funded by the San Francisco Department of Public Health to provide coordinated, wholistic, and Afrocentric services to address the syndemic of HIV, HCV, STIs and related health and social issues within San Francisco’s Black and African American communities,
Strategic Planning to Manage Impending Budget Cuts
Unlike in the last round of strategic planning we did with them in 2021, in 2024 Hamilton Families wanted a scaled down strategic plan refresh, with review and updates to the priorities in the prior plan and a focus on managing expected budget cuts.
Facilitation and Planning Support for the East Bay Drug Checking Collaborative
Facente Consulting provided facilitation and project implementation support to the East Bay Drug Checking steering committee.
SFDPH Systems of Care Training and Conference
Facente Consulting is supporting the End the Epidemics Steering Committee and SFDPH in conceptualizing and designing a system of care conference and related training opportunities for providers in the fields of drug user health and sexual health in San Francisco.
Goal Setting and Program Planning for a Permanent Supportive Housing Provider
Facente Consulting worked with Alameda Point Collaborative to support a small-scale strategic planning process and the development of a theory of change, with the goal of reviewing key initiatives and centering resident feedback as they enter into an era of growth and redevelopment of housing projects.
Needs Assessment for Contingency Management Services in San Francisco
Facente Consulting supported the San Francisco Department of Public Health in conducting an assessment of the current landscape of access to contingency management in San Francisco and opportunities for expansion by conducting and analyzing interviews and focus groups with people engaged in treatment.
Support for Strategic Implementation of San Francisco’s Initiative to End Trans Homelessness
Facente Consulting is supporting the San Francisco Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing (HSH) in strategically mapping out and implementing San Francisco’s Initiative to End Trans Homelessness.
Facilitation of Board Retreat for Greater Richmond Interfaith Program
Facente Consulting provided strategic facilitation to support Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP) board in its mission to help community members transition to self-sufficiency.
Assessment and Re-Envisioning of the Emergency Financial Assistance (EFA) Program in San Francisco
Facente Consulting is collaborating with the San Francisco Department of Public Health and PRC to implement a landscape analysis and action plan for San Francisco’s Emergency Financial Assistance program.
Visualizing Drug-Checking Results as a Tool for Autonomy and Harm Reduction in the Drug User Community
Facente Consulting is collaborating with the HIV Education and Prevention Project of Alameda County to make drug-checking results accessible to people who use drugs.
Strategic Support and Facilitation for All Home Staff and Board
Facente Consulting is helping All Home chart a strategic path forward in their efforts to disrupt homelessness.
Formal Assessment of the Landscape of Medication-Assisted Treatment Programs in California
Facente Consulting is collaborating with the Sierra Health Foundation to improve access to Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) services in California.