Endless possibilities in change (epic) - health services center, INC. (HSC) has provided substance use (SU), HIV, and viral hepatitis (VH) prevention and treatment services in its catchment area for…

Endless possibilities in change (epic) - health services center, INC. (HSC) has provided substance use (SU), HIV, and viral hepatitis (VH) prevention and treatment services in its catchment area for over 30 years. HSC's service area is a 14 county, largely rural, underserved area of alabama HIT hard by the opioid epidemic, disproportionate experience of HIV by minority and marginalized populations, and poverty. HSC's project epic (endless possibilities in change) will provide individual SU, HIV, and VH prevention services to young adults (ages 18 - 25) at increased risk, prioritizing minority populations, lgbtq+ populations, and low-income uninsured populations. The target service area is large, covering over 9,000 square miles (counties: blount, calhoun, coosa, cleburne, chambers, calhoun, dekalb, etowah, randolph, shelby, ST. Clair, tallapoosa, talladega, clay). In project epic, individual-level prevention service provision will be largely targeted in calhoun, etowah, and talladega counties, alabama, the population centers of the area. HSC will partner with jacksonville state university (a regional university), talladega college (an hbcu), the local HIV clinic, and other community stakeholders to provide project epic services. HSC will provide the evidence-based individual level intervention, brief motivational interviewing (BMI). BMI is a flexible prevention approach that will allow navigators and community health workers (chws) to work with prevention clients to determine prevention goals and strategies. BMI has strong research support with multiple risk factors across populations of young adults. Annually, the program will enroll at least 75 persons (325 over course of project) into individual prevention services. Community prevention capacity development activities will include community awareness activities, providing prevention training to peers and community providers working with young adults, and community coalition building to prevent and decrease SU, HIV, and VH risk. Project epic will serve 1,500 community members outreach through brief outreach (7,500 over the course of the project), 300 community members annually with HIV and VH testing (1,500 over the course of the project), and 150 persons annually with psychosocial referrals (750 over the course of the project). Measurable outcomes include: reduction of behavioral health disparities, reduced alcohol and other drug risk, decrease in unsafe behaviors related to SU, decreased HIV and VH risk behaviors, increased HIV/VH knowledge, and improved attitudes toward preventive behaviors. The proposed project staff is highly experienced in providing similar services to the priority populations. Project epic will expand and build on these successes. A thorough performance assessment is proposed