Strategic prevention aligning recovery communities (sparc) - the strategic prevention aligning recovery communities (sparc) project is a collaborative effort between the center for recovery and…

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded the Center for Recovery & Wellness Resources $3 million on September 30, 2025, under the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.243) to implement the Strategic Prevention Aligning Recovery Communities (SPARC) project.

SPARC will develop and deliver community-based substance misuse prevention and mental health promotion services for young adults in Houston, Texas who are underserved and under-resourced. The project targets young adults residing in specific high-risk neighborhoods with limited access to prevention and recovery support services, though it will accept participants from the broader Houston metropolitan statistical area. The Center for Recovery & Wellness Resources will collaborate with the National Institute for Behavioral Health, grassroots community-based organizations, and local agencies providing ancillary services to implement, sustain, and improve substance use prevention services. Activities address Houston's disproportionate burden from the opioid epidemic, fentanyl-driven overdose deaths, and elevated HIV prevalence rates in the affected population, including formerly incarcerated individuals with heightened overdose risk.

The award period runs from September 30, 2025, through September 29, 2030, with place of performance in Houston, TX 77020.

Strategic prevention aligning recovery communities (sparc) - the strategic prevention aligning recovery communities (sparc) project is a collaborative effort between the center for recovery and wellness resources, a group of grassroots, community-based organizations and local agencies that provide ancillary services, and the national institute for behavioral health to implement, sustain, and improve substance use prevention services for young adults in houston who are underserved and under-resourced. The lack of access to prevention and treatment is fueled by the disproportionate burden of the impact of the opiate epidemic which has led to houston experiencing a record number of deaths from overdose, with fentanyl as the principal driver. Almost every substance in houston is now cut with fentanyl, which kills more than one person every day. Fatal drug overdoses have increased dramatically in houston. Nearly one in four of the overdose deaths in texas occur in houston, which has the dubious distinction of having the highest rate in the state of texas and the entire south. Additionally, our population is disproportionately made up of formerly incarcerated individuals whose leading cause of death is overdose, and incarcerated people are 10 to 18 times more likely to have a fatal overdose than the general population. This has also fueled a rise in HIV prevalence in these communities. Houston has one of the highest HIV prevalence rates in the country at 848 per 100,000, which is 204% higher than the state of texas, 184% of the south, and 220% of the united states. While the project will accept any young adult from the houston MSA, activities will focus on supporting young adults who reside in specific neighborhoods for high-risk activity and limited access to prevention and recovery support services. This project will develop and deliver community-based substance misuse prevention and mental health promotion services that are specifically tailored to fill the void in the most underserved and under-resourced communities in houston and address the specific needs of young adults in the montrose (77006, 77098), downtown houston (77002), northeast houston near i-610 and U.S. 59 (77026), south-central houston (77004), the fifth ward area (77020), and the sunnyside community (77051). These specific areas will be targeted due to high concentrations of risk factors and individuals in need of support, which appears to CO-occur with a lack of access to support services, lower levels of employment, higher levels of incarceration and RE-entry populations, high levels of low-income residents, and high levels of substance use. The project's overarching goals are to: (1) develop a coalition that represents and is held accountable to the community to address community-identified substance use prevention needs for our young adults in houston; (2) conduct outreach to improve awareness, decrease stigma, and improve access to substance use prevention services; (3) improve engagement with behavioral health services for students and young adults by leveraging community resources; and (4) expand and enhance behavioral health services to young adults and students that address all aspects of well-being. The impact of this collaboration will be to improve (should IT be decrease?) risk factors and buttress protective factors to ensure that and young adults in houston, TX have an opportunity to grow and live drugfree and strive toward health and wellness. We will provide outreach services to 5,100 individuals, engagement services to 1,275 individuals. Further, a total of 340 will be enrolled in services during the 5-year project.