The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to Skills Project (S2S) provides states with technical assistance to help them build employer-driven SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) programs. FNS will offer a new opportunity in 2019 geared toward State SNAP agencies interested in advancing an aspect of their SNAP E&T program, even if they are not one of the 10 states participating in S2S. This Call for Applications provides information on how interested State SNAP agencies can apply for the 2019 SNAP E&T State Institutes. Letters of interest should be submitted to the SNAP to Skills Project by 5 p.m. ET on January 7, 2019.

This kit is a comprehensive set of tools that includes: strategy guides about how to prevent overdoses and make early interventions for treatment and recovery; a case study of a response; survivor stories from five former addicts; fact sheets for use at home and the workplace; posters and graphics; and informative videos from the medical community.

Visitors can use the online order form on this National Safety Council webpage to order free resources to help them reduce opioid risk. Resources include: envelopes that can be used to send up to 8 ounces of unused prescription medication to a compliance company that will dispose of the medication using a safe process and Warn-Me Label Cards and Sheets containing self-stick labels that can be used to inform medical professionals that patients want to discuss the risks of prescribed opioids and possible safer alternatives.

This free employer kit is designed to address prescription drug use in the workplace and includes: a guide, “The Proactive Role Employers Can Take: Opioids in the Workplace;” tools to evaluate an organization’s employee benefit plans used to stem addiction; fact sheets and handouts to educate employees; a set of safety talks that management can deliver to employees; and a poster series for display about home safety and disposal of prescription drugs.

This research report from the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation outlines the geography of the opioid epidemic and the correlation between opioid use and higher rates of poverty and unemployment.

This infographic from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services provides a brief identification of key data points on the history and status of the opioid epidemic.

Massachusetts leads the way in providing social workers the resources they need to combat the opioid crisis. The Governor created a Social Work Education Working Group on Substance Misuse, which has partnered with the National Association of Social Workers and local social work graduate schools to develop a unified framework for caseworkers to manage substance abuse. This report outlines the core principles of their strategy, which will be implemented statewide in social work curriculum. The guidelines include the Primary Prevention Domain of Preventing Substance Misuse, the Secondary Prevention Domain of Caring for Individuals At-Risk for Substance Use Disorders, and the Tertiary Prevention Domain of Managing Substance Use Disorders as a Chronic Disease. Within these three realms, the working group lists subareas of focus. This outline can be used as an example for other states or practitioners looking to develop supportive and standardized curriculum for those on the front lines of the opioid epidemic.

This report from the White House Council of Economic Advisers documents the data on the opioid crisis from a public health standpoint and the economic costs of opioid-related fatalities at the macro level.

The National Center for Health Statistics presents a data visualization, drawn from the National Vital Statistics System, for drug overdose deaths for all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This data series compares the percentage changes in provisional drug overdose deaths in the current 12 month period with the previous 12 months. There is also data to indicate the reported and predicted provisional counts by month.

This annual Administration for Children and Families publication is a data almanac of TANF policies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia through July 2017, contained within the Welfare Rules Database. It provides comprehensive guidance on long-term rule changes on cash assistance programs and the state policies from 1996 to 2017.