The City of Searcy is applying for a Category 1 award in the amount of $600,000. The Searcy Police Department Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse (COSSA) project will promote a higher level of cooperation and collaboration among the local agencies; improve the effectiveness of law enforcement to combat illicit opioid use, possession, and distribution and to improve interdiction efforts through training that focuses on up-to-date and relevant information about opioid misuse protocols, the importance of sharing information statewide, and collaboration between Drug Task Force members and law enforcement in general; and support and offer assistance to those affected by opioid use and opioid overdose. This collaborative effort will produce more effective investigations, prosecutions, treatment, and recovery involving opioids. This project serves Searcy, the largest city and county seat of White County, Arkansas, which has a population of 23,660. The project includes partnerships between the Searcy Police Department, the White County Sheriff’s Office, the Prairie County Sheriff’s Office, the Lonoke County Sheriff’s Office, the Central Arkansas Drug Task Force, and health and rehabilitation community partners.
The Hoopa Valley Tribal Court is applying for a Category 1C award in the amount of $600,000. The Hoopa Tribal Wellness Court Pre-Booking Enhancement will support ongoing operations and service expansion under its Adult Tribal Healing to Wellness Court. This project intends to increase and standardize services for individuals with substance use disorder and opioid use disorder. While many of these individuals are court-involved, services will also be made available to anyone seeking assistance, with priority for special populations. The special populations include pregnant women, individuals with or at-risk of HIV/AIDS, older adults caring for a minor child due to foster care involvement, and individuals entering the community from incarceration. This project utilizes a hub-and-spoke model to centralize service delivery for Wellness Court participants and increase favorable outcomes as they journey to health. Funding for medication-assisted treatment is requested to help assure that individuals working through opioid misuse have the support needed through full recovery. This project serves enrolled citizens of the Hoopa Valley Tribe, American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/AN), and AI/AN citizens enrolled in other tribes living within the jurisdictional boundaries of the Hoopa Valley Tribe. The Hoopa Valley Tribe and its reservations are within Humboldt County, California. The project includes partnerships between the K’ima:w Medical Center, the Court's Probation Services, and the Judicial Project Advisory Team.
The Executive Office of the Governor of Delaware - Criminal Justice Council will implement new opioid-intervention programs in five geographically diverse localities: Dover (Kent County), Smyrna (Kent County), Millsboro (Sussex County), Seaford/Laurel (Sussex County), and Georgetown/Lewes/Milton (Sussex County). The project goals are to: (1) increase the number of law enforcement diversion programs; (2) reduce overdose deaths; (3) increase transitional housing availability; and (4) increase services for youth impacted by opioid overdoses. One initiative will involve establishing pre-arrest or post-arrest law enforcement diversion programs (using the Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative [PAARI] model) for individuals who commit low level, nonviolent, drug-related offenses by utilizing community-based substance abuse and behavioral health services. The project will also include identifying cases where youth are impacted by an overdose and providing evidence-based responses, providing transitional or post recovery housing for individuals, and improving the collection/integration of data by purchasing a statewide case management system for law enforcement and Delaware’s Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health.
The City of Orlando is applying for a Category 1 award in the amount of $685,458. The Orlando Police Department (OPD) Comprehensive Opioid Victim Advocacy and Enforcement Program will strengthen OPD’s overdose response efforts to both victims and families and free up investigators to close more of their 65 currently open cases. This will be accomplished, in part, by hiring two victim advocates who will focus on providing more in-depth victim services for survivors and families of overdose victims through embedded social services. The project will also increase investigator capacity to investigate overdoses and prosecute drug dealers by lessening the burden on investigators to follow up with families. A second goal of the project will be to create safer communities by eliminating opioids and other illegal substances. This will be accomplished through a series of drug take-back events staged in areas where overdoses are occurring. This project serves the City of Orlando, Florida, with a population of approximately 315,324. The project includes partnerships between OPD and Harbor House. Priority considerations addressed in this application include high rates of overdose deaths in the City of Orlando.
