Opportunity
HSRI led the national evaluation of the Minority AIDS Initiative for over a decade, supporting efforts to engage medically underserved racial and ethnic communities affected by substance use and co-occurring mental health conditions. The program funded community organizations to implement integrated prevention and treatment strategies for SUDs, HIV/AIDS, and later, viral hepatitis, in high-risk communities facing healthcare disparities.
Approach
HSRI led an evaluation of the Minority AIDS Initiative, which was aligned with SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework. Among the team’s activities were:
- Developing tools to assess implementation fidelity and adapted strategies for new grantee cohorts
- Creating participant-level surveys for intake, discharge, and follow-up
- Working with IT partners to build user-friendly online systems for data submission and quarterly reporting
To build grantee capacity, HSRI offered ongoing technical assistance (TA) through webinars, monthly office hours, and a dedicated help line. Data was extracted, validated, and analyzed to produce annual reports, which were then disseminated to federal staff.
Impact
The results of this evaluation have sparked changes in policies and practices related to substance use and HIV prevention by identifying the types of strategies that work best for medically underserved subpopulations.