Resources

Resource Library

Search our resource library to access a wealth of information to support your substance misuse prevention efforts. Use the drop down menus to search by resource type and/or prevention topic, or type a keyword into the search bar. New resources added regularly!

Resource Title Description Resource Type
CREATING SAFE AND HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

Communities are the backbone of our social system, and ideally, provide a safe place for people to live, work, and play. Yet the history of systemic racism in America illustrates how BIPOC communities were not only built to be segregated but have continued to experience harm disproportionately to white communities.

This begs the question: what does a “safe” community look like, especially for people of color? And how can we center the conversation around health equity? In this two-day training, the trainers will first examine the history of racist housing policy in the United States, emphasizing the intentional disenfranchisement of Black and Brown communities and the implications for our health and racial equity work. They will then move into deeper, heart-space questions about our communities, and how we might imagine them differently. What are ways you can plug in to create changes? How can we use a Policy, Systems, and Environmental (PSE) change framework to build safe and healthy communities that are designed by the people that live there? Participants should come prepared to dig creatively into some deeper questions about safety and resiliency. 
 

DAY 1: March 28th,10:00 AM - 2:00 PM ET, IN PERSON at Assumption College (Worcester, MA)
Day 2: March 29th, 10:00 AM-1:00 PM ET online via Zoom

Fact Sheet/Issue Brief
CrimeSolutions.gov

The National Institute of Justice’s CrimeSolutions.gov is comprised of two components — a web-based clearinghouse of programs and practices and a process for identifying and rating those programs and practices.

Tool
Criteria for Analyzing Assessment Data

Analyzing assessment data with five key criteria can provide insight into how to focus efforts to meet community needs and set prevention priorities.

Fact Sheet/Issue Brief
Cultural Approaches to Prevention: Measuring Cultural Factors Associated with Substance Misuse and Mental Health in American Indian and Alaska Native Populations

Provides information on measures that prevention practitioners and evaluators can use when evaluating substance misuse prevention programs that include cultural elements.

Tool
Cultural Competence and Spirituality in Community Building

Information on understanding culture and diversity, how to strengthen multicultural collaboration, and spirituality and community building.

Tool
Cultural Competence Primer: Incorporating Cultural Competence into Your Comprehensive Plan

This primer provides anti-drug coalitions with a basic understanding of cultural competence and its importance in achieving substance abuse reduction that is effective and sustainable. If you know how to include all major sectors of your community in your efforts to develop a plan to create population-level change in community rates of substance abuse, then you likely will increase your chances of success.

Tool
Data Collection Best Practice: Informed Participation

The Massachusetts Collaborative for Action, Leadership, and Learning 3 (MassCALL3) and State Opioid Response – Prevention in Early Childhood (SOR-PEC) initiatives both require the collection of various types of information to inform the design and delivery of grant-related services This information may be collected through structured interviews and focus groups with community members. Coalitions have an ethical obligation to ensure informed participation. This means that all involved individuals fully understand the purpose of the data collection activity and how the information being collected will be used. This brief provides guidance for BSAS grantee coalitions to ensure informed participation for individuals who are engaged in their data collection efforts.

Fact Sheet/Issue Brief
Data Collection Methods: Pros and Cons

Learning the pros and cons of data collection methods can help you find the right data to inform program development and assessment.

Tool
Databases of Best Practices

Explore best practices for promoting community health and development.

Tool
Developing a Framework or Model of Change

This toolkit helps in developing a picture of the pathway from activities to intended outcomes.

Tool
Developing a Strategic Plan and Organizational Structure

Information about developing a strategic plan and organizational structure, recruiting and training staff and volunteers, and providing technical assistance.

Tool
Developing an Intervention

This toolkit provides supports for developing core components of a community intervention and adapting them to fit the context.

Tool
Developing Effective Coalitions: An Eight Step Guide

This document offers concrete steps towards building effective partnerships and provides tips for making collaborations and partnerships work. Rather than creating new projects or programs, effective coalitions can harness existing resources to develop a unique community approach and achieve results beyond the scope of one single institution or organization.

Report/Research
Developing Equitable Enforcement Provisions Fact Sheet/Issue Brief
Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) Organizational Assessment Tools: A Resource Guide

The Institute for Economic and Racial Equity (IERE) is proud to release a new resource guide featuring selected Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) organizational assessments. Prepared by Trinidad Tellez, MD, of [Health] Equity Strategies, LLC, this DEI resource guide represents one aspect of IERE's ongoing evaluation of and thought partnership with the HEAL Winchendon initiative, a Moving Massachusetts Upstream (MassUP) grantee. While curated with HEAL Winchendon in mind, the assessments in this resource guide are applicable to other organizations and coalitions seeking to evaluate their status and progress toward specific DEI goals. 

This guide offers organizational assessments for general audiences, child- and youth-serving organizations, disability organizations, K-12 audiences, workforce development, city government, health and healthcare providers, and food security organizations. Several racial equity impact assessments are also included in this compilation.

Report/Research