Rural Communities Opioid Response (Planning) - Franklin Primary Health Center, Inc. proposes the Southwest Alabama Rural SUD/OUD Planning Network, a 24-month RCORP-Planning project to strengthen rural capacity for coordinated substance use disorder, opioid use disorder, and related behavioral health planning in Southwest Alabama. The target rural service area includes Choctaw, Conecuh, Escambia, Monroe, and HRSA-designated rural census tracts and communities within Baldwin County, with all Baldwin County activities limited to verified HRSA-eligible rural areas. Franklin will serve as the lead applicant and backbone convener for a multi-sector rural planning network that includes healthcare, behavioral health, peer recovery, education, reentry, family-serving, workforce, faith-based, community-based, and lived-experience partners. Initial network partners include J.F. Shields High School, People Engaged in Recovery, Mobile Community Corrections Center, and The Helios Alliance. During the project period, Franklin will expand the network to strengthen representation across the full target rural service area. The project will focus on three priority planning pathways: reentry and justice-involved populations, family preservation and reunification cases affected by substance use, and youth and family prevention and early intervention. Franklin and its partners will conduct rural stakeholder engagement, community listening sessions, partner interviews, resource mapping, data inventory, referral pathway analysis, provider and partner readiness assessment, and sustainability planning. RCORP-Planning funds will not be used for direct service delivery. Instead, funds will support the planning infrastructure needed to prepare rural communities for future coordinated SUD/OUD prevention, treatment, recovery, and supportive service expansion. Grant-supported activities will include network development, local travel for rural engagement, meeting coordination, community planning materials, assessment tools, data and performance framework development, partner agreement development, and strategic action planning. By the end of the project period, Franklin and its partners will complete a formal rural SUD/OUD planning network, partner agreements or memoranda of understanding, a community needs and assets assessment, county/service-area profiles, a rural resource map, referral pathway protocols, a provider and partner readiness plan, a data and performance measurement framework, a sustainability and financing strategy, and a final multi-stakeholder strategic action plan. Through this planning project, Franklin will help move the target rural service area from fragmented relationships and inconsistent referral processes toward a coordinated, data-informed, community-driven planning infrastructure capable of supporting future rural SUD/OUD service implementation and long-term sustainability.
