People-Centered Design & Solutions Led by People with Lived Experience (PWLLE) and Their Families

Awarded Agency: Tapestry Health

Summary of Awarded Proposal:

For this project area Tapestry Health submitted an application which proposes to increase their strategic outreach in order to reach and provide more harm reduction services to people in Springfield using drugs. They propose to collaborate with their clients who are using drugs to create and implement an evidence-based, person-centered procedure to assess and strategically hone Tapestry Health harm reduction services. 

To this end Tapestry plans to:  1. conduct 1,100 hours of street outreach, including 100 new hours each in Indian Orchard, Forest, Park, and Mason Square (a 33% increase from FY24). 2. in their office and during street outreach, conduct 15,700+ encounters with 5,050+ unduplicated Springfield residents using drugs (a 43% increase from FY24), including 950+ encounters with 315+ unduplicated individuals from Indian Orchard, 4,650+ encounters with 1,315+ unduplicated individuals from Forest Park, and 840+ encounters with 260+ unduplicated individuals from Mason Square., 3. increase by 20% the number of clients from Indian Orchard, Forest Park, and Mason Square whom they see in their office and during street outreach., 4. collect 375,000+ used syringes and distribute 372,000+ sterile ones (a 15% increase from FY24)., 5. distribute 3,100+ Narcan kits (a 19% increase from FY24) with 6,200 doses to people who might witness an overdose (including through peer outreach), ensuring all recipients are trained to use them and rescue breathing to reverse the overdose.

Tapestry also plans to train and pay stipends for 75 clients and 10 impacted family members to give overdose reversal trainings and Narcan kits to 200+ peers within their networks (they estimate approximately 150 from client outreach and 50 from family member outreach), raise awareness of their services, and support interested peers to visit them (they estimate approximately 50 from client outreach and 20 from family member outreach).

For their Person-Centered Assessment & Design, Tapestry proposes engaging 5 clients to provide input into the assessment survey planning process. After which, they plan to collect 50+ responses to the cross-sectional assessment survey from a range of Springfield clients representing the full diversity of identities, neighborhoods, and lifestyles served. Through the cross-sectional survey, they plan to identify barriers and gaps clients face when accessing services from them and other agencies in Springfield’s SUD services ecosystem, including barriers and gaps specific to people of different cultures and/or languages, people facing systemic racism, and parents. They then plan to collect client feedback on the usefulness and impact of their supplies and services in relation to their needs. Finally, they plan to engage 10 clients in collaborating with 10 staff members in an appreciative inquiry process of assessing the survey results and planning accessibility and quality improvements in response.