BASE Prevention Programs Funding Opportunity

BASE Prevention Programs Funding Opportunity

Funding is available for organizations to expand or establish innovative evidence-informed substance use prevention programming geared toward youth and emerging adults. A total of $15,000,000 is available to be awarded over a period of 3 years to a minimum of seven organizations. The anticipated award range is $100,000-$500,000 per period of performance. The initial period of performance will span July 1, 2024-June 30, 2025. The deadline to apply for the grants is April 24, 2024, at 3:00 p.m. CST.

Build, Amplify, Support, Empower (BASE) subrecipients will establish or expand innovative and evidence-informed programs to prevent, delay, and reduce substance use among youth and emerging adults (ages 6-25), with particular attention to:

1) Non-Hispanic Black youth and emerging adults, due to high disparities in overdose fatalities for older Black males

2) Youth who do not consistently attend school. This population is at high risk for substance use and has limited access to school-based interventions.

3) Youth who are more likely to use or misuse substances due to factors such as adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), mental health symptoms or conditions, familial history of opioid use disorder (OUD), and neurodiversity (e.g., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder).

The programs will align with one or more of the following abatement strategies:

  1. supporting regional or community coalitions to implement prevention programs,
  2. establishing or expanding programs in schools and communities in high-risk areas, as identified by high substance use and high drug overdose rates,
  3. establishing or expanding programs focused on youth, and
  4. piloting a school-based collaborative program to facilitate parent or caregiver access to services for their child and their family.

Build, Amplify, Support, Empower (BASE) prevention programs should seek to reduce or prevent one or more of the following:

  • Substance use and misuse
  • Stigma associated with SUD, treatment, and recovery
  • Social and physical access to substances
  • Harms associated with substance use and misuse, including overdose

To accomplish that goal, programs will:

  • Build
    • Awareness of substance use and associated risks
    • Awareness of risk and protective factors
  • Amplify
    • Access to evidence-informed community supports
    • Access to recovery and treatment
  • Support
    • Capacity of regional and community groups
  • Empower
    • Students and their families
    • Community members and school employees
    • Other individuals who engage with youth or communities

The Illinois Department of Human Services Division of Substance Use Prevention and Recovery (IDHS/SUPR) has selected a Regional Care Coordination Agency (RCCA) to administer the grants equitably across the state's seven public health regions. The source of the funding is Illinois' share of the multistate opioid settlement agreements secured by the office of Attorney General Kwame Raoul.

The RCCA, which is operated by Advocates for Human Potential, Inc., has posted the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) on the Illinois Opioid Settlements Initiative website on the Funding Opportunities page. Applications must be prepared and submitted using the online portal on the RCCA website. Interested applicants are encouraged to begin the process as soon as possible to ensure sufficient time to complete pre-qualification and pre-award requirements.