‘Together We RIZE’ Grants Awarded for Bold, Community-Driven Projects to Address Overdose Crisis

Press Coverage RIZE News

November 17, 2022

5th Anniversary Program Provides $600,000 to Six Nonprofits from Greater Boston to Berkshire County

BOSTON – RIZE Massachusetts, an independent nonprofit foundation solely dedicated to funding and creating solutions to end the overdose crisis, has awarded nearly $600,000 in grants to six promising community-driven projects.

Together We RIZE, created to mark the organization’s fifth anniversary, supports initiatives that will bolster the behavioral health workforce, build up harm reduction services and boost access and equity. Each recipient has received a one-year grant ranging from $98,000 to $100,000.

“The Together We RIZE grant program was informed by a collaborative approach with partners during our five-year fight to end the overdose crisis,” said RIZE President & CEO Julie Burns. “Working boldly together, we can meet the urgency of the moment and develop solutions to end the stigma associated with addiction, keep people safe from overdose and ensure access to quality care for anyone who wants it.”

The grantees and their projects are as follows:

Berkshire Harm Reduction, Pittsfield

Berkshire Harm Reduction provides services in three brick-and-mortar locations as-well-as mobile harm reduction across Berkshire County, which has the highest rate of opioid use disorder in Massachusetts. Services include testing and treatment for infectious diseases and STIs, syringe exchange, sharps disposal, overdose education and naloxone distribution. The nonprofit will enhance its model to better serve people who use drugs by purchasing two vehicles to support a low-barrier, peer-driven mobile harm reduction program to reach stigmatized and isolated people who use drugs, across a rural, 946-square-mile service area.

“Berkshire Harm Reduction is extremely grateful to RIZE Massachusetts for this generous grant, which will allow us to increase access to services throughout rural Berkshire County,” said Sarah DeJesus, Berkshire Harm Reduction’s Program Manager. “The purchase of these two vehicles will make significant immediate and long-term impacts for our community, with an emphasis on low-barrier, comprehensive harm reduction services, and engaging with the county’s most stigmatized and isolated populations.”

Brockton Neighborhood Health Center, Brockton

Brockton Neighborhood Health Center provides culturally and financially accessible health care to a patient population of 35,000, the majority of whom are low-income and Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC). The health center will expand its drug checking services and study best practices for use at mobile and fixed clinic sites. With increased capacity for drug checking, and the knowledge of the historic exploitation and marginalization of people who use drugs, they will work to better understand the expectations of BIPOC who use drugs and explore appropriate relationships between drug checking and medical care.

Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center, Boston

The Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center is a national hub for substance use disorder resources, providing treatment and support programs for patients of all backgrounds along with addiction education, policy, advocacy and thought leadership. The center will enhance a 24/7 overdose prevention hotline staffed by peers with lived experience by using “virtual spotting” remote technology that prompts a rescue response if an overdose occurs. More than 2,000 people die of overdose each year in Massachusetts, and the risk of fatal overdose increases exponentially when people use drugs alone.

North Suffolk Mental Health Association, Chelsea

North Suffolk Mental Health Association provides community-based mental health services to individuals and families in Greater Boston, including Hispanic/Latino populations with higher poverty rates and often lacking health insurance. The nonprofit will serve English- and Spanish-speaking parents in recovery by implementing It Takes a Village/Se Necesita un Pueblo, an evidence-based group therapy model co-facilitated by a clinician and a recovery coach. This model has been informed by a diverse Recovery Support Services team to address the impact of substance use disorder, mental illness and trauma on parent-child relationships.

St. Francis House, Boston

St. Francis House, the largest day shelter in Massachusetts, enables homeless or housing-insecure adults to meet their basic needs for shelter, safety, meals, clean clothes, showers and access to medical care. It offers drop-in services, workforce development programs, affordable housing search and housing stabilization services, and clinical and case management services. St. Francis House will launch an intensive outpatient treatment clinic for people experiencing substance use disorder and homelessness – the first-of-its-kind embedded within a day shelter with harm reduction services. The clinic will meet a crucial need by serving guests on-site when they are ready to accept treatment.

South Shore Health, Weymouth

South Shore Health is the largest independent health system in southeastern Massachusetts, serving 800,000 residents across 32 communities. It provides hospital-based addiction services through the Grayken Center for Treatment, as well as outpatient, office-based and mobile addiction treatment services. South Shore Health will increase hospital initiation of methadone – which has been proven to reduce illicit opioid use and risk of overdose – and connection to treatment. The model calls for peers following up with patients to ensure early retention in the program when the risk of dropout is high.

“South Shore Health’s Grayken Center for Treatment is thrilled to be selected for Together We RIZE funding. Our organizations share a common goal: to address the opioid epidemic through initiatives that remove barriers to care and services, while addressing fear, uncertainty and indecision about treatment,” said Dr. Todd Kerensky, Medical Director, Addiction Medicine at South Shore Health. “Our novel peer support program, bolstered by this generous grant, aligns patients with those who are already in recovery, to lend support, help reduce stigma and share first-hand experiences with medication treatment for opioid use disorder and recovery, in real time.”

 

About RIZE Massachusetts 

RIZE Massachusetts is an independent nonprofit foundation committed to achieving zero stigma and zero deaths related to opioid use disorder by investing in meaningful solutions and employing broad perspectives that will save lives, reduce harm and end the opioid epidemic in Massachusetts.  For more information, visit rizema.org. 

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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.

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