Table 1: Timeline of Events

The Q&A meeting will be done via the Zoom application and you can access from the link above. If you have a question about how to access it via Zoom, please contact Dr. Eduardo Zavala at prod2acommunityprevention@salud.pr.gov

The Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) Community Prevention Grant is funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The goal of this funding opportunity is to build, strengthen and enhance the capacity of rural and urban communities. Emphasis will be placed on promoting strategies and activities to address opioid overdose in high burden areas, particularly those identified by the OD2A, which include to prevent morbidity and mortality associated with opioid overdoses. It also includes strategies that prevent opioid overuse, misuse, use disorder, overdose, and opioid-related harms. Funded activities should combine the best of what the entity/organization knows to be effective, with the unique ability of communities to innovate and test new approaches that promote the implementation of intervention and prevention activities guided by an evidence base.

Proposed multi-sector and community-based projects must address at least one of the following focus areas: Integration of State Local Prevention and Response Efforts, Establish Linkages to Care and Providers and Health Systems Support.  In addition, it is based on the idea of achieving greater effectiveness in the development and implementation of prevention strategies aimed at reducing the consumption of opioids and other substances, substance use disorders, overdoses, and health damage, among others. It is important to focus these efforts on the particular situations of each community identified as high burden areas.

    Anticipated notice of award:  8/31/2020

    Contract Period: 9/01/2020-8/31/2021

The project budget may range from $ 80,000 to a maximum of $ 95,000 covering the contract period.

Grant funding is expressly dependent on the availability of funds to Puerto Rico Department of Health according to the allocation of federal funds. Applications may be approved according to the availability of funds and the obtained score from the panel's review process.

Number of Awards:  It is anticipated there will be 4-6 proposals approved, based on the number of applications received and quality of applications, Puerto Rico Department of Health may issue modified awards.

In fairness to all applicants, Puerto Rico Department of Health staff cannot comment on your specific project idea prior to your submittal. An applicant Q&A virtual meeting is scheduled for 8/14/2020 at 2:00 p.m. AST at this Zoom Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZwoc-6vpz4pGdEDCtLp0nbyhc_Q_6IKe5_U

Puerto Rico Department of Health recognizes that the needs of communities vary considerably. Some communities have relatively limited capacity in addressing opioid overdose and need support to strengthen their ability to collect, analyze, and apply data, as well as translate data into action in the form of a comprehensive strategy to combat the harmful effects of opioid overdoses in Puerto Rico. Other communities are at a higher state of readiness and need resources and support to scale up a comprehensive program and/or advance a multi-pronged, multi-year prevention program. To this end, strengthening and enhancing the capacity of communities is a goal of this funding opportunity. Emphasis will be placed on promoting strategies and activities that build local capacity to prevent morbidity and mortality associated with opioid overdoses. These include strategies that prevent opioid overuse, misuse, use disorder, overdose, and opioid-related harms. Interventions will address drivers of use of both prescription and illicit opioids and may address other prescription or illicit drugs to the extent that they are associated with the opioid overdose epidemic.

Any activities proposed should be theoretically informed and driven by experiential and contextual evidence and should have reasonable expectation of achieving demonstrable impact on at least one of the outcomes related to the project's focus (please see Table 2 below).

Table 2: Overview of Strategy Areas and Outcomes

Eligible Entities/Organizations: The community grant prevention program is limited to local  entities/organizations such as local health clinics like IPA´s and 330 Centers (knowns as primary health care's centers), Chronic Kidney Disease Centers (CKD), State and private universities, Centers for diagnostic and treatment (CDT´s), township governments, non-governmental organizations, and coalitions.

Applicants must select at least one of the strategies for implementation and are encouraged to develop innovative activities, according to their expertise, selecting relevant target populations to impact. The following are proposed activities and target population examples that may be related to the required strategy and corresponding outcomes.

    A. Integration of State and Local Prevention and Response Efforts

This strategy helps applicants propose activities that will provide state and local support for prevention to address resources needed to implement comprehensive prevention strategies for morbidity associated with opioid overdoses. These include strategies that prevent drug overdoses, opioid overuse, misuse, use disorder, overdose, and opioid-related harms. Activities proposed under this strategy must demonstrate support for integration of state and local prevention and response efforts. 

    B. Establishing Linkages to Care

Linkages to Care are the bridges that connect the work of public health with that of other agencies and partners. Connections or linkages to care may be viewed as the vehicle by which one system meaningfully coordinates with another. This is an opportunity to leverage systems and upstream prevention effort to ensure that people are connected with the care they need. Partners from a broad range of practices and disciplines can become a part of linkage to care efforts. Applicants are encouraged to broaden their thinking and to innovate around what linkages to care may look like. 

