RIZE Massachusetts and MA Department of Public Health Announce First Grant Opportunity from Opioid Settlement Funds to Support Community-Based Organizations

May 15, 2024

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Media Contact:
Michelle McKenzie, Ball Consulting Group, LLC
Phone: 617-243-9950; Email: michelle@ballcg.com

RIZE Massachusetts and MA Department of Public Health Announce First Grant Opportunity from Opioid Settlement Funds to Support Community-Based Organizations

$3,750,000 will be awarded over three years through new Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership

BOSTON, Mass. (May 15, 2024) – RIZE Massachusetts Foundation (RIZE), a nonprofit foundation solely dedicated to funding and creating solutions to end the overdose crisis in Massachusetts, and the MA Department of Public Health (DPH) announced today it will award $3,750,000 over the next three years through the Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership.

DPH’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS) contracted RIZE to develop and implement a community grantmaking program that would create a pathway of access for municipalities and nonprofit organizations to apply for Opioid Recovery & Remediation Fund (ORRF) funding, particularly those based in historically underserved communities which have experienced a disproportionately high rate of opioid-related overdose death.

“This is a grant program like no other. Our partnership with the Commonwealth will bring settlement funds directly to the communities most impacted by the opioid crisis,” said Julie Burns, President and CEO of RIZE. “Mosaic is more than a grant program. It is a commitment to the people and communities suffering most from the harms of opioids and an opportunity to center the voices of people with lived or living experience so that the programs we fund save lives and improve communities.”

The Community-based Opioid Response Efforts (CORE) grant, the first round of grants through Mosaic, will fund community-based organizations that are working to reduce the harms caused by the opioid epidemic. It is intended to help organizations deepen their impact and build a strong and sustainable infrastructure to meet the needs of the populations they serve. The three-year grants will provide general operating support with a focus on capacity building and will range from $50,000 to $150,000 annually, depending on the organization’s size and budget.

“Community-based organizations all across the Commonwealth work tirelessly each day to address the harms caused by the opioid epidemic, and Mosaic is an opportunity for us to invest in the amazing work they’re doing and help them bring that work to scale”, said Undersecretary of the Executive Office of Health and Human Services (EOHHS) Dr. Kiame Mahaniah.

“Grant funds are often restricted, but this round of ORRF funding is unrestricted, which allows organizations to address urgent and emerging issues, sustain operations, strengthen their infrastructure, or meet different operational needs,” said Burns.

The application was released May 15, 2024 and will be available on the RIZE website: rizema.org. Applications are due June 14, 2024. The grant period will begin in August.

“We’re excited for RIZE to release the first round of Mosaic grants, and look forward to announcing the next round this fall that will include matching grants with ORRF funds and municipal opioid abatement funds for municipalities who are adopting best practices, utilizing Care Mass resources, conducting community outreach and needs assessments, and leveraging resources”, said Deirdre Calvert, Director of the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS). “With Massachusetts expecting over $900 million in opioid settlement funds over the next 18 years, we believe Mosaic will help connect the state-level work funded by the ORRF to the community-based efforts that are underway at the local level.”

About RIZE Massachusetts

RIZE Massachusetts is solely dedicated to funding and creating solutions to end the overdose crisis.  Guided by those with lived experience and unafraid of new ideas, RIZE is building networks, designing programming, and supporting community partners who are using novel approaches to preventing overdose.  Since 2017, RIZE has granted over $13 million to community organizations in Massachusetts.  Learn more at rizema.org.

About the Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services

As SAMHSA’s Single State Authority for Massachusetts, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS) serves all residents in the Commonwealth by providing content expertise and best practices to ensure high quality of care, licensing treatment facilities and addiction counselors, gathering data, performing analytics, and identifying trends funding new and innovative programs, and ensuring access to treatment as the payer of last resort. BSAS’s mission is to support accessible, effective, and culturally responsive prevention, intervention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery support principles, programs and practices.

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Position Summary

Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership (Mosaic), funded by the MA Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services and powered by RIZE Massachusetts Foundation (RIZE), is a partnership like no other. It is a unique, public-private collaboration designed to support initiatives that are addressing the opioid overdose crisis in communities that have been historically underserved and have experienced a high rate of opioid-related overdose deaths.

The funding for Mosaic comes from the Massachusetts Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF), which resulted from the historic legal effort to demand justice from several private companies for the harms caused by the opioid epidemic. This is one of the first public-private partnerships of this magnitude using settlement funds for community-led initiatives.

In partnership with BSAS and municipalities receiving opioid abatement funds, RIZE manages the Municipal Training and Technical Assistance (Muni TTA) Program. This program aligns with Mosaic’s mission to ensure that opioid abatement funds are invested and remain in the communities most deeply impacted by the crisis while also fueling transformative change through grassroots, community-led efforts.

The Muni TTA project manager provides project management, data, and operational support, ensuring the Muni TTA Program runs smoothly, is well documented, and is grounded in data. This role translates program strategy into concrete workplans, tracking systems, and reporting products, and provides day-to-day task direction to the program coordinator on project deliverables.

