Substance Abuse and HIV Prevention Ready-To-Respond Initiative in Communities Highly Impacted by Substance Use and HIV Infection

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP) is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2010 grants for the Substance Abuse and HIV Prevention Ready-To-Respond Initiative in Communities Highly Impacted by Substance Use and HIV Infection, hereinafter called, “Ready-To-Respond Initiative.” The Ready-To-Respond Initiative (RTR) is one of CSAP’s Minority AIDS Initiative (MAI) programs. The purpose of the MAI is to provide substance abuse and HIV prevention services to at-risk minority populations in communities disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. The RTR program builds on previous accomplishments of MAI grantees in providing evidence-based prevention services by expanding knowledge and experience in developing blended substance abuse and HIV prevention practices for these populations. Intended for experienced CSAP grantees funded under Substance Abuse (SA), HIV, and Hepatitis prevention for Minority Populations and Minority Reentry Populations in Communities of Color (SP-05-001), this initiative will develop a comprehensive strategy for creating best practices in combining SA/HIV prevention practices. These grantees are those who are “ready to respond” to this effort. This cohort of grantees was SAMHSA’s first to use the Strategic Prevention Framework to implement the combination of evidence-based substance abuse prevention programs with evidence-based HIV prevention programs to produce measurable outcomes and changes in SA and HIV rates. They have demonstrated success in combining the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Replicating Effective Programs Plus (REP+) and Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions (DEBI) research projects with substance abuse prevention programs from SAMHSA’s National Registry of Effective Programs and Practices (NREPP) to achieve measurable changes in known risk factors associated with substance abuse and HIV infection. The RTR program will further refine these practices so that they may be disseminated to new service providers. Entities that are not eligible to apply for these awards have the opportunity to apply for SAMHSA’s FY 2010 HIV Capacity Building Initiative (SP-10-004). CSAP has identified specific subpopulations most at risk for HIV/AIDS (see Section I-1.1 below). Applicants who previously provided services under SP-05-001 will now have the opportunity to expand their services to include a new high-risk subpopulation group. Applicants must choose a different subpopulation from the one served under SP-05-001. When selecting a new high-risk subpopulation group, applicants are asked to consider the subpopulations identified on the list below. Grantees may serve a new subpopulation in a new catchment area. However, the new catchment area served must be included in the Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) previously served under SP-05-001. The Ready-To-Respond Initiative Cooperative Agreements are authorized under Section 516 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2010 focus are 26 (Substance Abuse).