Thursday, December 12, 2024
12/12/2024
Project Title: CrescentCare Harm Reduction Program Applicant Organization Name: NO/AIDS Task Force dba CrescentCare Address: 1631 Elysian Fields Avenue New Orleans, 70117 Project Director Name: Christopher Daunis Phone: 504-821-2601 Fax: 504-662-1686 email: christopher.daunis@crescentcare.org website: www.crescentcare.org CrescentCare will expand and enhance harm reduction services in four Louisiana SSPs by implementing bulk purchasing, increasing syringe and naloxone distribution, using peers to increase access to underserved PWID, intensifying testing and outreach to address high HIV, HCV, and STI prevalence and lack of access to treatment, and by forming a Harm Reduction Advisory Council. The goal of the project is to provide harm reduction services to a total of 4,209 individuals in Year 1 and a total of 14,615 over the three-year project period. CrescentCare will expand and improve harm reduction services and strategies through its New Orleans Syringe Access Program and three partnering SSPs in other Louisiana regions by implementing a bulk purchasing system to increase syringe and naloxone distribution, using peer workers and PWID gatekeepers to increase SSP outreach efficacy and access to historically underserved PWID, such as BIPOC, providing more intensive STI testing and linkage to treatment that addresses the high prevalence of HCV and HIV? among PWID in the state, many of whom do not know their status or are unable to access treatment, by prioritizing the distribution of non-syringe equipment, the lack of which has been shown to be a major risk factor for disease transmission in Louisiana, and through the formation of a Harm Reduction Advisory Council that will guide program strategies. The geographic catchment area to be served are four public health regions in the state of Louisiana which include 29 parishes with a total population of 2,530,691, encompassing 54 percent of the state’s population. (The public health regions and the associated parishes are as follows: Region 1: Orleans, Saint Bernard, Plaquemines, and Jefferson Parishes; Region 2: East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Livingston, Ascension, Iberville, Pointe Coupee, East Feliciana and West Feliciana Parishes; Region 6: Vernon, Sabine, Natchitoches, Winn, Grant, Rapides, LaSalle, Catahoula, Concordia and Avoyelles Parishes; and Region 7: Caddo, Bossier, Webster, Claiborne, Bienville, Red River and DeSoto Parishes.) The population of focus are People Who Inject Drugs (PWID) who reside in the four public health regions. These regions are served by CrescentCare, Capitol Area Reentry Program (CARP), Central Louisiana AIDS Support Services (CLASS), and The Philadelphia Center. Additional partnering agencies are the Louisiana Department of Health, the City of New Orleans, and the University of Louisiana at Monroe. These SSPs currently receive only partial funding from the state of Louisiana and the state does not allow this limited funding to be used for the purchase of sterile syringes. These four SSPs served 3,659 clients and distributed 1,504,437 syringes in 2021, with over 50 percent of the clients served are people of color, LGBTQ, or live in rural areas and CrescentCare meets the priority qualification for the bonus points. A total of $400,000 is requested each year.
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).
