Building Healthier Communities for All: Our Most Read 2019 U.S. News & Stories

While 2020 is officially underway, here in our U.S. Health Services division, we’ve taken a moment to reflect on our work and illustrative stories of the last year.

2019 was an exciting year of new projects, partners, and even a new website. Our work in the U.S. grew and evolved throughout the year, reflecting the ever-changing public health landscape.

Our continued success is a result of our exceptional work for more than 40 years and our understanding of clients and experience with the people they serve. It’s also the commitment of the tremendous energy, skills, and commitment from our staff.

Susan Grantham, Vice President, JSI U.S. Health Services; Principal Investigator, HRSA Center of Excellence for Behavioral Health Technical Assistance

Rekha SreedhaRekha Sreedhara, Associate Director, Northern New England
Reducing Substance Misuse in New Hampshire for over 10 years

As the Associate Director of the NH Center for Excellence, I was proud to celebrate the Center’s 10th anniversary in September. The center provides training and technical assistance to communities, practitioners, and policymakers working to reduce alcohol and drug misuse in New Hampshire. The celebration convened funders, partners, and clients to honor the progress the center has made across the substance misuse continuum of care including prevention, treatment, and recovery in New Hampshire.

Molly Higgins-BiddleMolly Higgins Biddle, Consultant, Boston
Strengthening Systems of Care for People with HIV and Opioid Use Disorder

To achieve the Federal Administration’s goal of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030, it is critical to understand how people with HIV are affected by the opioid crisis. In September, we launched strengthening systems of care for people with HIV and opioid use disorder (OUD). Funded by HRSA under the Special Projects of National Significance program, we are providing technical assistance to nine states to help ensure that people living with HIV and OUD have access to care, treatment, and recovery services that are patient-centered and culturally responsive.

Juli Powers

Juli Powers, Senior Consultant, Georgia
Strengthening the HIV Workforce Capacity in the Southern U.S.

While overall rates of HIV infection have declined, there are disparities in access to care, particularly among young African American and Latino gay and bisexual men and individuals living in the South. We partnered with the CDC to launch HIP in the South Institutes. The two-day high-impact prevention institutes were held in seven states and allowed participants to discuss their experiences, successful practices, funding concerns, data reporting needs, and more. JSI’s work in the institutes reflects our mission—every day we work to improve the health and well-being of underserved people and communities.

Jeremy Make

Jeremy Make, Multimedia Production Specialist, Colorado
Creating Policy to End the Opioid Epidemic in Rhode Island

Each year the Rhode Island Prevention Resource Center highlights an important area of prevention work in the state by producing a short video. I helped produce this year’s Prevention Profile, which focused on Governor Gina Raimondo’s efforts to end the opioid epidemic in Rhode Island through the Opioid Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force Strategic Plan. This video gives prevention providers, caregivers, educators, and the community as a whole a better understanding of the opioid overdose prevention and intervention work happening in the state.

Nicole GironNicole Giron, Consultant, California
Understanding Domestic Violence through a Social Determinant of Health Lens

As part of our ongoing work to end domestic violence, we published a report exploring the connections between housing insecurity, economic instability, and substance use. The relationships between domestic violence and social issues are complex. Responding to individual episodes of domestic violence is not enough to prevent or mitigate its occurrence, which can be difficult for many to understand at first, myself included. To prevent and curb violence, as well as promote healing among survivors and their families, we must consider the larger social context in which domestic violence occurs and create comprehensive, multi-sector responses that support survivors and work to overcome the social injustices that contribute to violence.

Tammy Calise

Tammy Calise, Senior Research Scientist, Boston
Building a Healthier Massachusetts for All

In 2019, we released a three-year, comprehensive evaluation of the Massachusetts Healthy Incentive Program (HIP), showing its reach, effectiveness, adoption, implementation, and sustainability. HIP’s goal was to create a more vibrant, equitable food system for underserved communities across the state by improving access to fruits and vegetables. Our report gave insights into HIP’s success and showed the importance of its continued support.