In August 2019, ETSU, Virginia Tech, and WVU, working as the Opioids Research Consortium for Central Appalachia (the ORCCA) submitted a MacArthur Foundation 100&Change proposal. Our proposal, called Reinvestment from an Expanded System to Treat Opioid Use Disorder: Reclaiming the Epicenter (RESTORE) seeks to establish a new, scaled network of non-profit opioid addiction treatment clinics that reinvest clinic revenue into prevention services in highest need Central Appalachian communities identified through precision data science, geographic risk assessment and readiness algorithms. It was named a Top 100 project idea and is included in a public database for donors called the Bold Solutions Network.
The team included Rob Pack from ETSU, Kimberly Horn from Virginia Tech and Rob Bossarte from WVU, working with many colleagues at their respective universities and many community partners through the ORCCA.
Proposal
Apply a social franchise framework to scale up 35 nonprofit addiction medicine treatment services in Central Appalachia communities hardest hit by the opioid crisis and that still have low access to treatment. These debt-free nonprofit clinics will rapidly reinvest their net revenue into prevention agencies within these communities. A significant amount of revenue is generated by opioid addiction treatment services, typically generating revenues for private individuals or corporations. RESTORE creates a sustainable funding stream for prevention services, which are usually poorly funded and reliant on grants that come and go. The sustainable franchise model keeps revenues in the community for local implementation of evidence-based, high ROI solutions.
Project Timeline
- August 2019
MacArthur Foundation 100&Change competition
755 proposals were submitted from around the world. 475 made it into the competition after an administrative review. - February 2020
Bold Solutions Network
MacArthur Foundation affiliate Lever for Change launched the Bold Solutions Network to highlight the Top 100 projects. - June 2020
Submission
Top 100 teams were invited to create a 2-page factsheet that describes what the applicants would do with $1M, $5M and $10M investments. Our 2-page factsheet is here. - July 2020
Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has paused the 100&Change process for now. Top 100 applicants were invited to describe how the COVID-19 pandemic would affect their proposed projects. The timeline for the final phase of the competition is unknown to the applicants.