Our History

The CoP-RCORP Consortia originally came together when Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs (OU) and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE) supported five Ohio Counties to submit two $200,000 grants to the Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in the planning phase of the HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program. Fairfield and Ashtabula Counties were funded through partnership with Ohio University and Sandusky County and Washington County were funded through the proposal with PIRE. The Community of Practice Rural Community Opioid Response Program (CoP- RCORP) CoP-RCORP was officially formed when both proposals were funded in 2018 and the initiative was able to use a shared services approach to include and support a fifth community, Seneca County.

With the award of additional funding to each original applicant team, COP- RCORP will continued in the implementation phase of the HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program through 2022. Members of the Master Consortium also received awards from HRSA to continue work beyond 2022 to address psychostimulants and behavioral health services. The described approach was possible because OU and PIRE have a long-standing partnership that allows both organizations to work closely together on community-focused projects. The history of working together and in collaboration with communities brought to light the fact that shared experiences support cooperative learning in community members. Therefore, to make the most of existing relationships with community collaborators for this initiative, project directors from each community work with PIRE and OU forming a master consortium that provides leadership and management oversight for project activities. Each community then also has a community-specific consortium that leads project activities within the five Ohio counties. The community of practice approach made possible through shared services also supported the five communities in applying for the HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program Implementation phase in collaboration with PIRE and OU.