The town of east bridgewater is applying for funding in the amount of $1,600,000 to support the existing plymouth county outreach (PCO) program

The Town of East Bridgewater, MA has received a $1,599,999 Project Grant award from the U.S. Department of Justice's Bureau of Justice Assistance under the Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Abuse Program (COSSAP, CFDA 16.838). This grant will enhance the existing Plymouth County Outreach (PCO) program, a police-directed post-overdose outreach model, in three key ways: 1) Expand the reentry strategy to provide recovery support services for pre-trial court populations, 2) Expand youth recovery supports including new support groups and curriculum, and 3) Create an overdose fatality review process to identify service gaps. The award also funds partnerships with local law enforcement, hospitals, treatment providers, and Kelley Research Associates, who will serve as the research partner and maintain the Critical Incident Management System for data collection and analysis. This strategic expansion builds on previous COSSAP funding received in 2018 and 2020 to establish long-term sustainability for the PCO program.

Ninety-seven percent of this budget will support the allowable use category of law enforcement and first responder deflection and diversion programming and 3% will support real-time data collection. This project serves the area of plymouth county, which has a population of 541,589.1 PCO is a police directed post-overdose outreach model and serves to make treatment more accessible for those struggling with substance use disorder and their families. The key program components of this proposal will enhance the current PCO model in three ways. First, the expansion of the reentry strategy to provide recovery support to pre-trial court-based populations including referrals to local resources, sober living scholarships, and transportation vouchers. Second, the expansion of recovery supports to youth including weekly youth recovery support groups and the development of a policy and curriculum for educational SUD classes that schools can add to the existing school drug policy violation disciplinary options. Finally, the creation of an overdose fatality review process to identify gaps in services and resources that contribute to fatal overdose events including six OFR meetings reviewing 12-18 fatal events per year. This project includes partnerships between the 27 police departments in plymouth county, as well as the bridgewater state university police department, the plymouth county district attorney and sheriff, as well as all local hospitals and treatment facilities. PCO is administered by an advisory board that is comprised of police chiefs, physicians, and public health experts. Kelley research associates (KRA) will serve as the research partner for this project and also maintain the critical incident management system (cims) software which records real-time data on all overdoses that occur in plymouth county. Cims also manages and documents incident followup outreach visits to determine the success at connecting individuals with treatment services, shares information across communities using a county-wide incident notification system and provides real-time reporting tools. Previous cossap funding from 2018 and 2020 allowed PCO to establish long-term viability. This proposal signifies a strategic expansion of the PCO model to fill critical gaps in current resources and services.