MassHEAL - Reducing overdose deaths by 40% (2019-2023)

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PROJECT SUMMARY Communities across the United States are directly impacted by the opioid epidemic. Although there is a sense of urgency among researchers, policy makers and communities to reduce opioid overdose, community implementation of effective evidence-based practices (EBPs) remains suboptimal. This is in some part due to the fact that all health is local and, as such, community level factors influence intervention uptake. the work of the HEALing Communities Study (HCS) seeks to address the community level factors that influence uptake through a coalition building process that engages with a multitude of sectors. In HEALing Communities Study, Massachusetts (HCS MA) community implementation has revealed a number of municipal level factors that may have important implications for the translation of evidence-based practices locally. Zoning ordinances and codes have, specifically have implications for implementation plans in HCS MA communities such Holyoke and Lowell. Understanding municipal policies that influence implementation as well as effective strategies for working with municipal actors may inform local efforts to translate EBPs; just as important, engaging with local stakeholders may help to facilitate the sustainability of EBPs over time. This can only occur if diverse local actors in municipal governance are thinking about health and behavioral health in the context of municipal planning and policy (Drug Policy Alliance, 2019).The overarching objective of this supplement is to examine the municipal factors that are identified in the implementation plans and members of the HCS MA coalitions. Doing so will allow for us to understand how coalitions can not only navigate these factors, but also to develop recommendations that can inform how municipalities in Massachusetts can increase the uptake of EBPs. This proposed work will have broad implications for how communities in the HCS and nationwide can center health related issues in their municipal policies.