The Brandeis Opioid Resource Connector (BORC) is an online tool that assists communities in mounting a comprehensive response to the opioid crisis. It provides a curated collection of community-based programs and resources to help stakeholders choose, design, and implement essential interventions to address this public health emergency across the continuum of care — prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery.
The website is made up of four main components:
- A frequently updated, diverse selection of more than 180 program models that have been implemented in a wide array of communities
- Community-focused tools, such as BORC’s community checklist that provides guidance for choosing appropriate interventions, policies, or practices, and BORC’s collaboration and coordination tool to facilitate building or sustaining coalitions and task forces to address the opioid crisis
- A searchable database of over 800 resources. These include data and mapping sources to help determine community-specific needs and inform program and policy selection, a curated selection of the peer-reviewed, published literature and background papers related to addressing the opioid crisis, tools and toolkits categorized by stakeholder type, and resources specific to the intersection of COVID-19 and the opioid crisis.
- A feedback function for website users to provide suggestions and share their own programs
BORC has recently published an issue brief that discusses the role of social determinants of health (SDoH) in the opioid crisis and how addressing SDoH might improve health outcomes and reduce health disparities related to opioid use disorder, especially in the era of COVID-19.
Support for the Brandeis Opioid Resource Connector was provided by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
News Alerts:
- Supporting Recovery from Opioid Use Disorder (September 2023)
- Maximizing the Impact of Opioid Settlement Funds (March 2023)
- Prevention: A Strategic Community Response to the Opioid Crisis (November 2022)
- Anti-Stigma Resources Can Enhance Community Response to Opioid Crisis (August 2022)
- Community Checklist: Online Tool Informs a Comprehensive Community Response to the Opioid Crisis (May 2022)
- Innovative Approaches to Increase Naloxone Availability (November 2021)
- Addressing the OUD Treatment Gap Through Innovative Programs (July 2021)
Reports/handouts:
- BORC Description: Online Tool Helps Communities Respond to the Opioid Crisis
- Press Release: New Online Tool to Help Communities Respond to the Opioid Crisis, with COVID-19-related Resources
- Addressing the Opioid Crisis through Social Determinants of Health: What Are Communities Doing? Issue Brief
For more information, please contact:
The Brandeis Opioid Resource Connector Team
Cindy Parks Thomas PA, PhD cthomas@brandeis.edu
Robert Bohler MPH bohler@brandeis.edu