Tuesday, April 29, 2025
4/29/2025
Street Medicine & Harm Reduction (SMHR) Project - Summary. Harlem United (HU) proposes a project to strengthen harm reduction programs as part of the continuum of care for individuals from racial/ethnic minority communities, particularly those with or at risk of developing substance use disorders. Services will include street-based medicine, overdose prevention education, and linkage to care. The project will conduct 300 monthly field encounters and 204 monthly field referrals, establish 144 monthly linkages, and serve 9,600 people over three years. Project name. Street Medicine & Harm Reduction (SMHR) Project Target populations. HU will implement the SMHR Project to offer services to individuals in racial/ethnic minority communities. Recognizing the intersectional nature of racism, trans and homophobia, sexism, and socioeconomic discrimination, we will serve the priority populations of Black, indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), as well as LGBTQ+ identifying individuals, who grapple with substance use disorder (SUD), serious mental illness (SMI), multiple chronic infections (e.g., HIV), disproportionate poverty, homelessness, and intimate partner violence (IPV). These communities have been our focus for the last 30 years; and in 2021, the majority of HU clients identified as BIPOC: 69% as Black, 26% as Latino/a. Additionally, of those opting to disclose their sexual orientation in 2021, 27% of HU clients identified as LGBTQ+. Strategies/interventions. HU’s SMHR Project will entail an expansion of HU’s preexisting harm reduction service delivery model, with the addition of a Nurse Practitioner who can incorporate street-based medicine and facilitate our use of innovative approaches (i.e., low threshold buprenorphine induction, wound care, blood pressures screenings, vaccine administration, and a community advisory board exclusive to people who use drugs) in the proposed project. Given that many people served by our project are street homeless people of color, these non-traditional services are integral to achieving better health outcomes and experiences for our clients. Goals. The primary goal of HU’s project will be to help control the spread of chronic infections and the consequences of such infections for BIPOC, as well as LGBTQ+ individuals with, or at risk of developing SUD through our Syringe Exchange Program and testing; enhance overdose prevention activities; offer trainings on administration methods and distribute opioid overdose reversal medication to individuals at risk of overdose, as well as other community members; remove barriers to care by providing street-based medical care to target population; and build connections for our target population to overdose education, counseling, and health education. Objectives. 1) 3 days/week outreach conducted to encounter 300/month individuals (3,600 annual) and refer 204/month individuals to support services (2,448 annual); 2) 144/month linkages (individual engagements with any support service) to support services (1728 annual); 3) 22/month baseline GPRA interviews conducted (264 annual) and at least 18/month follow-up GPRA interviews to be conducted at Month 6 (216 annual), for minimum 80% follow-up rate; 4) 60/month blood pressure screenings/wound care, 2/month buprenorphine inductions, 18/month flu vaccines and 2/quarter HPV vaccines administered; 5) 1000 fentanyl strips and 120 Narcan kits distributed annually; 6) 360 Narcan trainings conducted annually; 7) 8/month individuals screened for HIV, 6/month for HCV, with 25,000/year syringes distributed; 8) to document and provide annual reports on OD reversals; 9) 4 annual meetings (1/quarter) for two separate CABs: a drug users union (DUU) CAB for people who use drugs and a neighborhood CAB for key community members and service providers; 10) 1 street-based (distribution of marketing materials during outreach) and 2 social media-based (PSA posts across HU’s platforms) annual campaigns on how to identify/reverse an overdose and how to report overdose reversals.
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).