Executive Director
Sam has over 29 years of progressive experience in social services. His primary focus of expertise lies in Criminal Justice and Reentry, HIV/AIDS, Harm Reduction, Addiction/Recovery, and Mental Health. He currently serves as the Executive Director of OnPoint NYC, a harm reduction organization that provides services to active drug users and sex workers in Northern Manhattan and The South Bronx, many of whom are low-income or homeless as well as of color and LGBTQ.
He brings to this role his several decades of cutting-edge service provision experience and a commitment to social justice. He has dedicated his professional career to ameliorating the harms associated with the War on Drug Users, those impacted by the criminal justice system, racism/sexism, structural inequality, and mass incarceration and will continue to work to end systematic barriers to populations that are most vulnerable.
Director of Community Initiatives and Impact
Jason is a New York native, born in East Harlem and raised on the Upper West Side to a Dominican father and Puerto Rican mother and identifies as Afro-Latino. Jason has always had a passion for giving back to his community as he was able to witness firsthand the effects of the war on drugs, the crack epidemic, police racial profiling, and gentrification on his neighborhood that was once considered Harlem.
Previously, Jason was the Outreach Manager at Community Healthcare Network, where he was responsible for facility management, supply coordination, and enrolling eligible patients into the Health Homes Program at the point of contact during outreach. He also managed a team of 20+ outreach patient navigators which he supported through morning huddles, 1 on 1 supervisions, monthly team meetings, trainings, and mapping support. He also worked as a Case Manager at BOOM! Health where he initially was hired as a Patient Navigator and as a Case Specialist at the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP).
Director of Facilities and Fleet Operations
Gene Booker joined OnPoint NYC in November 2021. He is directly responsible for managing and coordinating all daily operations and maintenance activities for both sites in East Harlem and Washington Heights. This includes all administrative responsibilities, facility repairs for all program sites, negotiating and managing all vendor contracts, developing and implementing policies and performance metrics, managing accounts receivables, ensuring we meet all safety and security requirements, and overall management of an effective facilities and operations team.
Gene had always known about the work of harm reduction and treatment service providers for people who use drugs, but had not been applying his skills to this work until he came to OnPoint NYC. He is also actively involved in the Indigenous People’s Movement, along with our Executive Director, Sam Rivera, which is rooted in consciousness of the environment and caring for communities by promoting peace and unity.
Before joining the organization, Gene had developed an extensive set of skills in facilities and operations management, customer communication, construction and technician services, building maintenance, and in supervising staff and leading strong operations teams.
Director of Clinical and Holistic Health
Adrian is a lifelong Bronx resident who started his career in social services in 2005. He has worked at the organization since 2018, progressing from Director of Harm Reduction Services at WHCP to his current role as Director of Holistic Health and Clinical Care for all of OnPoint NYC, including our sites in East Harlem and Washington Heights. In this role, Adrian directly oversees the HUB Clinic, Supportive Services and Case Management, and Holistic Health Services.
Prior to joining OnPoint NYC, Adrian worked at BOOM! Health as the Assistant Director of Harm Reduction, where he was directly involved in providing harm reduction services, managing partnerships, monitoring contract deliverables, and integrating overdose prevention services. Earlier in his career, he also worked at Bronx AIDS Services and at Narco Freedom, where he learned about case management, HIV-focused services and health care coordination tailored to meet individual needs.
Adrian has a B.A. in Communication and Psychology from Marist College.
Senior Director of Information, Research, and Evaluation
Brent Gibson earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro in 2003. He joined the OnPoint NYC team (formerly NYHRE) in 2015 and is a key member of the senior leadership team responsible for collaborative development and implementation of strategic vision.
He oversees the Data Department and the IT Department. Dr. Gibson collaborates with government and academic scholars to conduct research and evaluation to positively impact the safety and well-being of OnPoint NYC participants and others who may benefit from Harm Reduction services.