The Florida Office of the State Courts Administrator proposes that five established family dependency drug courts increase the number of families they serve and it proposes to institute/enhance peer-support programs; incorporate medication-assisted treatment; establish substance use disorder prevention programs for the children whose parents are participants in family dependency drug court; execute evidence-based, parent-child relationship-strengthening programs; strengthen peer-to-peer collaboration among sites with an annual all-sites meeting and cross-site visits; and increase training and technical assistance regarding substance use disorder and opioid use disorder. This project serves family dependency drug courts in Broward, Palm Beach, Orange, Marion, and Citrus counties. Dr. Barbara Andraka-Christou and her team from the University of Central Florida will serve as the evaluator for this project.
The Douglas County Community Services Board (DCCSB) is applying for Category 1 funding in the amount of $1,196,998. The Douglas County COSSAP Postbooking Pilot program will be implemented by DCCSB and the Recovery Community Organization (RCO) within the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office's Jail Division (DCJ) to identify and refer individuals needing substance misuse treatment. DCCSB will provide treatment, including medication-assisted treatment, referring out individuals who need more intensive treatment. Participating individuals will be connected to the Never Alone Clubhouse, a safe space where members of the recovery community can form positive connections. Upon completing treatment, individuals will receive a certificate of completion for judges to consider for charges and sentencing. Additionally, DCCSB aims to increase access to care by helping individuals overcome financial hurdles to receiving treatment: individuals will receive an average of $2,000 of treatment services in lieu of court-mandated services. The pilot also seeks to separate substance misuse treatment from the judicial system to increase the number of individuals seeking treatment and improve engagement. DCJ will refer approximately ten individuals per month. The final goal is to connect individuals to a peer recovery community to decrease the likelihood of substance misuse and increase the likelihood of discontinuing criminogenic behavior. By the end of the project, 360 individuals in Douglas County will have the option of connecting with RCO for peer support before trial. The project serves Douglas County, which has a population of 148,981. The project includes partnerships with the Douglas County Sheriff's Office's Jail Division and RCO. Priority considerations addressed in this application include promoting the civil rights of access to care and building trust between law enforcement and the community.
Initially, the Boston Police Department (BPD) COSSAP strategy consisted of the following: BPD in partnership with the Boston Public Health Commission, expanded and enhanced a community-based, first-responder, post-overdose follow-up program in the city of Boston. Multidisciplinary teams consisting of at least one BPD member and one public health advocate along with the Boston Fire Department conducted a home-based outreach intervention with at least 100 individuals per quarter who had recently experienced nonfatal opioid overdoses to provide access to naloxone and recovery support services. These individuals received prioritized access to detoxification and treatment services, as well as access to medication-assisted treatment. While this strategy was implemented for a large duration of the grant, the BPD and COB experienced a number of policy changes due to a homelessness and SUD crisis in Boston’s Melnea Cass neighborhood of Boston, while in the midst of a global disaster (COVID-19), and major city of Boston anti-police protests, demanding that police not intervene with those homeless / SUD persons in the Melnea Cass area. Furthermore, during the same time period, Boston was experiencing a 300% increase in reported drug facilitated sexual assaults (DFSAs). Following such events, and due to significant increases in spiked drinks across the city, we put together a DFSA Initiative that was presented to, and approved by the COSSAP Program Officer from the US Department of Justice/Bureau of Justice Assistance, to implement under this grant. Given that, we are in the process of working with our Intelligence, Sexual Assault, and Licensing Units to identify a more efficient method of gathering intel and collecting data regarding these cases, while also developing a new crime code, training manual, and incremental steps to address this issue internally with the BPD, and externally with our City of Boston agency and community partners, including but not limited to the Higher Education community. . We are currently cultivating relationships with various Boston colleges and universities and will be convening a monthly round table to discuss DFSA on college campuses, and in local bars and house parties, while also partnering with the COB’s Public Health Department to work on the development of a public awareness campaign.
