Nogales police department FR-cara - the city of nogales, arizona lies along the U.S. Border with mexico

With its international port of entry, the area experiences high volumes of drug trafficking, placing its community members in a vulnerable situation. From 2017 to date, among 173 accidental deaths in santa cruz county, 59 were drug related, the highest category for accidental deaths- more than motor vehicle crashes, falls, or drownings. Nogales is the county seat for santa cruz county, the smallest, southernmost county in arizona. According to the hrsa rural health grants eligibility analyzer, all locations within the county are considered rural. Community members face challenges common in rural communities, including no public transportation and gaps in behavioral health services such as no in-patient treatment facilities and no dedicated housing/shelter for people with substance use disorders. As such, the entire community is underserved with respect to behavioral health services and social determinants of health related to housing and transportation. Further, santa cruz county has a social vulnerability index (SVI) score of 0.9449, indicating high vulnerability. Census tracts in the nogales area have SES arizona SVI scores between 0.91 to 1.0, with most residents living below federal poverty levels. To meet the needs of the community, the city of nogales is applying to the samhsa FY24 FR-cara program with the overall goal to decrease the number of deaths due to overdose by increasing the capacity of law enforcement and community response. The project will be led by the nogales police department in collaboration with two local technical assistance providers, hope, INC. A peer support organization, and mariposa community health center, the only health center in the county serving over half of county residents (over 26,000). Two community anchor partners- a local hair salon and a local barber shop- will participate in the project to build the capacity of non-traditional community partners to respond to overdose events and other situations related to substance use in a trauma-informed manner. Together, the nogales police department and core partners will train three lead officers on trauma-informed approaches and harm reduction approaches to better respond to suspected substance related emergency calls, including suspected overdose cases. These lead officers will in turn mentor officers within their respective squads. This training will be supported by a hope liaison who will also CO-facilitate training for community anchor partners. The project goal will be reached through five key objectives: 1) by january 31ST, the university of arizona evaluation partner will lead a resource mapping assessment for the nogales FR-cara service area to help guide project implementation. 2) by december 2024, core partners will formalize the lived experience advisory council as an extension of the santa cruz county overcoming addiction (SOSA) consortium. 3) by september of 2025, core partners will have developed and implemented a peer/mentor training program with three nogales police department squads that included policies and procedures for the implementation of evidence-based, trauma-informed care practices. 4) by february 2025, core partners will conduct outreach with at least two community anchor partners on overdose response and SUD prevention, treatment, and recovery resources. 5) each year, NPD will participate in and/or lead at least two community outreach and education activities per year such as take back events, dare program, and community health fairs. The nogales FR-cara project aims to serve low-income, hispanic/latino community members in high need areas, whose first and most used language is spanish. The project anticipates reaching over 120 unduplicated individuals a year, for a total of more than 1,000 individuals over a four-year project period through prevention, intervention, and first-responder activities.