New York, Nov. 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) today announced five new grants totaling more than $2 million to support collaborative strategies addressing the nation’s opioid and overdose crisis. The new awards expand overdose prevention and treatment efforts for youth, families, and communities; promote patient-centered care across hospitals and emergency systems; and strengthen public health infrastructure to respond to emerging drug threats.
“These grants reflect FORE’s commitment to supporting innovative, evidence-based solutions across generations and settings,” said Karen A. Scott, MD, MPH, President of FORE. “From protecting adolescents in schools and supporting pregnant patients to enhancing emergency care and improving access to timely data, these projects share a goal of saving lives, reducing stigma, and building sustainable systems for recovery.”
School-Based Prevention and Youth Overdose Response
The New York University Grossman School of Medicine will receive a $369,285 grant to replicate and scale its Prevention Education Partnership (PEP) — a school-based opioid education and overdose prevention program originally launched in New York City. Partnering with Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, where unintentional drug overdose is the second leading cause of adolescent death, the project will bring overdose response training to students and teachers in Columbus City Schools. The project will also develop a digital toolkit for schools and clinicians to replicate the program in additional cities.
“Youth overdose deaths, often linked to fentanyl and counterfeit pills, remain at historically high levels,” said Larissa Laskowski, DO, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine and Medical Toxicology at NYU Grossman and Founding Director of PEP. “By partnering with schools and training both students and staff, we are equipping young people and their communities with life-saving knowledge and skills.”
Expanding National Drug Checking Infrastructure
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill will receive a $597,000 grant to build on its leadership in drug checking and develop a national drug checking data harmonization and laboratory expansion initiative.
Led by Nabarun Dasgupta, PhD, the project will standardize how drug checking programs classify and share data, expand regional expertise and laboratory capacity, and train new organizations to perform advanced testing. The result will be the first coordinated national infrastructure for monitoring and responding to changes in the illicit drug supply.
“This project will help transform drug checking from fragmented local programs into a cohesive public health infrastructure that can detect new drug threats quickly, provide important information to clinical first responders, and inform evidence-based policy,” said Dr. Dasgupta.
Improving Emergency Care for Overdose Survivors
At the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, researchers Matthew Eisenberg, PhD, and Sachini Bandara, PhD, will lead a $595,878 grant-funded study to improve emergency care for people who experience an opioid overdose.
The project will map the national adoption of buprenorphine treatment in emergency departments (EDs) and emergency medical services (EMS), identify policy and system barriers to wider implementation, and provide a toolkit for hospitals and policymakers. The research will also document where and how Medicaid programs pay for EMS-initiated buprenorphine.
“Emergency departments and EMS providers are often the first point of contact for people experiencing overdose,” said Dr. Eisenberg. “Our study will help hospitals and policymakers understand how to make lifesaving treatment the standard of care in every community.”
Supporting Family-Centered Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery
The Essential Hospitals Institute (EHI) will receive a $293,495 grant to launch a 12-month learning collaborative for safety net hospitals to develop and scale multi-generational approaches to opioid use disorder (OUD) prevention, treatment, and recovery. The project will convene hospitals serving high-risk populations to share best practices in integrated care for patients and families affected by OUD, with particular emphasis on perinatal and intergenerational supports.
“Safety net hospitals are essential partners in reaching families affected by OUD,” said Kalpana Ramiah, DrPH, MSc, MBA, Vice President of Innovation at America’s Essential Hospitals. “By building a national learning network, we can help hospitals deliver coordinated, compassionate care that supports recovery across generations.”
Legal Resource on Substance Use and Pregnancy
A $199,980 grant to Pregnancy Justice, in partnership with Doing Right at Birth, will establish a Perinatal Substance Use Disorder Legal-Scientific Resource Hub. This national resource will provide attorneys, judges, policymakers, and journalists with access to peer-reviewed medical and public health evidence on opioid and substance use during pregnancy. The hub will strengthen legal supports, counter misinformation, and foster collaboration between the legal and medical professions to promote evidence-based approaches to perinatal substance use disorder care.
“The criminalization of substance use during pregnancy drives fear and deters patients from seeking care,” said Dana Sussman, JD, MPH, Senior Vice President at Pregnancy Justice. “This project will equip legal and policy professionals with accurate, science-based information to more effectively represent clients and support access to treatment and care.”
By supporting this initiative, FORE aims to ensure that medical and legal systems work together to promote care, not punishment.
About the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE)
Founded in 2018, FORE is a national 501(c)(3) grantmaking foundation dedicated to addressing the nation’s opioid crisis. Through strategic grantmaking, stakeholder convenings, and informational resources, FORE supports patient-centered, innovative solutions that drive long-term change. To date, FORE has awarded 127 grants totaling $50.9 million to 105 organizations. FORE is a nationally certified Recovery Friendly Workplace.
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