Abt Team to Help Bureau of Justice Assistance State and Local Grantees Improve Opioids, Stimulants, and Substance Use Data

Abt Associates and its partner, Altarum, will provide training and technical assistance (TTA) to more than 500 state, local, and Native American tribal grantees through the Bureau of Justice Assistance’s Comprehensive Opioid, Stimulant, and Substance Use Program (COSSUP) grant program. BJA sits within the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs (OJP), which is committed to promoting civil rights and racial equity, increasing access to justice, and supporting crime victims and individuals impacted by the justice system. The office also strengthens community safety, protects the public from crime and evolving threats, and builds trust between law enforcement and communities.

The COSSUP program is designed to help grantees identify, respond to, treat, and support those impacted by illicit opioids, stimulants, and other drugs. Launched in FY2018, the cornerstone of COSSUP is partnership and collaboration across the public health, behavioral health, and public safety sectors.

Under the $1.5 million award, the Abt team will support grantees in collecting, using, and visualizing data as well as designing and carrying out research and evaluation activities. The grantees will share findings and lessons learned with other grantees and the broader behavioral health and criminal justice fields. Abt will deliver webinars, podcasts, and tailored TTA and convene grantee-led groups, informed by grantee’s needs, that ultimately help to mitigate the impacts on crime victims by supporting comprehensive, collaborative initiatives.

“The country remains in the throes of a battle against harmful substance misuse that includes opioids and stimulants—and sadly those most affected are often the populations that have been historically underserved and marginalized,” says Dr. Allison Dymnicki, the project director. “We hope to build grantees’ capacity to improve the way they design and conduct data collection and monitoring. That can promote effective linkages of criminal justice and behavioral health programs to help prevent substance misuse, especially for those impacted by inequality.”