CITC COSSAP

Purpose

Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc. (CITC)’s proposed Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Site-Based Program (COSSAP) project will expand the accessibility of peer recovery support services and will ultimately decrease the prevalence of substance use in the Anchorage Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). Specifically, CITC, in partnership with Southcentral Foundation—a prominent Tribal 501(c)(3) nonprofit primary and behavioral healthcare services provider—will establish a specialized and flexible team of Peer Support Workers who will work in clinical and non-clinical settings. Via its focused fundable activities, the project will complement the US Bureau of Justice Assistance’s efforts to reduce substance use and its impacts.

Primary Activities

The project will incorporate 8 main activities that will closely complement CITC’s and Southcentral Foundation’s respective existing behavioral healthcare continua. Those activities, which are linked to the project’s deliverables, and goals, objectives, and outcomes, will be: (i) individual-based peer mentoring sessions, (ii) group-based peer mentoring sessions, (iii) naloxone use trainings, (iv) brief interventions, (v) referrals to primary and behavioral healthcare services, (vi) referrals to wrap-around services, (vii) case management, and (viii) data management.

Expected Outcomes

CITC expects (i) to serve 150 unduplicated residents via individual-based peer recovery support services; (ii) to provide 624 group-based peer recovery support sessions to residents, (iii) to provide 90 unduplicated residents who are receiving substance detoxification services via Southcentral Foundation with referrals to non-peer-related substance use disorder (SUD) treatment and recovery services; and (iv) to produce a memorandum of agreement between CITC and Southcentral Foundation, a group-based peer mentoring plan, a services coordination plan, and a services catalogue.

Service Area

The project’s service area will be the Anchorage MSA, which is composed of the Municipality of Anchorage consolidated city-borough and the Matanuska-Susitna borough in Alaska.

     With its 398,328 residents, the Anchorage MSA represents over 54% of Alaska’s total population. And of those residents, 57,072—or over 14%—are AN/AI (race alone or in combination).

Intended Beneficiaries

The project’s target population will be AN/AI adults who have SUDs and seek SUD treatment and recovery services. Importantly, the project will also serve non-AN/AI individuals.

     Among all racial groups in Alaska, AN/AI residents have the highest poverty and unemployment rates and the highest opioid-related naloxone intervention, hospitalization, and death rates.