Specifications include, but are not limited to: Category 1: Prevention & Stigma-Reduction Prevention and Stigma-Reduction is meant to be broadly defined in this RFP and includes, but is not limited to: efforts to discourage or prevent the misuse of opioids; efforts to prevent or reduce overdose deaths and other opioid-related harms; efforts to prevent the over-prescribing of opioids and related medications; and wide ranging efforts to provide information and reduce perceived or actual barriers to access to care. Eligible activities include, but are not limited to: • Public awareness campaigns; • Anti-stigma campaigns; • Overdose prevention training and distribution of naloxone; • Efforts to ensure public (but confidential) access to information; • Education on harm reduction; information and support for families; • Training for health care providers regarding safe and responsible opioid prescribing, dosing, and tapering patients off opioids; • Engaging non-profits, faith-based communities, and community coalitions to support people in treatment and recovery and to support family members; • Support stigma reduction efforts regarding treatment and support for persons with OUD; • Education regarding pain alternative and regarding local resources for alternatives; • Public education related to drug disposal and destruction, including drug destruction programs; • Support evidence-informed school and community education programs and campaigns for students, families, school employees, school athletic programs, parent-teacher and student associations, and others; • Support evidence-informed programs or curricula to address mental health needs of young people who may be at risk of misusing opioids or other drugs, including emotional modulation and resilience skills; • Training in harm reduction strategies to health care providers, students, peer recovery coaches, and other professionals that provide care to persons who use opioids and any co-occurring SUD/MH conditions; • Recovery Coach training; and • Specific campaigns or efforts designed to reach historically underserved or disadvantaged populations. Category 2: Community Supports and Services (CSS) The goals of proposed community supports and services are to reduce the risk of harm an individual may experience related to substance use; provide supports to facilitate an individual’s substance use recovery; and/or to facilitate connection to or entry into treatment services. Eligible activities include, but are not limited to: • Recovery services can include the full continuum of care to include supportive housing, residential treatment medical detox services, peer support services and counseling, community navigators, case management, transportation, and connections to community-based services; • Harm reduction services/supports. Broadly defined, these activities are person centered and designed to mitigate risk of current substance use. Example include: training and distribution of Naloxone, distribution of Fentanyl Test Strips, and expanding the availability of syringe exchange and related services. These services are provided in the context of outreach and encourage ongoing engagement; • Provision of employment training and educational services for persons in treatment for or recovery from Opioid Use Disorder (OUD) and any co-occurring other substance use disorder (SUD) or mental health. This may include the embedding of Certified Recovery Peer Advocates (CRPA) in a range of settings, to facilitate ongoing recovery efforts of individuals in school, training, and work settings; • Provision of child and family supports for parents with OUD and any co-occurring SUD/MH Conditions; • Community-based recovery supports to bolster individuals’ recovery efforts and stability in the Community. Examples include: sober recreation activities/programs; youth focused activities; safe drop in locations; safe transportation; medication lock boxes and other home “safety” implements; and the embedding of CRPAs in specific, strategic community locations; • Projects that reduce barriers to care and treatment, including: childcare/respite for parents to attend AA/NA meetings and sober recreation activities; support and fund animal care or boarding to allow individuals to access inpatient treatment; and facilitated use of existing recovery smart phone apps; • Training for a broad range of community stakeholders (physicians, teachers, community agencies, first responders, etc.) on understanding and recognizing OUD and other substance use disorders and on supports and treatment resources available; • Projects that propose the provision of community supports/services for specific populations of individuals who have been historically underserved. Populations that stakeholder and public forums have identified include: LGBTQ+ individuals; BIPOC; Native American; and rural communities.
