Grants Supporting Our Work

We work collaboratively with community partners in Aitkin, Itasca, Pine, North St. Louis counties, Minnesota and South Dakota Tribal Nations to increase community capacity in addressing the opioid epidemic.

    Project Timeline

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    Project Timeline

    2018: Addressing the Opioids Crisis in Rural Minnesota, Building Rural Capacity to Develop Positive Recovery Capital

    In 2018, the USDA called on Extension services throughout the United States to help address the opioid crisis. In response, UMN Extension formed a partnership with UMD College of Pharmacy faculty to work on opioid prevention and recovery.

    Addressing the opioid crisis in rural Minnesota

    • Community focus groups, interviews and forums
    • Stakeholder reports
    • Changemaker Cohort #1
    • Staff trainings
    • Virtual educational resources
    • Changemaker evaluation

    Building rural capacity to develop positive recovery capital

    • Addressing emerging needs through technical assistance and training
    • In-person and virtual training
    • American Indian Resource and Resilience Team
    • Changemaker Cohort #2 (Biwabik, MN)
    • Naloxone and fentanyl test strip distribution
    • Treatment court education
    • Wellness basket distribution

    2019: Building Capacity in Rural South Dakota and Minnesota Tribal Communities, PEW Community Opioid Response and Evaluation

    Building capacity in rural South Dakota and Minnesota tribal communities

    • Tribal community facilitators
    • Wellness kits to provide education and a point of connection during COVID-19 pandemic
    • Nutrition and recovery programming and resources

    PEW community opioid response and evaluation
    Collaboration with Johns Hopkins Center for American Indian Health to:

    • Evaluate effectiveness of previous grant work
    • Evaluate change in positive recovery capital in tribal communities
    • Support evaluation in Indigenous communities

    2020: Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Grant

    Rural opioid technical assistance grant

    • Addressing emerging needs through technical assistance and training
    • State opioid response meetings
    • Resource and material development
    • Publicly available, on-demand trainings about opioids, overdose and treatment

    2023: Great Lakes Rural Opioid Technical Assistance - RC

    Great Lakes rural opioid technical assistance - RC

    • Collaboration between six state cooperative Extension systems
    • Sharing opioid prevention resources
    • Virtual/on-demand education opportunities
    • Culturally-tailored resources and education for American Indian communities

    Grants Supporting Our Work

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    Grants Supporting Our Work

    Addressing the Rural Opioid Crisis in Minnesota: Building Recovery Capital

    This project promotes community protective factors and reduces risk factor impact to prevent opioid use and support sustained recovery.

    Partners

    Aitkin County Public Health & Human Services (Erin Melz), Itasca County Public Health & Human Services (Kelly Chandler), University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy (Laura Palombi), University of Minnesota Extension – Center for Family Development (Mary Jo Katras, Lori Hendrickson, Jennifer Garbow, & Emily Becher), University of Minnesota – Center for Community Vitality (Lori Rothstein), community members and professionals in Aitkin and Itasca County

    Goals

    This project aims to promote community protective factors and reduce the impact of risk factors to prevent opioid use and support sustained recovery. The project utilizes the theory of Recovery Capital as the basis of its work and will develop a local community leadership group of Changemakers, increased capacity in local recovery organizations, a Framework for assessing community Recovery Capital and a Toolkit for developing Recovery Capital in rural communities.

    Overall Program Objectives

    1. Engage diverse stakeholders in focus groups and listening sessions to assess positive and negative Recovery Capital in two neighboring rural Minnesota communities.
    2. Increase knowledge in local communities regarding the opioid issue and its impact on individuals with a substance use disorder, families, friends and the community.
    3. Identify and educate local leaders with an interest in improving the local environment/ building Recovery Capital, so they develop the skills and connections needed to lead local changes in knowledge, policy and environment.
    4. Empower local Changemakers to increase Recovery Capital in their communities through leading social innovation projects.
    5. Engage and empower local recovery organization leaders to identify the needs of individuals in recovery and provide education and training to staff to increase locally available Recovery Capital

    This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2018-46100-284784.  Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

    Building Rural Capacity to Develop Positive Recovery Capital

    This project engages with rural Minnesota counties and tribal communities that suffer a disproportionate burden from the opioid crisis.

    Partners

    North St. Louis County Public Health (Jana Blomberg), Pine County Public Health & Human Services (Becky Foss), Aitkin County Public Health & Human Services (Erin Melz), Itasca County Public Health & Human Services (Kelly Chandler), University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy (Laura Palombi), University of Minnesota Extension – Center for Family Development (Mary Jo Katras, Lori Hendrickson, Jennifer Garbow, Kate Welshons Bouta, Noelle Harden, & Emily Becher), University of Minnesota – Center for Community Vitality (Lori Rothstein and Denise Stromme), Minnesota tribal nations, community members and professionals in St. Louis, Pine, Aitkin and Itasca Counties.

    Goals

    The “Building Rural Capacity to Develop Positive Recovery Capital” project engages with rural Minnesota (MN) counties and Tribal communities that suffer a disproportionate burden from the opioid crisis by providing a menu of in-person and on-line evidence-based technical assistance, training and education options that communities can select to develop local positive Recovery Capital. Utilizing in-person and on-line technical assistance, workshops, training and public education, this project makes research-based resources easily accessible to project partners and rural communities across the nation.

