Resource Navigation and Assertive Linkages

Awarded Agency: New North Citizens Council (NNCC)

Summary of Awarded Proposal:

For this project area NNCC submitted an application which proposes NNCC building out their existing public health services by establishing the Street & Community Outreach, Prevention and Education (SCOPE) initiative. The program’s mission is to provide mobile intervention services, resource navigation, and assertive linkages, with a primary focus on racialized and marginalized communities in the City of Springfield. NNCC seeks to build on their existing collaborations, as well as establish formal and ongoing collaborations with the other organizations that are funded under the ORRF initiative. The indicators of success for the project included: reduced incidents of overdose, and related mortality, greater access to prevention, the multiple pathways of recovery, which include treatment, access to housing, food, transportation, health care services, training and employment, and other health and human services.

For the SCOPE initiative NNCC plans on hiring Latino/x/e and Black/African American individuals who reside in Springfield, have lived and living experience, and possess the empathy, skills, knowledge, and commitment to work with the priority populations. NNCC proposes to use SBIRT (Screening, Brief Intervention and Referral to Treatment within the SCOPE initiative. SBIRT is an evidence-based approach that has been deemed to be effective for working with individuals with substance use disorders and related conditions who are at high risk for opioid overdose and death. They will also be trained to use motivational interviewing (MI), combined with the Transtheoretical Model (Stages of Change), when engaging with Springfield residents at high risk for opioid overdose deaths. SCOPE staff will utilize what they learn from the brief assessments to connect participants to needed services in the form of assertive linkages and warm handoffs.