The Lowell Police Department is proposing to enhance and expand the Community Opioid-Outreach Program team (Lowell Police, Fire, Health, Trinity EMS, Lowell House) by adding a youth services coordinator to focus on the needs of children affected by the opioid epidemic, two outreach specialists to expand service to the homeless community by serving as a liaison between agencies to improve communication and connect their various resources, and conduct pro-active outreach to any individuals with substance use disorder before an overdose. Grant funds will support a coordinator, crime analyst, full-time clinical recovery specialist and youth services coordinator, outreach recovery specialist and research team. University of Massachusetts Lowell will serve as the research team comprised of researchers from Center for Community Research & Engagement, School of Criminology and Justice Studies, and Community Health and Sustainability.
The Franklin County Sheriff’s Department applied for Category 1c rural/tribal area grant funding in the amount of $600,000. The Community Opportunity, Network, Navigation, Exploration, and Connection Team (CONNECT) will provide real-time assistance to individuals who survived, witnessed, or are at risk of an opioid overdose (e.g., family, family drug court participants, children, and community members). Team members will make in-person follow-up visits within 72 hours to individuals who survived or witnessed an opioid overdose, including affected children, to assess health, behavioral, and social needs. In addition, team members will connect individuals to community-based behavioral health, treatment, and recovery support services, while ensuring that opioid overdose survivors and witnesses navigate care across the criminal justice, human services, and educational systems. The program will expand Naloxone availability and appropriate use by first responders and law enforcement personnel, focusing on Naloxone deserts, and establish a system that offers real-time data collection, analysis, and dissemination of key data points to reduce opioid-related deaths. This project serves 87,130 residents in 30 communities spanning two rural counties in Western Massachusetts. The project includes partnerships between research scientists Pamela Kelley and Dr. Sean Varano and other community stakeholders representing law enforcement, the peer recovery community, harm reduction, courts, housing, and other basic human needs sectors.
The city of Jacksonville proposes to implement peer navigators to provide case management to individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD); a law enforcement-assisted diversion program (LEAD); a Quick Response Team; continuum of care for children and families of individuals with OUD, including a psychologist in the schools; and establish an overdose fatality review board. Doctors Christina Lanier and Kristen DeVall from the University of North Carolina Wilmington will evaluate the project.
The Gaston County Government is applying for Category 1 funding in the amount of $899,999. The Gaston County Comprehensive Project to Improve Outcomes for Children Impacted by Substance Abuse will align county entities, substance misuse treatment providers, law enforcement agencies, courts, health care providers, and the faith-based community to provide an integrated system of referrals and services for children victimized by the opioid crisis. Under the supervision of Gaston County Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Children and Family Division, a therapeutic center will be established to provide therapeutic services for children in foster care who have been referred to the center by courts, direct therapeutic services for children lacking health insurance, counseling and therapeutic services for foster care children removed from their homes because of substance misuse, a county initiative to support rehabilitation rather than incarceration for opioid users, and outpatient substance misuse treatment. Gaston County HHS will also initiate a Therapeutic Visitation Center for the targeted population.
The County of Lenoir applied for Category 1b grant funding for the amount of $288,713. The purpose of the project is to improve capacity of the district’s Family Accountability and Recovery Court (FARC) to serve families involved in the family court system due to substance dependence. Project objectives include providing more seamless and comprehensive treatment, as well as recovery services to parents with substance use disorders through increased staff capacity, enhanced training and professional development, and expanding treatment and complementary services. The project also aims at addressing systemic barriers faced by parents with substance use disorders through family transitional housing and expanded transportation assistance, as well as improving FARC performance through evaluation and performance management. This project serves North Carolina’s 8th Judicial District (Lenoir, Wayne, and Green counties). The total population of the district is 201,483. The project includes partnerships between Lenoir County, the 8th Judicial District FARC program, Hope Restorations Inc., Kinston Community Health Center, and the National Center for State Courts. Priority considerations addressed in this application include rural challenges, high and persistent poverty, and improved safety in Qualified Opportunity Zones.
