About
This project is funded by a federal grant from the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) overseen by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD). COSSUP provides financial and technical assistance to states and other units of government to develop, implement, or expand comprehensive efforts to identify, respond to, treat, and support those impacted by illicit opioids, stimulants, and other drugs. The COSSUP approach emphasizes partnership and collaboration across the public health, behavioral health, and public safety sectors. Effective community responses leverage the combined expertise of each of these disciplines and rely upon unified and coordinated strategies.
The Goal of COSSUP
The goal of this project is to advance racial equity and implement evidence-based/informed public health harm reduction approaches that reduce overdose fatalities among probation and reentry populations in Pennsylvania and save lives among criminal legal system-involved people. Participating sites include Allegheny, Chester, Dauphin, Franklin, and York Counties. The project is guided by five goals and objectives determined by PCCD.
To accomplish this, Justice System Partners (JSP) and the Institute for State and Local Governance (ISLG) have teamed up with PCCD. For each site, JSP conducted a needs assessment and shared the findings. Moving forward, JSP will facilitate action planning sessions to help develop a tactical plan for implementation, provide technical assistance, and develop a community of practice where all sites can come together to learn from one another and share promising approaches. ISLG will conduct a data systems analysis for each site and help monitor and evaluate each site’s progress.
The C.A.R.E.E.S. Acronym
After the JSP team conducted a needs assessment across five project sites, common issues came up across all sites that emerged as fundamental to improving outcomes for people with SUD/OUD who are involved in the criminal legal system. Each letter of the C.A.R.E.E.S. acronym stands for one of these common issues, and make up the pillars of the project which will guide the project going forward, as well as form the name for the project.
Collaboration is when people work together to achieve a common goal or objective. For the COSSUP Project, this means using a collaborative approach to consistently and purposefully develop creative solutions with community and system stakeholders. The aim is to enhance treatment and support services for criminal legal system-involved populations.
Access refers to the ease with which an individual can obtain needed services or care to
preserve or improve their condition or state of being. For the COSSUP Project, access
applies to the domains of affordability, accessibility, availability, accommodation, and
acceptability to ensure an individual’s full potential to receive service or care.
Substance use disorders are often accompanied by stigma and shame, which can have
negative impacts on individuals seeking treatment. This can result in a decreased
likelihood of seeking treatment, limit the types of treatment options people are willing
to try, and affect their ability to maintain a recovery-oriented lifestyle. As part of the
COSSUP Project, it is important to focus on reducing stigma and training individuals to
use person-first, strengths-based language to help reduce bias associated with
substance and opioid use.
Education refers to engaging learners in the process of understanding and applying
knowledge, concepts, and processes in an interactive way. In the context of the
COSSUP project, this entails creating chances for individuals and organizations to
organize, participate in, and facilitate educational training and workshops that will
promote the community’s understanding of SUD/OUD and how it impacts criminal legal
system-involved people.
Every person, no matter their race, age, ethnicity, gender, disability, socioeconomic
status, sexual orientation, or geographical location, deserves equal access to treatment
services and support. For the COSSUP Project, this means working to ensure that every
individual has the opportunity to be as healthy as possible and have access to basic
needs.
The ability to extend and receive assistance that helps protect and promote social well-
being. For the COSSUP Project, this means that people experiencing SUD/OUD who are
criminal legal system-involved, their families, internal stakeholders, and the community
receive support to overcome barriers to accessing and providing services.
Increasing Equity
Despite the majority of Pennsylvania's population being white, Black and Brown Communities have been disproportionately impacted by overdose deaths. The overdose death rate among Black Pennsylvanians has sharply increased since 2018 and, in 2021, was nearly double the rate of white Pennsylvanians (6.9 vs. 3.7 per 10,000). Multiple studies have identified structural and systemic racism as driving factors for racial and ethnic disparities in access to prevention, harm reduction, and treatment, including medication- assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorders (OUDs).
The current systems for treating substance use disorder (SUD) and the associated human service programs are not adequately prepared to address the specific health and social needs that Black and Brown individuals often face. Existing research shows that there are several obstacles contributing to disparities in how people of different racial and ethnic backgrounds receive and benefit from SUD care. These obstacles encompass things like stigma, discrimination, limited availability and affordability of SUD treatment options, unmet social needs, and a shortage of providers who can effectively address cultural and linguistic differences. While many individuals with SUD encounter these barriers, they disproportionately affect Black and Brown individuals due to systemic and structural inequalities (Bui et al., 2022).
With technical assistance from JSP, sites will develop culturally responsive strategies to help improve access to care for vulnerable and marginalized populations in addition to the broader Pennsylvania community.