2026-09-21 · housing
Prevention Point's syringe exchange services have contracted since Philly cut $1 million in city funding
Prevention Point Philadelphia, a low-barrier services hub in Kensington serving many people who are homeless, dispensed and collected 1.7 million syringes in fiscal year 2025-26 after Mayor Cherelle Parker's administration pulled nearly $1 million in city funding from the syringe exchange, which now receives no public money. The program distributed roughly 8 million syringes in 2023. Parker has said she would "fight tooth and nail to ensure that not one city dollar is invested in the distribution of clean needles."
In 2019 the syringe exchange was fully funded by $1.2 million from the city.