HHS – Rural Communities Opioid Response Program – Planning (2018)

By NLADA on June 21, 2018

Applications Due: July 30, 2018, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time
Letter of Intent Due Date: June 25, 2018 (letter of intent encouraged but not required to apply)

Description:

This notice solicits applications for the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Planning (RCORP-Planning). The purpose of RCORP is to support treatment for and prevention of substance use disorder, including opioid use disorder, in rural counties at the highest risk for substance use disorder, including the 220 counties identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as being at risk for HIV and Hepatitis C infections due to injection drug use (See Appendix A for additional eligibility information).

The overall goal of RCORP-Planning is to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with opioid overdoses in high-risk rural communities by strengthening the organizational and infrastructural capacity of multi-sector consortiums (as defined in the “Eligibility Information” section) to address one or more of the following focus areas at the community, county, state, and/or regional levels:

Prevention: reducing the occurrence of opioid use disorder among new and at-risk users, as well as fatal opioid-related overdoses, through activities such as community and provider education, and harm reduction measures including the strategic placement and use of overdose reversing devices, such as naloxone, and syringe services programs;
Treatment: implementing or expanding access to evidence-based practices for opioid addiction/opioid use disorder (OUD) treatment, such as medication-assisted treatment (MAT), including developing strategies to eliminate or reduce treatment costs to uninsured and underinsured patients; and
Recovery: expanding peer recovery and treatment options that help people start and stay in recovery.

RCORP-Planning will support one (1) year of funding. The program is part of a multi-year, $130.0 million opioid-focused effort by HRSA that will include: improving access to and recruitment of new substance use disorder providers; building sustainable treatment resources; increasing the use of telehealth; establishing cross-sector community partnerships; implementing new models of care, including integrated behavioral health; and providing technical assistance.

In FY 2018, HRSA will allocate approximately $15.0 million to fund RCORP-Planning. In addition, in FY 2019 and beyond, there will be additional funds available to provide continued support, including additional grants and National Health Service Corps (NHSC) Loan Repayment Program awards.

Funding Title: Rural Communities Opioid Response Program-Planning

Agency Name: Health Resources & Services Administration

Funding Opportunity Number: HRSA-18-116

Funding Instrument Type: Grant

Express Language for Legal Aid: No.

However, the Notice requires the applicant organization to be part of a group of entities committed to forming, or already part of, a consortium. ON Page 4, the Notice states “consortium members should come from multiple sectors and disciplines,” and includes in a list of examples “social services agencies and organizations.”

Target Population: Rural communities in counties at the highest risk for substance use disorder, including the 220 counties identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as being at risk for HIV and Hepatitis C infections due to injection drug use (See Appendix A for additional eligibility information).

Expected Number of Awards: 75

Cost Sharing or Matching Requirement: No

Estimated Total Program Funding: $15,000,000

Award Ceiling: $200,000

Award Floor: $0

How to Apply: HRSA requires you to apply electronically. HRSA encourages you to apply through Grants.gov using the SF-424 workspace application package associated with this NOFO following the directions provided at http://www.grants.gov/applicants/apply-for-grants.html.

HRSA recommends that you supply an email address to Grants.gov on the grant opportunity synopsis page when accessing this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO) (also known as “Instructions” on Grants.gov) or workspace application package. This allows Grants.gov to email organizations in the event HRSA changes and/or republishes the NOFO on Grants.gov before its closing date. Responding to an earlier version of a modified notice may result in a less competitive or ineligible application.

Applicant organization/agency is responsible for reading and complying with the instructions included in HRSA’s SF-424 Application Guide, available online at http://www.hrsa.gov/grants/apply/applicationguide/sf424guide.pdf, except where instructed in this NOFO to do otherwise. A short video explaining the Application Guide is available at http://www.hrsa.gov/grants/apply/applicationguide/.

Current Closing Date for Applications: by July 30, 2018, 11:59 p.m., Eastern Time

Eligible Applicants:

Eligible applicants include all domestic public or private, non-profit or for-profit, entities, including faith-based and community-based organizations, tribes, and tribal organizations, who will serve rural communities at the highest risk for substance use disorder and who meet the RCORP-Planning specifications for the Applicant Organization and Consortium as described below.

Applicant Organization Specifications:
The applicant organization may be located in an urban or rural area, but all activities supported by this program must exclusively target populations residing in HRSA-designated rural counties or rural census tracts in urban counties and the consortium overall must be representative of rural entities.

The applicant organization should have the staffing and infrastructure necessary to oversee program activities, serve as the fiscal agent for the grant, and ensure that local control for the grant is vested in the target rural communities. If the applicant organization is an urban entity, at least two consortium members involved in the proposed project must be located in HRSA-designated rural counties or rural census tracts in urban counties. To ascertain whether a particular county or census tract is rural, please refer to http://datawarehouse.hrsa.gov/RuralAdvisor/.

Consortium Specifications:
The applicant organization must be part of a group of entities that have committed to forming a consortium or are part of an established consortium. For the purposes of this program, a consortium is defined as an organizational arrangement among four or more separately owned domestic public or private entities, including the applicant organization. The applicant organization, along with each consortium member who will receive any of the awarded funds, must have separate and different Employer Identification Numbers (EINs).

Given the complex and multifaceted nature of OUD, consortium members should come from multiple sectors and disciplines. Consortium members may be located in urban or rural areas, but all activities supported by this program must exclusively target populations residing in HRSA-designated rural counties or rural census tracts in urban counties and the consortium overall must berepresentative of rural entities. To ascertain whether a particular county or census tract is rural, please refer to http://datawarehouse.hrsa.gov/RuralAdvisor/.

Link to Full Announcement: View the Opportunity here. Click here to download the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

HRSA has scheduled the following technical assistance webinar: Thursday, June 28, 2018, 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET
Call-In Number: 1-888-600-4866
Participant Code: 391986
Weblink: https://hrsaseminar.adobeconnect.com/rural_communities_opioid_response_planning/
Playback Number: 1-888-203-1112
Passcode: 2758241

Contact Information: For technical assistance with submitting an application, contact the Grants.gov Customer Support Hotline at 800–518–4726, 606–545–5035, at www.grants.gov/web/grants/support.html, or at support@grants.gov. The Grants.gov Support Hotline operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, except on federal holidays.

If you have difficulty accessing the full announcement electronically, please contact:

Allison Hutchings, MA, MPH
Public Health Analyst, Federal Office of Rural Health Policy
Telephone: (301) 945-9819
Email: ruralopioidresponse@hrsa.gov