IU is pleased to announce a new internal request for proposals for project funding starting July 2019 through the IU Grand Challenge initiative "Prepared for Environmental Change".
Letters of intent are due Wednesday, December 5, 2018, and full proposals are due by 5 p.m. on Monday, January 7, 2019.
Climate change is not just about the future. The Environmental Resilience Institute, part of IU’s Prepared for Environmental Change Grand Challenge, announces ERIT, the ERI Toolkit, a tool to assess risk, prepare for the future, and respond to today’s problems.
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Our world is changing. Temperatures are rising. Diseases are spreading. Severe weather is harming our infrastructure and our crops. And in the face of these environmental threats, we must protect Indiana jobs, our economy, and our communities.Exhaustive research and reporting have detailed the scope of substance abuse in Indiana. The evidence is clear: addiction in Indiana is an urgent problem.
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What does it mean to be a Hoosier? What does it mean to call Indiana “home?” It means working hard. Playing harder. And always lending a hand when help is needed. And at this moment, help is needed more than ever. Our state and our way of life are at risk. Beset on all sides by an invisible, but deadly, force: Addiction. It’s damaging our families and eroding the foundations of our communities. But there is hope. Because we’re Hoosiers. And we’re fighting back. In collaboration with the State of Indiana, business and community partners, Indiana University launched the Responding to the Addictions Crisis Grand Challenge initiative in 2017. It’s a $50 million multi-faceted plan with a single goal: To take back our communities. And to do it together. With sixteen projects already underway, we’re tackling the addiction problem with our best resources and brightest minds. Like Emily Scott, an Indiana University physician and researcher who is leading the battle against Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome—a condition that afflicts babies exposed to drugs in the womb. Scott is working directly with mothers to give babies born with NAS a chance for a better life. Indiana University scientists are working to uncover the underlying mechanisms of addiction. The more we know about how it affects the brain, the more effectively we can treat it. We’re also arming our hardest-hit communities with the tools to fight back. Naloxone training programs, education and outreach efforts are helping healthcare workers and law enforcement officers serve their communities—and save lives. Across the state, we’re working with judges, law enforcement, health care providers, community health workers serving as lay recovery coaches, and municipalities to inform and develop new approaches to this mounting epidemic. We’ve done a lot already. And we’re just getting started. Working together, we’re making strides every day. Along the way, we’ll evaluate our progress and make adjustments where necessary. Because failure is not an option. We won’t stop until we’ve restored hope to Indiana communities. Because helping our fellow Hoosiers… is our number one priority.Hundreds of hospital visits a month. Ten fatal overdoses every week. Heroin and prescription opioids are wreaking havoc on Hoosier communities — and it’s only getting worse. We can mitigate this epidemic by curbing the flow of opioids and helping addicts and their families get the treatment and support they desperately need.
Facing mounting evidence of a growing addictions crisis, the Governor’s office published a strategic plan, calling upon leaders from around our state to take up the mantle—starting at the community level. In response, Indiana University is launching a statewide effort as part of its Grand Challenges program. To be implemented across IU’s seven campuses and in partnership with Governor Eric J. Holcomb, state officials, IU Health and Eskenazi Health, this initiative will be one of the largest and most comprehensive state-based responses to the opioid addiction crisis, and the largest led by a university. The initiative will engage the full strength of IU’s world-class faculty and its industry, non-profit and government partners to address addictions in Indiana.
Addiction is a chronic, multifaceted disease. We need to stem the tide of this crippling epidemic. Doing so will require better understanding of the biological, social, and economic forces that shape it.
Our plan begins by partnering with communities to serve the needs of Hoosier families—because no one knows this crisis better than those most affected by it.
To deliver effective treatment and prevention options, we’ll train existing providers and better prepare future addictions professionals to serve in all health disciplines, from social work to emergency care.
Hoosier communities are in jeopardy. The addiction epidemic is a very real threat to the wellbeing of our families, businesses, and our state’s social services and health care systems. Only together can we create and implement community-centric policies that will help alleviate this epidemic and help recovering addicts again become productive citizens of our state.
Jim McClelland, Executive Director for Drug Prevention, Treatment, and Enforcement, State of Indiana
Responding to the Addictions Crisis is the newest initiative of Indiana University’s Grand Challenges program aimed at solving some of the most difficult challenges facing Indiana.
We’re tackling large-scale, complex problems that require collaboration across disciplines, industries, and communities. Our success will be measured by the tangible impact our programs have on the lives of Hoosiers. This bold initiative is the culmination of committed partnerships and dedicated research teams working together to solve some of the largest and most pressing problems Hoosiers face today.
If you would like to contribute to the Grand Challenges Program, please consider a donation to the Grand Challenges Fund which supports initiatives, including but not limited to, Responding to the Addictions Crisis, Prepared for Environmental Change, and Precision Health.
