The National Association of Recovery Residences (NARR) is hosting a May 20 & 21, 2011 gathering of sober living, recovery residence, halfway house and other organizations’ representatives and stakeholders from across the U.S. to formalize the coalition’s organizational policies and service provider credentialing standards. NARR is promoting long-term recovery from alcohol and other drug use and addiction while re-validating the vital role of various residential programs in recovery communities and healthcare systems. Member organizations follow practice-based, national recovery residence standards that ensure credentialed programs meet or exceed requirements for monitoring effectiveness including the safety and progressive wellness of residents and staff. NARR’s organizational principles and practices are based on the core values of hope, compassion, respect, honesty, responsibility, and fairness. The inaugural agenda is the work of the NARR Development Committee’s 48 members, from 12 states, who have been telemeeting at 11:00amEST almost every Friday since November. The seminal leaders of the organization are Susan Binns, President of the Association of Halfway House Alcoholism Programs; Beth Fisher, President of the Georgia Association of Recovery Residences and Executive Director of Hope Homes, Inc.; Curtiss Kolodney, Program Manager with the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery; and Dave Sheridan, Executive Director of The Sober Living Network. The goal is to officially launch NARR on September 17, 2011 at the National Conference on Addictive Disorders. Beth Fisher, who initiated NARR’s development says, “The public understands that long-term recovery sometimes requires residential services other than jails and prisons. Presently, residential program varieties exist by many different names as do some local, state and national associations and this diversity serves well the many effective pathways to recovery. However, I often work with people, including behavioral health service providers, who are confused or overwhelmed when trying to select the best residential program for a particular individual’s recovery journey. NARR will help with that. In addition, our coalition’s unified voice will be more influential regarding other issues that affect people and families in recovery and residential recovery service providers, such as funding; program evaluation; and housing, criminal history and employment discrimination.”