Brendan Little Email & Phone Number

Brendan Little served as the founding Policy Director for the Mayor's Office of Recovery Services (ORS), the City of Boston's office coordinating substance use/harm reduction efforts across the city. He is currently Directing and Producing a documentary film about Boston's "Mass and Cass" neighborhood.With more than fifteen years of government and nonprofit experience, Brendan’s work on the Office of Recovery Services (ORS) began before the office existed. In 2014, Boston Mayor Martin Walsh appointed him as the City’s internal lead coordinating the research and development process which led to the creation of ORS. As its inaugural Policy Director, he was ORS’ principal strategist, formulated and led new initiatives, and worked on several large-scale planning processes. He also directed ORS’ communications and oversaw several media campaigns. During his tenure at the City of Boston, Brendan also wrote the white paper for, and helped launch, the Office of Returning Citizens - Boston’s office serving individuals returning from incarceration. For this process, he drew from his many years working at programs for court-involved youth.He traveled internationally on behalf of the City of Boston - to Pakistan with a US State Department delegation to present on Boston's work with high-risk youth, and to Canada to tour overdose prevention sites with a Massachusetts delegation.Brendan has frequently been sought for quotes by The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, WGBH, and boston.com. From 2021-2024, he authored six op-eds about substance use, homelessness, and mental health, all of which were published in The Boston Globe. Brendan has been interviewed about substance use and homelessness on WBUR’s “Radio Boston” three times and was featured in the 2021 documentary feature film "Tipping the Pain Scale".In 2023, his career shift to documentary filmmaking was highlighted in The Wall Street Journal. Later that year, he organized, curated, and hosted the “Recovery Month Documentary Film Series” in partnership with the City of Boston and RIZE Massachusetts Foundation. Brendan is in long-term recovery from substance use disorder and is a lifelong resident of Boston. He incorporates his life’s challenges into his work. As a teenager, he experienced homelessness, incarceration, and spent a year in the custody of the Department of Children and Families. He is currently a filmmaker, consultant, training facilitator, and writer.

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  University Of Massachusetts Boston

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