The New Hampshire Department of Justice (DOJ) is applying for Category 2 funding in the amount of $4,710,993. The project will enable the expansion of the Prevention, Enforcement, & Treatment (PET) Program, which is designed to help lower recidivism rates of overdose victims and provide support to families of those struggling with substance use disorders (SUDs) by tasking a police officer to respond to overdose calls in a jurisdiction and to connect individuals and their family members to lifesaving resources. The project will expand PET from Laconia to six other counties across the state in partnership with Amoskeag Health, a nonprofit health care provider who, along with the Manchester Adverse Childhood Experiences Response Team Technical Assistance Center (ACERT TAC) will enable a multigenerational approach to SUD. The ACERT TAC will provide training and resources for the communities to ensure their networks of programs and services are trauma-informed. The project will integrate PET and adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) into the first responders’ curriculum when responding to calls related to drug use. PET will offer a core of services to the families of individuals with SUD while identifying and utilizing resources from Manchester ACERT TAC to address the ACEs in children. The project serves the State of New Hampshire, which has an estimated population of 1,377,529. It will focus on the jurisdictions of Laconia, Belmont, Berlin, Claremont, Londonderry, Manchester, and Merrimack. The project will include partnerships between the New Hampshire DOJ and the Belmont Police Department, the Berlin Police Department, the Claremont Police Department, the Laconia Police Department, the Londonderry Police Department, the Manchester Police Department, the Merrimack Police Department, and Amoskeag Health. Priority considerations addressed in this application include a high rate of primary treatment admissions for heroin, opioids, and stimulants; high rates of overdose deaths; and a lack of accessibility to treatment providers and facilities.
Atlantic City is applying for Category 1 funding in the amount of $600,000. The Atlantic City COSSAP program will focus on promoting public safety and supporting access to recovery services, strengthening data collection and sharing, aligning and maximizing resources, and preventing substance use. It will implement a comprehensive plan to reduce the risk of overdose death and enhance treatment and recovery engagement through recommendations made by the city’s overdose fatality review team, bringing together stakeholders with different perspectives and different data sets to improve public health and clinical practices. Strategies include enhanced outreach to overdose survivors and their families and enhanced targeting of high-frequency cases. Goals of the project include reducing the impact of opioids, stimulants, and other substances on individuals and communities, reducing the number of overdose fatalities, and mitigating the impacts on crime victims by supporting comprehensive, collaborative initiatives, in part by enhancing the proactive use of prescription drug monitoring programs to support clinical decision making and preventing the misuse and diversion of controlled substances. The project serves Atlantic City, which has a population of 37,999. The project includes partnerships with the city’s Director of Public Health, the Jewish Family Services Department, Southern Jersey Family Medical Center, AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center Behavioral Health, the Atlantic City Police Department, the Atlantic City Municipal Court, and emergency medical services. Priority considerations addressed in this application include a high rate of primary treatment admissions for heroin, opioids, and stimulants; high rates of overdose deaths; and a lack of accessibility to treatment providers and facilities.
Bernalillo County in New Mexico will use grant funds to expand access to treatment and recovery support services across behavioral health, primary care, criminal justice, and emergency management services. Grant funds will be used to hire a full-time coordinator and two case managers. The county and partners will engage in comprehensive planning; create a mobile harm reduction center staffed by a nurse and the two case managers; increase medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for off reservation urban Indians; provide transitional housing for underserved youth and their families; and provide MAT to incarcerated youth. The University of New Mexico Institute for Social Research will serve as the research partner for the proposed project.
The City of Columbus Department of Public Safety applied for grant funding in the amount of $1200,000 under Category 1A. This project serves the 1,316,756 residents of the city of Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio. The Rapid Response Emergency Addiction Crisis Team (RREACT) EMS Outreach Unit is a unit within the Division of Fire’s Training and Emergency Medical Services Bureau and is supported by the Division of Police’s Crisis Response Team. RREACT EMS outreach members include firefighters/paramedics, Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) certified peace officers, a substance use case manager, a registered SUD nurse, a family case manager, and trauma specialist. This multidisciplinary outreach team goes directly into communities to connect with opioid users who survive overdose, but then refuse EMS transport to the emergency room. The goal of the outreach unit is to proactively create connections and build relationships with opioid users. RREACT follows up with addicted individuals in the community within 48 hours of nonfatal overdose; checks in on their immediate health and wellness; provides resource information, and creates opportunities for users to link with harm-reduction supplies, treatment programs, and social service supports. RREACT actively partners with local treatment providers, public health departments, justice agencies, and Franklin County’s Family and Children First Council to achieve desired project outcomes. Gretchen Hammond with Mighty Crow, Inc. serves as the evaluator for the proposed project. The applicant is eligible for COSSAP priority consideration based on overdose rates in Franklin County and the City of Columbus and the project’s impact on increased public safety in Qualified Opportunity Zones.
