FORE Awards Grants to 10 Groups for Opioid Response Efforts During Pandemic

The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) has announced it will provide more than $634,000 in grants to 10 organizations to help at-risk populations that are struggling with increases in opioid use and overdoses during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is the second wave of grants distributed by the private foundation since it was launched in 2018.

In a news release announcing the grants, FORE said it is prioritizing two areas with its second wave of funding: assuring virtual recovery support services during the pandemic and creating opportunities to inform future policy and practice.

The following groups are receiving funding from FORE for recovery support service initiatives:

• Association of Recovery in Higher Education (Kennesaw, Georgia). Developing virtual collegiate recovery programs for more than 150 campuses across the country.
• Hispanic Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program (Cleveland). Providing culturally and linguistically competent virtual peer services to Latinx individuals in Northeast Ohio who are transitioning from residential to outpatient care.
• Mindlands Recovery (Columbia, South Carolina). Connecting OUD patients who have been hospitalized with intravenous drug use-related conditions with certified peer support specialists.
• Anchor Recovery at Providence Center (Providence, Rhode Island). Providing virtual recovery groups and individual recovery coaching for individuals living in recovery housing.
• Renewal House (Nashville). Providing virtual care, life skills and parenting support for low-income pregnant and postpartum women with opioid use disorder.
• Young People in Recovery (Denver). Hosting virtual recovery meetings, social events and life skills training for members of all 50 of the organization’s chapters.

The following organizations are receiving funding for projects to inform policy and practice:

• Legal Action Center (New York). Identifying opportunities to leverage Medicaid coverage to cover opioid use disorder treatment for criminal justice-involved individuals.
• UCLA (Los Angeles). Hosting Substance Use X COVID-19 Data Collaborative, a global initiative to aggregate field reports for the purpose of recommending policy and practice changes that are sustainable post-pandemic.
• University of Miami (Florida). Operating a telemedicine-equipped van to initiate medication-assisted treatment in low-income Black communities in Miami-Dade County.
• Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut). Developing a national study to understand the experiences of various populations who have received increased methadone take-home doses and assess outcomes and consequences.