Meeting, Teaming, and Related Support Services for the HEAL Research Effort

Please refer to attachments for further details on technical, business and submission requirements. 1. Introduction and Background: The Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness: Addressing Overdose, Substance Use, Mental Health, and Pain Program (subsequently referred to as N CREW) is funded by NIH's Helping to End Addiction Long-term(HEAL) Initiative, which bolsters research across NIH to improve (1) prevention and treatment for opioid misuse and addiction, and (2) pain management. More information about the HEAL Initiative is available at: https://heal.nih.gov/. N CREW was established to address health disparities and is responsive to the priorities shared by Tribal Leaders through Consultation to address the opioid public health emergency, including addressing opioid and stimulant use and pain. The N CREW Program seeks to support Tribes and Native American Serving Organizations (T/NASOs) to respond to the opioid/drug public health emergency, with strategies aimed at addressing overdose, substance use and pain, and related factors such as mental health or wellbeing. Reflecting NIH's commitment to advancing Native science, the N CREW Program seeks to support T/NASOs to conduct community-led research or improve data while increasing research capacity. Research prioritized by Native communities is essential for enhancing culturally grounded, strengths-based, effective, and sustainable intervention strategies. The N CREW Program focuses on three main goals that reflect priorities for addressing the opioid/drug overdose crisis identified in Tribal Consultations (in 2018 and 2022) and listening sessions: 1. Support T/NASOs to lead community prioritized research projects, including research elevating and integrating Indigenous Knowledge and culture. 2. Enhance capacity within T/NASOs to conduct locally prioritized HEAL related research, accomplished through the development and provision of novel, accessible, culturally grounded technical assistance and training, resources, and tools. 3. Improve access to and the quality of data on substance use, pain, and related health and wellbeing factors to maximize their potential for use in local decision-making. The N CREW Program uses Other Transaction Authority in Phase I and is designed as agile, flexible, and innovative to reflect the complexity and diversity across communities in responding to the opioid public health crisis, also reflecting an openness to authentic collaboration with Native communities. The N CREW Program will be established in FY24 by funding - Tribes and Native American Serving Organizations (T/NASOs) to plan and develop research/data projects, including piloting research and engaging in partnership development to support a range of needed resources and tools to increase research capacity and infrastructure (see ROA OTA-23-007) - A Native Research Resource Network (NRRN), comprised of T/NASOs and Ally Organizations (i.e., Organizations with a track record of partnering successfully with Native American communities). The NRRN will provide real-time, wrap-around technical assistance, engage in a range of other activities as anticipated or discovered designed to build research capacity and infrastructure within T/NASOs, provide coordination across the Program, and accelerate progress on N CREW goals (see ROA OTA-23-008). Phase I of N CREW will fund approximately 2 years (FY24-FY25) of planning, development, and piloting research activities, intended to include a strong focus on developing, strengthening, and fostering sustainable partnerships as needed to support T/NASO-led research. Supporting the development of partnerships across T/NASO and NRRN Organizations funded through N CREW will require a creative approach to identify T/NASO partnership and resource needs, showcase what NRRN members can provide, and develop a process for connecting and fostering meaningful, relevant, and productive partnerships. As the NIH has not yet funded these projects, we can only anticipate what will be funded. The projects funded under N CREW may be initially proposed with a variety of partnership structures in place and they may have diverse partnership building needs and goals. For example, T/NASO funded recipients might aim to develop new partnerships to fill gaps in expertise, strengthen existing partnerships, and/or learn about opportunities to collaborate in new ways not originally included in their proposed work. Organizations that receive awards to be members of the NRRN will aim to establish new partnerships or strengthen existing partnerships with T/NASOs to expand access to the research and research capacity and infrastructure resources and coordination the NRRN organizations will provide. One or more NRRN recipient will be asked to support coordination across the entire N CREW Program, and effective coordination will also require strong partnerships. Objectives The primary objective of the contract activities is to support the development of partnerships across T/NASOs and Ally Organizations by conducting 4 primary tasks: (1) Designing and implementing meeting(s) (including at least 2 Teaming Meetings and other meetings as required by the N CREW Program). Teaming Meeting is defined broadly to include in-person/hybrid and virtual opportunities to engage with different N CREW funded recipients in various ways that support effective partnership building, for example meetings or events designed to support networking, sharing and learning about organizational assets and partnership or other needs that could be addressed through partnerships, trust-building, matchmaking, partnership selection, and development of partnership roles and responsibilities. It also includes any activities needed between meetings to support meetings achieving teaming goals. The ultimate output of the Teaming Meeting(s) and related activities will be an increase in the quantity and quality of partnerships that form to advance T/NASO-led research and overall N CREW Program goals. (2) Identifying effective communications approaches to support partnership development and Teaming activities, as well as other communication needs within the N CREW program (3) Engaging in audience outreach to ensure the Teaming Meetings and related activities are relevant and to promote high engagement, (4) Developing materials to support partnership development activities before, during, and after the Teaming Meetings, as well as other materials needed for the N CREW Program.