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CHJ First Responder Partnerships TTA Initiative (CHJ-FRP)

Award Information

Awardee
Award #
2019-AR-BX-K055
Funding Category
Competitive Discretionary
Location
Congressional District
Status
Open
Funding First Awarded
2019
Total funding (to date)
$10,000,000

Description of original award (Fiscal Year 2019, $2,500,000)

Signed into law on July 22, 2016, the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) is the first major federal substance use disorder treatment and recovery legislation in 40 years and the most comprehensive effort to address the opioid epidemic. CARA establishes a comprehensive, coordinated, and balanced strategy through enhanced grant programs that expand prevention and education efforts while also promoting treatment and recovery. The objectives of the program are two-fold. First, it aims to support locally-driven responses to the opioid epidemic and state-led initiatives designed to reduce opioid misuse and the number of overdose fatalities. Second, it supports efforts by PDMPs and their stakeholders to expand the implementation, enhancement, and proactive use of prescription drug monitoring programs to support clinical decision-making and prevent the misuse and diversion of controlled substances. This TTA program is designed to complement the site-based competitive solicitation, and to provide targeted customized TTA to existing and future COAP sites. In category 1, BJA seeks an applicant that will help local communities plan, implement, sustain, and enhance initiatives led by law enforcement agencies or other first responders that respond to the opioid epidemic.

Through the First Responder Partnerships (FRP) TTA Initiative, TASC’s Center for Health and Justice (CHJ) will advance first responder diversion as a broad-based strategy that also supports public safety. The CHJ-FRP initiative will feature an expansive network of national partners with experience working alongside TASC/CHJ to develop innovative resources for diversion, from police to parole and points in between. Representing multiple fields, the CHJ-FRP initiative will feature six partners—International Association of Chiefs of Police, International Association of Fire Chiefs, National Association of State EMS Officials, AdCare Criminal Justice Services, Addiction Technology Transfer Center and Prevention Technology Transfer Center networks, and Faces & Voices of Recovery.

The CHJ-FRP initiative will provide structured technical assistance to help local communities plan, implement, sustain, and enhance initiatives led by law enforcement agencies or other first responders that respond to the opioid epidemic. This will include providing ongoing TTA (both remote and onsite) to site-based grantees throughout the duration of their BJA grant awards, assisting with project design in the planning phase, developing a profile of each grantee that describes the results of the project, facilitating partnerships with relevant stakeholders, overseeing the data collection process, and addressing issues that may hinder a site’s progress toward achieving its goals. TASC’s CHJ and its partners will also develop a set of written products and tools that guide local efforts to: (1) establish partnerships between law enforcement and other first responders, and public health and behavioral health agencies that respond to the opioid epidemic; (2) establish education and prevention programs that connect law enforcement agencies with K-12 students; and (3) establish social services partnerships with law enforcement in order to rapidly respond to opioid overdoses where children are impacted.

CA/NCF

Date Created: September 29, 2019