Innovative Approaches to the Opioid Crisis

How Communities Are Crowdsourcing Solutions to Confront This Crisis

Tuesday, April 30, 2019 8:30 AM – 12:00 PM ET

Hosted by Digital.gov and the Challenge.gov

For a third consecutive year, the life expectancy among Americans is expected to decline as a result of opioid misuse disorder and overdose. Studies suggest the drug class has directly fueled “a 51 percent increase in the combined death rate from drug overdoses, alcohol abuse, or suicide between 2005 and 2016.” Additionally, crime data suggests a strong link between opioid use and incarceration. The National Institute of Drug Abuse estimates 65% of all incarcerations tie back to substance use disorder, taxing the U.S. law enforcement and justice apparatus.

To confront the crisis, a growing number of federal, state, local, and tribal agencies are taking innovative approaches to address opioid prevention, awareness, treatment, detection, and law enforcement. Unfortunately, these efforts may be disparate and siloed by agency, sector, or across regions.

The General Services Administration (GSA) plans to convene stakeholders to discuss and share current planning for innovative approaches (including crowdsourcing, and challenges and prizes), and to explore opportunities for shared learning and collaboration.

Featured guests will overview current and ongoing initiatives in the federal sector. Confirmed speakers include:

  • Rosanna Robertson, Department of Homeland Security — Opioid Detection Challenge
  • Shulamit Babitz and Zoey Rho, Maternal and Child Health Bureau — Addressing Opioid Use Disorder in Pregnant Women and New Moms
  • Irina Sazanova, National Institute on Drug Abuse — “$100,000 for Start a SUD Start-Up” 2019 Challenge
  • Drew Zachary, U.S. Census Bureau — The Opportunity Project

This talk is hosted by Challenge.gov. Managed by GSA, Challenge.gov serves as both the official listing of prize competitions across government, as well as a centralized platform for federal agencies to market and manage their problem-solving events. The program also designs resources and training, which have helped more than 100 federal agencies run over 900 prize competitions with public participation since 2010. **For questions about this event, contact team@challenge.gov.

Questions about this event or future events? Send them to digitalgov@gsa.gov.