Director of Syringe Access and Program Innovation
Pia was born and raised in NYC and began working in Harm Reduction in 2015. Prior to this work, Pia spent 3 years working in rural Rwanda and Uganda with grassroots sexual health and nutritional health programs. Pia returned to the US in 2015 as a Global Health Corps Fellow in Washington DC where she became an Outreach Case Manager at a local syringe exchange. Pia joined NYHRE in 2016 as an Outreach Case Manager on the SSP Team. She quickly rose in the ranks as Field Supervisor, Field Manager, and Associate Director of Syringe Access and Outreach.
In 2019, Pia was promoted to Director of Syringe Access and Outreach. In 2020, she became NYHRE and WHCP’s Director of Syringe Access and Program Innovation. In this role, she directly oversees the operation of the Drop-In Centers in East Harlem and Washington Heights and all of the SSP Waivered Sites throughout upper Manhattan and the South Bronx.
Pia currently lives in Washington Heights, proudly serving the neighborhood her father and grandfather grew up in.
Director of Human Resources
Icy Myrick joined OnPoint NYC in August 2021 and has over 15 years of progressive experience in Human Resources. She has worked in the public, private and non-profit sectors. She began her professional career in Finance working as a Budget Analyst. While working as a Budget Analyst, Icy witnessed poor employee relations in a disjointed working environment. At the time, she was attending a local college as an Accounting major. The next semester, she changed her major from Accounting to Human Resources. She describes herself as “HR for the people”. A few HR topics on her radar are Employees Relations, Workforce Development and Organizational Behavior. “Growth, be it personal or professional, is important to me. I try to evolve daily.”
Chief Financial Officer
Sarai was born and raised in the Bronx by Puerto Rican parents. She has worked at the organization since 2006 and has filled the roles of Bookkeeper, Finance Manager, Comptroller, and progressed to her current position as the Chief Financial Officer in 2021. In this role, Sarai is responsible for all aspects of financial management, including accounting, budgeting and reporting.
Prior to joining OnPoint NYC, Sarai worked at Bronx Aids Services for 7 years. In this organization she started working as the Receptionist and with hard work and dedication she filled the roles of Medicaid Billing Clerk, Bookkeeper and Account Associate. Sarai’s dedication to the nonprofit sector and providing the best practices in Accounting has been her career goal.
Sarai has a B.S. in Accounting.
Senior Director of Programs
Kailin is the Senior Director of Programs for OnPoint NYC. She was the program and development lead for the historic opening of the first two sanctioned overdose prevention centers in the United States. Before moving to New York in 2016, Kailin worked in Vancouver, Canada developing and operating innovative, award-winning drug user-focused programs including the Drug User’s Resource Center (DURC) which employed 150 active substance users and saw 1,000 member visits a day.
Beyond DURC, Kailin developed Canada’s first street-entrenched Managed Alcohol Program and an Alcohol Exchange for illicit alcohol consumers, a first in the world. Her many years working to improve the lives of people who use drugs has afforded her the opportunity to garner experience across multiple sectors including housing/shelter for active substance users, community-based detox and treatment, social enterprise, indigenous-directed care and cultural programming, drug policy reform, advocacy, and safer consumption.
Director of Operations
Brittney Vargas-Estrella is a proud Bronxite and Boricua who joined the OnPoint NYC team in 2020 as an Executive Assistant. She tenaciously expanded her roles and responsibilities which led to her becoming Associate Director of Marketing and Operations and then Director of Operations soon after. While she has been described as a “natural harm reductionist”, her formal training in harm reduction began in 2019 while volunteering and supporting Bronx Móvil’s outreach efforts. Her commitment and passion for harm reduction has only grown since then.
Prior to her work in this field, Brittney always sought to connect to, support, and uplift her community. She has dedicated her professional life to the nonprofit sector – previously working in affordable housing development and social service programming for aging, homeless, and justice-involved populations. Brittney also has a background in cultural psychology with a focus in trauma research among Puerto Rican and Latinx populations.
Brittney has a B.A. in Psychology from Manhattan College.