    C. Providers and Health Systems Support

Applicants may propose strategies in this domain that equip providers and health systems to make evidence- based prescribing decisions, have timely and complete information regarding non-opioid medications and non-pharmacologic treatments, and identify patients at risk for overdose or opioid use disorder and can then either offer or connect their patients with appropriate care.

Unallowable Activities:

• Purchasing naloxone, implementing, or expanding drug "take back" programs or other drug disposal programs (e.g. drop boxes or disposal bags), purchasing fentanyl test strips, or directly funding or expanding direct provision of substance abuse treatment programs.
• Research.
• Purchase of syringes, fentanyl test strips, harm reduction kits, furniture, or equipment.
• Drug disposal. This includes implementing or expanding drug disposal programs or drug take back programs, drug drop box, drug disposal bags. However, promotion of safe disposal is an allowable activity.
• Public safety activities that do not include clear overlap/collaboration with public health partner and objectives.
• The purchase of naloxone is not supported by this funding opportunity, however, provision of auxiliary services to organizations and agencies responsible for naloxone purchase to support appropriate distribution and implementation is authorized. Such auxiliary services include naloxone training and awareness, tracking, resources mapping, and evaluation efforts. 

Eligible Applicants:

The community grant prevention program is limited to local entities/organizations such as local health clinics like IPA´s and 330 Centers (knowns as primary health care centers), Chronic Kidney Disease Centers (CKD), State and private universities, Centers for diagnostic and treatment (CDT´s), township governments, non-governmental organizations, and coalitions. Non-governmental organizations must have a 501c3 status.

Application Deadline:

Submission of the numbered Project Description, Project Plan using format in Appendix A, and Project Budget using format in Appendix B, constitute a complete application. Applications must be submitted via e-mail to Dr. Eduardo Zavala at prod2acommunityprevention@salud.pr.gov by 5:00 p.m. AST, August 25, 2020. Please put "OD2A Community Prevention Grant Application" in the email subject line. Please PDF the files before sending. It is preferred that you submit the Project Description, Project Plan and Project Budget as one PDF file. If that is not possible, please label each document with your organization's name and the name of document. All applications submitted that meet the required criteria will be reviewed. Applications that fail to meet the formatting and submission requirements will not be reviewed.

Format:

Narrative responses must be double-spaced, 8 ½" x 11", with 1" margins on all sides and font size 12 points in Times New Roman.  The narrative must not exceed 15 pages in Spanish or English.  Please number the narrative responses according to prompts below. Charts may use smaller fonts and be single spaced. Include applicant name in the header or footer of each page. The Budget and Project Plan do not count toward narrative page limit.

Reasonable Accommodations:

The Puerto Rico Department of Health will provide reasonable accommodations, including the provision of informational material in an alternative format, for qualified individuals with disabilities upon request. If you think you need accommodations at any time during the Request for Applications (RFA) process, contact  Dr. Eduardo Zavala, Project Director at prod2acommunityprevention@salud.pr.gov.

Application Components

Project Description:

This is your opportunity to describe your project, why it is needed in your community and how that was determined, and how it will build your community's capacity to prevent morbidity and mortality associated with opioid overdoses. Please, complete the following information using the PROD2A Form 20-1:

1.  Please provide the name, role, and contact information (email, phone, and mailing address) for at least one key programmatic representative and one key fiscal representative that will serve as the contacts for this project.
2. What are the goals and objectives for use of the PROD2A funding?
3. Which required strategy area(s) does your project align with? Which required outcome(s) does this project contribute to? (Please see Project Requirements section)
4. How will this project contribute to meeting the required strategy area outcomes in your community? What evidence-based practice or practice-based evidence informs this project?
5.  How does this project meet the needs of your community or target population?
6. Describe existing community efforts that may have goals similar to this project, and how you will coordinate, leverage, and align implementation without duplicating efforts. If applicable, please explain how these funds will be used to supplement similar work being done with other state and federal funding sources, rather than supplant it.
7. How will an increased capacity to prevent morbidity and mortality associated with opioid overdoses be demonstrated in your community? What changes in policy, procedure, protocols, and/or partnerships do you anticipate will demonstrate this?
8. Describe your organization's ability to effectively implement this project. How do you understand that you are the best candidate to carry out the elaboration and development of the proposal?
9. Describe the experience and qualifications of the key personnel responsible for the day-to-day implementation of project activities, submission of progress reports, and meeting financial reporting requirements. 
10. What barriers or challenges might hinder your ability to complete the work plan activities? How do you plan to manage these potential barriers or challenges?
11. What metrics will be tracked to measure the impact of the funds used?