Innovative Initiatives

Legendary Legacies, a Worcester, Massachusetts gang rehabilitation and reentry nonprofit organization, serves men of color aged 17-24 who are not served by traditional educational, legal, or community-based entities. Based on four pillars: (1) belief; (2) opportunity; (3) transformation; and (4) brotherhood, the faith-inspired program provides participants with the basic life skills, case management assistance, family support services, and recreational and service opportunities through mentorships. The goal is to reduce recidivism and for these individuals to ultimately become contributing members of the community. ...

In the beginning of 2022, the West Virginia Drug Intervention Institute, the West Virginia Collegiate Recovery Network, and Marshall University, a public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, launched an overdose prevention initiative on every public and private college campus in West Virginia. The program, entitled, “Be The One” focuses on opioid overdose prevention from a bystander’s perspective, encouraging students, staff, and faculty to “be the one” to save a life....

In October 2022, Wisconsin’s Department of Health Services (DHS), in conjunction with the state’s department of justice (DOJ) and the Office of Governor Tony Ever announced the launch of the Real Talks campaign to help address the rise in substance use in the state. In recent years, much like the rest of the country, Wisconsin has seen a sizable increase in opioid-related deaths. In fact, between 2018 and 2020, the number of opioid-related deaths increased by 46.7 percent. In addition, alcohol misuse continues to be a problem. Data from DHS indicates that adults in the state rank third in the United States for alcohol use. Real Talks Wisconsin is part of a series of DHS programs aimed at preventing and reducing substance use or abuse within the state. Real Talks discusses community prevention programs and encourages harm reduction programs, such as free access to emergency opioid antagonists....

The restaurant industry has been particularly impacted by the opioid epidemic with, for example, ten percent of food service workers dying from opioid overdoses in the State of Delaware.[1] This sobering statistic prompted the Delaware Division of Public Health (DPH) to launch the Restaurant Accolade Program (the Program), which trains all restaurant staff and owners in the state on how to identify, respond to, and reverse an opioid overdose and helps food establishments draft policies that support employees and patrons with substance use disorders (SUDs). The Office of Health Crisis Response (OCHR) within DPH conducts the training and education....

When Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro learned that approximately 15 citizens of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania die each day from an overdose, he took action. As a result, in May of 2018, he launched the Law Enforcement Treatment Initiative (LETI) to connect individuals suffering with a substance use disorder (SUD) to treatment resources....