Hocking County is applying for Category 1 funding in the amount of $539,464. The Hocking County Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Project will expand the county’s deflection programming from a Quick Response Team (QRT) called QRT Hocking Overdose Partnership Endeavor (HOPE) into one that partners with outside agencies by funding positions that link students and families to treatment and services for substance use disorders. The project will subcontract with a mental health practitioner within the Logan-Hocking School District (LHSD) and a deflection specialist within the Hocking County Health Department who will work directly with overdose victims and their families or those identified as being at a higher risk for having an overdose, as well as monitor a new crisis hotline within the health department and facilitate outreach and education into the community. LHSD will house the mental health practitioner within the high school and middle school in order to meet with students who have encountered an overdose or drug use, either among themselves or their families. The practitioner will be responsible for participating in the Handle with Care Program, an evidenced-based program designed to assist children in their school setting if a law enforcement encounter has happened inside their home. A multifaceted public awareness and education campaign will be created to increase the number of families who call the hotline. The goal of the project is to expand collaboration and partnerships among providers and agencies in Hocking County and to expand the existing framework of services to include stationary positions within fixed, strategic locations where students and families affected by the drug crisis frequent. The project serves Hocking County, a rural area with a population 28,264. The project includes partnerships with the LHSD and the Hocking County Health Department. The project will engage Wes Gilkey as a research partner. Priority considerations addressed in this application include the promotion of civil rights, support to crime victims, and building of trust between law enforcement and the community.
The Lucas County Sheriff’s Office Community Advocates Outreach Project (CAOP), a division of the Drug Abuse Response Team (DART), applied under Category 1B for three-year total grant funding in the amount of $231,232 to serve 441,815 residents of Lucas County, Ohio. Federal funding will assist program expansion, which will reduce the demand of opioids, reduce the supply of opioids, and promote harm-reduction. The project will achieve these goals through (1) development, promotion, and implementation of a three-year mixed-media drug awareness campaign; and (2) the evaluation of the CAOP educational component of DART. The project includes partnerships with Arrowhead Behavioral Health, Boys and Girls Club of Toledo, Brightside Academy, Glass City Academy, Maumee Indoor Theater, the Mental Health and Recovery Services Board of Lucas County, St. Francis De Sales School, Toledo Public Schools, and UMADAOP Lucas County. Priority consideration addressed in this application is for a high-poverty area.
The Tennessee Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse will: • Support six new implementation project sites (Davidson, Montgomery, Sumner, Putnam, Wilson, and Washington counties) as well as five enhancement project sites for counties that are currently COAP funded (Sullivan, Hamilton, Knox, Jefferson, and Coffee Counties). Sullivan and Hamilton Counties will (1) embed behavioral health clinicians with law enforcement; (2) provide employment readiness and connection to employment services both pre- and post-incarceration; and/or (3) deliver evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy courses. • Enhance six regional drug-endangered children response teams in Dickson, Cheatham, Lawrence, Franklin, Jefferson, and Scott Counties. Response teams will use a collaborative approach in meeting the needs of children affected by drug overdose events as well as their parents. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation will also implement a statewide prevention strategy by creating a virtual reality game with education content for students to engage with at school events. • Integrate three certified peer recovery support specialist (CPRS) positions in probation and parole offices across the state, one in each of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee. • Provide recovery support services, including recovery housing, as part of a comprehensive response. Dr. Carolyn Marie Audet and Lauren Allard will serve as the research partners for this project.
