Grants and Projects

Below you will find information about our various grants and projects. Grants refer to specific funding streams that have specific grant objectives. Projects refer to programs through which we achieve various grant objectives. If you are interested in learning more or collaborating, please reach out to us via our Contact Us form

Navigating Opioid Response Through Harm reduction (NORTH Star)

The NORTH Star project aims to reduce overdose fatalities through increased overdose education training and saturation of naloxone across the state of Missouri.

Targeted Audience:

  • This project is focused on helping to coordinate a state wide “hub” for naloxone distribution across the state of Missouri.

  • NORTH Star is funded through the Missouri Department of Mental Health and Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services through the support of Opioid Settlement funds awarded beginning in 2021.

State Targeted Response/State Opioid Response (STR/SOR) Grant

The Missouri Opioid State Targeted Response (STR) and Missouri State Opioid Response (SOR, SOR 2.0, and SOR 3.0) projects expand access to integrated prevention, treatment, recovery support, and harm reduction services for individuals with Opioid Use Disorder and Stimulant Use Disorder throughout the state.

Targeted Audience: People who do not have insurance or are on Medicaid

  • Current iteration - SOR 3.0: Oct 2022 - Sep 2024

  • The State of Missouri Department of Mental Health (DMH), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

  • The T STL, Confluence, Better Family Life, AIDS Project of the Ozarks, Urban League

  • nomodeaths.com

Expanding Naloxone Access and Community Trainings (ENACT)

ENACT aims to reduce fatal opioid overdose and adverse events through increased community harm reduction training and innovative, mail-based naloxone distribution.

Targeted Audience: Community Health Workers and Certified Peer Specialists; those who work directly with people who use drugs

  • Sep 2021 - Aug 2026

  • 1) Assessing and identifying gaps in existing infrastructure, referral capacity, and training needs of frontline workers in Missouri, especially in regions with the largest number of overdose deaths

    2) Develop and implement new training focused on drug user health, harm reduction, and skills training for Peer Specialists and Community Health Workers

    3) Expand dissemination of existing in-person and virtual OEND training curriculum

    4) Increase naloxone distribution in high-need areas with insufficient access through direct supplies and mail-order programs

    5) Increase knowledge and capacity for referrals to appropriate treatment and recover services for overdose survivors at-risk of adverse events.

  • The State of Missouri Department of Mental Health (DMH), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

  • NEXT Distro, MoNetwork, PreventEd

  • https://www.enact-mo.org/

Community ENgagement, Trauma, Equity, and Renewal (CENTER)

The mission of the CENTER Initiative is to reduce overdose, confront the impact of trauma, and invest in the long-term wellbeing of Black people most impacted by addiction, drug use, and overdose in St. Louis.

Target Audience

  • To reduce overdose, confront the impact of trauma, and invest in the long-term wellbeing of Black people most impacted by addiction, drug use, and overdose in St. Louis

  • This initiative is funded by The Missouri Foundation for Health.

  • The CENTER Initiative is a partnership between the University of Missouri, St. Louis - Missouri Institute of Mental Health (UMSL-MIMH), The T, Family Care Health Centers, the Community Health Worker Coalition, the Regional Health Commission, Integrated Health Network, and the Behavioral Health Network.

  • centerstl.org/

Coordinating Overdose Response Partnerships and Support (MO-CORPS)

MO-CORPS is focused on integrating first responders work with evidence-based public health models.

Targeted Counties: St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles, Jefferson, Greene, Jackson, Clay, Pulaski, Laclede, Warren, Ste. Genevieve, Phelps, Dent, Gasconade, Montgomery, Butler, Texas, St. Francois, Buchanan, Lincoln

  • 1) Evidence-informed training for first responders working with people who use drugs

    2) Improving overdose response through naloxone distribution with local public health agencies and first responders

    3) Developing resource referral networks for first responders in 20 target counties with the highest overdose rates across the state

  • SAMHSA FR-CARA grant administered through the MO Department of Health and Senior Services.

  • mofirstresponders.org/

The Addiction Science, Practice, Implementation, Research and Education lab (ASPIRE)

The Addiction Science, Practice, Implementation, Research and Education (ASPIRE) Lab is located within the University of Missouri-St. Louis Department of Psychology under the leadership for Dr. Rachel Winograd.

  • The ASPIRE lab is focused on community-informed research to enhance research-informed practice and works in close partnership with all of the collaborative partners and projects connected to Addiction Science team.

  • umsl.edu/psychology/aspire-lab/index.html

Drug Overdose Trust & Safety + Mobile (DOTS+MOBILE)

The DOTS+MOBILE project empowers first responders to reduce opioid overdose deaths in Missouri.

Target Counties: St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles, Jefferson, St. Francois, Washington, Franklin, Boone, Phelps, Greene, Jackson, Buchanan

Opioid Use Disorder Pharmaceutical Treatments: Investigating a Model and Measure of Intervention Stigma toward Medication (OPTIMISM)

OPTIMISM aims to develop a dimensional model of Intervention Stigma toward medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) that captures stigmatizing attitudes and actions by policymakers, healthcare personnel, and members of the general public.

  • 1) Training for First Responders

    2) EMS Initiated Field Buprenorphine

    3) Collaborations between First Responders and Community Treatment

    4) Naloxone Distribution

  • https://www.mofirstresponders.org/dotsmobile-1

  • Aim 1: To establish a model of what Intervention Stigma is and how it works

    Aim 2: To pilot and create a comprehensive measure of Intervention Stigma tailored for three groups
    (healthcare providers, decision makers, and the general public)

    R15 AREA Aim: To develop empirically rigorous substance use-focused research and training infrastructure within the Dept. of Psychological Sciences at UMSL to build upon the years of community-focused implementation work of the Addiction Science team

  • Sept 2024 - Aug 2027

  • National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), through the NIH Helping to End Addition Long-term (HEAL) Initiative

  • Washington University in St. Louis (Co-I: Devin E. Banks), Wayne State University (Co-I: Erin F. Madden)

  • https://www.umsl.edu/psychology/aspire-lab/research.html