Skip to main content

The Collaboratory has launched a second round of research awards to help enhance the effectiveness of national opioid settlement funds being distributed across North Carolina by supporting local government decision-making and the implementation of related programs and policies. So far, 10 research teams have received grants for research and evaluation projects that will involve partnerships with local governments or their sub-recipients that are implementing opioid remediation activities as authorized by the North Carolina Memorandum of Agreement (MOA), which governs the use of national opioid settlement funds. The funds were appropriated to the Collaboratory by the North Carolina General Assembly.

All project teams will be supported by a coordinating center that will help align the research projects with the work of CORE-NC (Community Opioid Resources Engine for North Carolina), a collaborative partnership between the NC Department of Justice, the NC Department of Health and Human Services, the NC Association of County Commissioners, and the UNC Injury Prevention Research Center that is supported by the Collaboratory and established to encourage an environment of transparency and accountability in the use of opioid settlement funds by municipal and county governments across North Carolina.

Funded Projects Summary
Academic Partner Total funding Project title and summary
Deepak Kumar, North Carolina Central University $200,006 Polk County Opioid Abatement Project: An Assessment of Community Needs
This project aims to characterize trends in opioid use and assess the community needs of Polk County while taking into consideration the potential barriers of the hard-to-reach populations of rural areas as such, to prevent and reduce drug overdose and opioid use disorders in these areas.
Summer Woodside, UNC Pembroke $199,998 A Model Community Based Participatory Research Approach for the Strategic Planning for Robeson County Opioid Settlement Funding
Through the collaboration with community organizations, citizens, the Lumbee Tribe, and individuals with lived experience, this project aims to develop a strategic plan that ensures opioid settlement funding best meets the needs of the community of Southeastern Robeson County.
Karlesia Montague, North Carolina Central University $128,641 Addressing Opioid Use among Youth and Young Adults in Wake County
This project aims to address the misuse of opioids by the youth population of Wake County through the use of youth focus groups to identify the needs, challenges, and barriers faced by this population, allowing the county to support the health of future generations.
Shanhong Luo, Fayetteville State University $200,000 Understanding the Role of Xylazine in the Opioid Crisis
By conducting a systematic survey targeting three major areas, awareness of xylazine, knowledge of xylazine effects, and experience using and treating xylazine, this project aims to better understand how xylazine impacts local communities of Fayetteville and Cumberland County amidst the ongoing opioid crisis.
Minzhi Xing, UNC Chapel Hill $200,000 Burke Strategic Community Opioid Program Evaluation (B-SCOPE)
This project aims to provide a systematic infrastructure (B-SCOPE) to monitor and evaluate the already in place Burke County opioid programs to better understand such programs, and help reduce overdose deaths and improve health outcomes in the community.
Adam Hege, Appalachian State University $190,800 Understanding and Addressing Opioid Remediation Activities in Three Appalachian Counties in Western North Carolina
Working collaboratively with AppHealthCare and other partners, this project will use a mixed-method approach to learn from current opioid users and those with lived experience to gather knowledge and research regarding opioid risk factors and previous experiences with programs being implemented to better inform policymakers of the best strategies for the opioid crisis in the Appalachian Counties.
Jennifer Carroll, North Carolina State University $199,998 Evaluation of a New Mobile Drug Checking Program in Durham County, North Carolina
This project will evaluate the implementation of a mobile, drug-checking program through participant perspectives on the acceptability, utility, and delivery of drug-checking services, as well as the barriers and facilitators to drug-checking via mobile delivery. The final report detailing the findings of this study will support the efficiency of such delivery in Durham County and the implementation of similar programs across North Carolina.
Joshua Barrett, UNC-Chapel Hill $158,610 Evaluating Opioid Remediation Efforts in an Eastern North Carolina County: A Mixed Methods Case Study on Settlement Funded Project Effectiveness and Government Evaluation Processes
Using a mixed-method approach, this project aims to evaluate Craven County’s opioid remediation strategies to understand how local governments gauge the success of their opioid abatement efforts and offer refinements to ensure funds are effectively allocated to successful strategies.
Jeff Milroy, UNC Greensboro $161,651 Informing Best Practices and Capacity Building: An Evaluation of the Randolph County Settlement Team’s (RCOST) Technical Assistance Initiative
In a collaborative effort among partners, this evaluation project will establish evidence for the use of an innovative technical assistance initiative developed by Randolph County Public Health and inform the best practices for the management and delivery of overdose prevention and other harm reduction services.