    Overall Program Objectives

    1. Provide technical assistance training and public education starting September 30, 2018 in two counties and two tribal communities, and make available/provide additional training/resources as they are developed in this project, to Aitkin and Itasca County, as documented by reporting;
    2. Develop a menu of at least 12 training options by March 31, 2019 that will support the development of increased positive Recovery Capital in communities, documented by posting as resource on website;
    3. Reach 1,000 community members, as documented by completion of surveys, by August 31, 2020 with in-person education about the OUD crisis, its impact on their community and what they can do to help address/mitigate the OUD crisis in their community;
    4. Recruit 20 local Change Makers, through education and/or training and technical assistance, by June 30, 2019, to take action to increase positive Recovery Capital in their community and sustain the project in the future; documented by completion of CSAT GPRA measurement tool; 5) Reach 160 professionals/practitioners per with in-person training and technical assistance about how they can assist in addressing the OUD crisis, 60 by August 31, 2019, 160 by August 31, 2020, documented by completion of CSAT GPRA measurement tool;
    5. Develop website and launch by June 30, 2019, populate as identified/developed with easily accessible and up-to-date online education and technical assistance tools to provide on-demand information and training to 3000 community members and practitioners regarding the OUD crisis.

    This project is supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, under award number 1H79T108900-01.

    Building Capacity in Rural South Dakota and Minnesota Tribal Communities: A Collaborative, Interdisciplinary, and Interstate Effort to Address the Opioid Crisis

    This project is a collaboration between South Dakota and Minnesota, focused on partnering with rural tribal communities to address the opioid crisis.

    Partners 

    University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy (Laura Palombi), University of Minnesota Extension - Center for Family Development (Emily Becher, Mary Jo Katras, & Jennifer Garbow) and South Dakota State University (Staci Born, Francesca Benson, & Laura Pierce).

    Goals

    The current project is a collaboration between South Dakota and Minnesota, focused on partnering with rural tribal communities as they address the Opioid Crisis. The work is based on the idea that every community can support people to both prevent opioid use, and to achieve and maintain sobriety from opioid addiction. The project's goal is to support four tribal communities in their work to address the opioid crisis, through hiring/supporting American-Indian Tribal Community Facilitators, embedded in the communities of Lower Brule (South Dakota), Fort Thompson - Crow Creek (South Dakota), Bois Forte (Minnesota), and Mille Lacs (Minnesota).

    1. Tribal Community Facilitators will work with each community to partner, collaborate, and co-create education and outreach that builds on communities' capacity and unique strengths to address opioid use disorders.
    2. Education will be integrated with other existing health programming, including health and nutrition education delivered through SNAP-Ed and other projects already off the ground.
    3. Tribal Community Facilitators will work together to share best practices and lessons learned, focused on opioid use disorders in American Indian communities, as well as participating in and delivering training opportunities, in response to what communities identify as a priority.
    4. Each Tribal Community Facilitator will host an opioid focused community get-together (i.e. a forum), as an event to share high quality information about preventing opioid use disorders and supporting those in recovery, as well as strengthening relationships between community members.
    5. Lessons learned from the project will be developed in partnership with the tribal partners connected to this project and will be shared broadly, in the hope that other communities find these strategies successful way to partner with American Indian communities to address the Opioid Crisis.

    This material is based upon work that is supported by the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, U.S. Department of Agriculture, under award number 2019-46100-30279.  Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the view of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

    Rural Opioid Technical Assistance Grant: Adapting To Change: A Collaborative Approach To Substance Use Prevention, Intervention, And Recovery For Minnesota Rural And Tribal Communities

    This project engages four rural Minnesota counties (Pine, St. Louis, Itasca and Aitkin) and Tribal communities (Bois Forte, Mille Lacs) that suffer a disproportionate burden from opioid and stimulant misuse. 

    Partners

    Public Health and Health and Human Services--Pine, St. Louis, Itasca and Aitkin counties and Tribal partners: Bois Forte & Mille Lacs, University of Minnesota Extension Centers for Family Development and Community Vitality; University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy. 

    Goals

    This project aims to create a regional-based coalition that supports a menu of in-person and on-line evidence-based technical assistance and training options that are specific to the unique needs of communities to help build local positive recovery capital. This project will collaborate with five current State Opioid Response (SOR) partners to assure a bi-directional flow of information and dissemination of resources and products that can be used to support each other’s programs in the area of opioid and stimulant use disorder prevention, treatment, and recovery. 

    Overall program objectives

    1. Develop a strong, regionally-based network of partners (tribal communities, SAMHSA SOR grantees, county public and health and human services, University of Minnesota Extension, and College of Pharmacy, Duluth) that support each other's work and promote a bi-directional flow of information and resource sharing to collectively prevent opioid and stimulant use disorders and support those in recovery in rural and tribal communities.
    2. Provide easily accessible, up-to-date online and in-person resources and information for individuals, families, communities, and practitioners in rural and tribal communities to increase awareness and reduce stigma of opioid and stimulant use disorders.
    3. Build rural and tribal communities' capacity to meet the unique needs of their communities to address opioid and stimulant use disorders through the ongoing development of sustainable and culturally relevant training and technical assistance for professionals and community members.

    This project is supported by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, under award number 1H79TI083262-01.

    Community Opioid Response and Evaluation (CORE): PEW Charitable Trusts Grant

    This mixed-methods 'meta-evaluation' project assesses outcomes and processes across three strategic projects aimed at reducing and preventing opioid use in rural Midwest and Northern Plains Tribal communities. To learn more about this partnership, visit the Pew website

    Partners

    University of Minnesota Extension, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for American Indian Health Great Lakes Hub (CAIHGLH).

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