Description
The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), Executive Office of the President, is seeking applications from public nonprofit institutions/organizations (includes institutions of higher education and hospitals) to: (1) Undertake research activities that would entail implementing and evaluating community-based efforts to fight the opioid overdose epidemic; and (2) Support and promote the partnership of law enforcement and public health agencies, whose collaboration is critical to reducing overdose and other harms of opioid (mis)use. The opioid epidemic continues to escalate throughout the United States, claiming an alarming number of lives each year. Drug overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death in the United States, surpassing automobile crashes since 2009. According to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), drug overdoses accounted for more than 63,000 U.S. deaths in 2016 and, of those, more than 42,000 (66%) involved an opioid. This ongoing opioid overdose epidemic presents new challenges to public health and public safety officials, medical professionals, local communities, and other stakeholders invested in curbing rates of accidental death. Preparing regional and community leaders to respond effectively to the public health emergency that is today’s opioid overdose crisis (and be prepared to take on that crisis as it evolves tomorrow) is essential for achieving the shared goal of preventing fatal overdose and saving lives. To aid this effort, on October 26, 2017, President Trump asked the Acting Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services to declare the opioid crisis a national Public Health Emergency under Federal law and directed all executive agencies to use every appropriate emergency authority to fight the opioid crisis. ONDCP expects to award one Federal cooperative agreement under the Combating Opioid Overdose through Community-Level Intervention Initiative for a 1-year period, beginning approximately September 2018. The successful non-Federal entity (NFE) will conduct research activities that entail implementing and evaluating community-based efforts to fight the opioid overdose epidemic. These activities will be focused on the regions of the United States with some of the highest rates of fatal and non-fatal opioid-related overdoses and will work to coordinate the often decentralized state and local efforts to assess and respond to opioid-related overdoses. Efforts will also support and promote the partnership of law enforcement and public health agencies, as coordination and collaboration between these two groups is proving critical to addressing this epidemic. Efforts will also align with and be informed by related projects currently being conducted by ONDCP and CDC, and both agencies will work closely with the successful NFE. In particular, work conducted under this initiative will entail partnership with Federally designated High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program, which are funded by ONDCP and currently partner with the CDC under the Heroin Response Strategy initiative. Goals, Objectives and What the Government is Supporting The assistance provided under this award will support the NFE’s performance of the award and fulfillment of the following performance areas: • Research and analyze 1) a range of existing community-based efforts to address the opioid epidemic and 2) current evidence-based and proven strategies to reduce opioid-related overdose deaths; • Using the evidence-based approaches previously identified, implement or enhance community-based new or ongoing programs that aim to reduce opioid overdose, particularly in the regions of the United States with the highest rates of fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses (priority will be given to proposals that make funding available to at least eight communities via subawards); • Once implemented, evaluate these community-based efforts to assess their efficacy in reducing opioid overdose and other harms of opioid (mis)use, particularly in the regions of the United States with the highest rates of fatal and non-fatal opioid overdoses; • Support and promote collaboration between public safety and public health agencies to ensure that overdose reduction efforts are aligned and that communities benefit from a comprehensive and coordinated response; and • Provide technical assistance to support implementation, evaluation, and reporting by prospective subaward recipients.