Sunday, November 24, 2024
11/24/2024
The Oklahoma State University (OSU) Community Wellness Programs (CWP) Project GROW is designed to prevent the spread of HIV and viral hepatitis through a coordinated package of evidence-based prevention strategies. Among these strategies are an increase in testing, community and peer led education, substance abuse disorder screening, and referral to treatment. Finally, navigation services are established to ensure linkage to services and treatment retention. Project GROW will operate out of a five-county area in the Tulsa Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), to include Payne, Pawnee, Osage, Creek, and Okmulgee Counties. This geographic area includes several Native American Nations (Osage, Pawnee, Muscogee Creek, Iowa, Sac & Fox). Within the five-county catchment area, the demographic breakdown for racial and ethnic minorities is: African Americans - 5.3% (13,526), American Indians and Alaska Natives - 8.6% (22,074), Hispanic or Latino - 4.3% (11,011). The catchment area also includes 16,549 veterans. This five-county area has an HIV incident rate in excess of the state average, particularly among racial/ethnic minority communities, which is why the population of focus for the project will be racial and ethnic minorities aged 13 to 24 and returning veterans. There are five primary goals for Project GROW. The first is the increase the capacity of community stakeholders to implement comprehensive community-based substance misuse and HIV prevention education. The second is to develop and implement culturally competent public messaging and awareness campaigns on the risk of substance misuse among individuals living with HIV and the importance of seeking care and treatment. The third is to enhance the HIV Care Continuum in the catchment area by implementing secondary prevention methods to identify new HIV cases among at risk racial/ethnic minority groups and facilitate linkage to and retention in HIV care. The fourth is to enhance linkage to and retention in substance abuse services within the catchment area by implementing secondary prevention methods to identify at risk racial/ethnic minority individuals and refer them to treatment. The fifth is to provide culturally competent education and training to substance use disorder treatment and other healthcare providers on the importance of screening for HIV and assuring clinical needs are met if an individual is determined to be infected with HIV. Each of the five goals is further broken down into SMART objectives which can be individually evaluated. These goals and objectives will be met and evaluated within the five-year time frame of the project. The total population of the area to be served is 255,914. Through both direct and indirect methods, including testing, community education, and mass media campaigns, Project GROW could reasonably expect to serve the entire population over the five years of the project for an average annual reach of approximately 51,181.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