RIZE seeks someone for this position who is passionate about ending the overdose crisis and unafraid of new ideas. Success will require a positive, can-do, learning mindset and a collaborative, team-oriented approach. We are looking for candidates who understand how complex and interconnected issues, such as funding, data systems, and municipal government structures, intersect with addressing the overdose crisis.

The project manager supports the implementation of the Muni TTA workplan and Salesforce data infrastructure, coordinates monthly and quarterly reporting, provides project management support to four regional community advisory boards (CABs), and manages the logistics and content pipeline for the program's webinar series and newsletter. This position reports to the chief program officer (CPO) and works closely with the senior program officer (SPO).

 

Key Responsibilities

1. Workplan & Data Management

  • Oversee the Muni TTA workplan and Asana project management structure across six program goals: Proactive Outreach; Communications and Engagement; Quality Assurance and Team Development; Evaluation and Reporting; Intermunicipal Collaboration and Partnerships; and Community Advisory Boards. Monitor and keep progress, and identify risks or adjustments needed to keep deliverables on track
  • Set and monitor Salesforce data quality standards, oversee the Mosaic Muni TTA dashboard in coordination with the program coordinator, and produce reports; identify data quality issues and recommend adjustments to tracked metrics as the program evolves.
  • Monitor case documentation and tracking; compile monthly quality-review summaries for senior management review.
  • Support municipal capacity assessments by synthesizing results, identifying gaps, and helping the SPO draft action plans that reflect program priorities and municipal needs.

2. Reporting & Leadership Support

  • Compile regular qualitative reports, drafting the consolidated narrative of outcomes, barriers, and strategic adjustments for the SPO to finalize.
  • Develop regular progress updates, data summaries, and briefing materials for senior leadership, translating program activity and outcomes into clear talking points for internal review and external stakeholder discussions.
  • Coordinate senior leadership meeting preparation by identifying needed inputs, shaping agendas around key decisions, and ensuring materials are ready for review and follow-up. Coordinate post meeting follow-up.
  • Participate in cross-sector coordination meetings as needed to support data, reporting, or project management needs.

3. Community Advisory Board & Event Support

  • Provide project management for CAB implementation tracking progress and outcome metrics.
  • Direct administrative support for CABs, including materials preparation and outreach coordination.
  • Coordinate logistics, timelines, materials, follow-up, and slide preparation for regional and statewide presentations, meetings, and events.

4. Communications & Content Pipeline

  • Project-manage Mosaic TTA webinars: in coordination with the program coordinator maintain the topic and speaker pipeline, coordinate scheduling and logistics, and track post-session evaluations.
  • Project-manage Muni TTA bulletin and newsletter production, coordinating content collection, drafting, and oversee program coordinator with distribution timelines, and tracking engagement analytics.
  • Direct the program coordinator's development of training materials and slide decks; review for quality and program alignment before routing to senior leadership for approval.

 

Qualifications

Required

  • Strong organizational and time management skills
  • Proficiency in Microsoft Office, Google Workspace, and virtual meeting platforms
  • Excellent written and verbal communication skills

Preferred

  • Experience in public health, behavioral health, or harm reduction
  • Familiarity with workforce development initiatives
  • Experience supporting coalitions or multi-partner collaborations
  • Experience working with communities disproportionately impacted by substance use and overdose

Core Competencies

  • Commitment to harm reduction philosophy and health equity
  • Cultural humility and trauma-informed approach
  • Ability to manage multiple priorities in a fast-paced environment
  • Strong interpersonal skills and collaborative mindset
  • High level of discretion and professionalism
  • Bachelor's degree in public health, public administration, business, or a related field and a minimum of five years of relevant experience; or a master's degree and a minimum of two years of experience.
  • Demonstrated project management experience, ideally within a public health, government, or nonprofit setting.
  • Strong data and systems management skills; experience with Salesforce, or a comparable CRM/database strongly preferred.
  • Experience managing workplans, timelines, and reporting cycles.
  • Experience with supervision preferred.
  • Excellent written communication skills, including experience drafting reports and briefing materials for review by senior staff.
  • Proficiency with Salesforce, Asana, Microsoft Office 365, and virtual conferencing platforms; familiarity with Canva, WordPress, and Constant Contact a plus.
  • Knowledge of the Massachusetts opioid settlement funding landscape and municipal government structures preferred.

Skills, Abilities, Attributes

  • Strong organizational skills and sound judgment in a fast-paced, small-team, collegial environment.
  • Comfortable managing competing priorities and shifting timelines with minimal oversight.
  • Demonstrated track record of sustained high-quality, independent work in fast-paced environments.
  • Effective relationship-builder able to coordinate across internal teams and external stakeholders.
  • Ability to exercise discretion in handling confidential or sensitive information.
  • Motivated by a keen sense of mission and values with a willingness to embrace and actively support RIZE's agenda.

Work Environment

The Municipal TTA project manager is a full-time, hybrid role. RIZE is in downtown Boston; travel, primarily in-state, will be required for meetings and events as needed. This role may require evening and occasional weekend work.