The City of West Allis Fire Department (WAFD) is applying for Category 1 funding in the amount of $900,000. The Mobile Integrated Health MAT Access Advocate Program (MAAP) will expand the range and capability of the West Allis Fire Department’s Mobile Integrated Health (MIH) team to facilitate MIH and medication-assisted treatment (MAT) services to every Milwaukee County municipality, as well as support the development of training materials to allow for application of sustainable MIH practices across the entire county. WAFD’s MIH team pairs a community paramedic and a certified peer recovery support specialist who provide targeted outreach and facilitate new enrollments or reengagements to MAT services, reaching the opioid use disorder (OUD) population via either real-time, 24/7 response to overdose emergencies or visitation to patients referred to the program from local and regional partners. MAAP will connect with each participating municipality’s local framework to establish a referral process and connect the local effort to broader regional efforts. A local hospital will provide MAT (including buprenorphine induction), mental health screening with counseling, and warm handoffs to primary care and community MAT clinics. MAPP will educate police, fire, and health departments in all Milwaukee County suburbs on how they can adopt the West Allis OUD outreach practices. MAAP will also work with county stakeholders to ensure children impacted by substance misuse receive required services. The project serves Milwaukee County, which comprises 19 municipalities and has a population of 945,726. The project includes partnerships with the Medical College of Wisconsin, the Milwaukee County Assistant District Attorney, the Milwaukee County House of Corrections, the Milwaukee County Opioid Fatality Review team, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office, the Milwaukee Fire Department Opioid Response Initiative, the Wisconsin Department of Health Service, and the Milwaukee County Office of Emergency Management. The project will engage Dr. Jennifer Hernandez-Meier of the Departments of Emergency Medicine and Psychiatry at the Medical College of Wisconsin as the primary research and evaluation partner. Priority considerations addressed in this application include a high rate of primary treatment admissions for heroin, opioids, and stimulants, high rates of overdose deaths, and a lack of accessibility to treatment providers and facilities.
Milwaukee County, with an estimated population of 945,726, through the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office and in collaboration with the Milwaukee Community Justice Council, the Medical College of Wisconsin, and a variety of public health and public safety partners, sought $1,200,000 in Subcategory 1a grant funding to create a Milwaukee Overdose Public Health and Safety Team (OD-PHAST). This project would expand and further coordinate current efforts to address overdoses, as well as overall substance misuse issues across the county. The OD-PHAST project aims to: (1) expand the delivery and analysis of near real-time data between multiple public health and public safety partners; (2) utilize both aggregate data and insights from case reviews to develop strategies and recommendations for changes to reduce the likelihood of future overdose incidents; (3) increase capacity to deliver timely toxicology findings to public health and safety partners; (4) enrich understanding of fatal overdose risk factors through expanded next-of-kin interviews; and (5) connect families impacted by overdose, particularly children, to services to mitigate the impact of the trauma experienced. Priority considerations addressed in this application include high-poverty areas and Qualified Opportunity Zones.
The Justice and Community Services (JCS) section of the West Virginia Division of Administrative Services seeks to: • Expand and improve the state’s Handle with Care (HWC) initiative. The HWC initiative supports children exposed to trauma and violence through improved communication and collaboration between law enforcement and schools/child care agencies and mental health providers, and connects families, schools, and communities to mental health services; • Expand and enhance the West Virginia law enforcement assisted diversion program, which diverts those suspected of low-level drug and prostitution offenses away from jail and prosecution into case management, legal coordination, and other supportive services. This aspect of the proposed project will focus heavily on the counties of Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Gilmer, Webster, and Wirt, which currently lack diversion programs; and • Enhance and expand telehealth services for those in underserved and geographically isolated communities. Similar to the diversion aspect, the telehealth aspect of the proposed project would expand services to Braxton, Calhoun, Clay, Gilmer, Webster, and Wirt Counties. These services will include psychiatric evaluations with treatment plan development, individual and group counseling, cognitive-behavioral therapy, medication-assisted treatment (including buprenorphine and naltrexone), and peer recovery support services. JCS has partnered with the West Virginia Office of Research and Strategic Planning, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Bureau for Behavioral Health, and the West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy in the implementation, monitoring, oversight, and sustainment of the proposed project.
