How Virginia Uses Coalition Partnerships to Maximize the Impact of Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Data Analytics Initiatives

Virginia’s Framework for Addiction Analysis and Community Transformation (FAACT) is a secure data-sharing platform led by the Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS). Developed in partnership with Voyatek, FAACT combines previously siloed data from different agencies, secretariats, localities, social services, public safety and corrections, drug courts, community coalitions and private healthcare systems. It delivers actionable intelligence to community leaders and first responders, supporting their timely and effective response.

We developed FAACT based on the belief that the best people to respond to the opioid epidemic are those who are on the front lines witnessing the effects of drug abuse within their own communities. FAACT’s self-service analytics layer gives community organizations powerful new tools to create reports and dashboards in a timely manner, view incident maps and more effectively collaborate as they respond to the crisis.

Partnering with community coalitions – i.e., regional organizations that are already addressing public health needs at the local level – is critical to ensuring that FAACT is continuously reaching communities with the most need and identifying opportunities to address regional substance use issues through technical resources.

We consider several factors when selecting which coalitions or working groups will bring the most impact to communities collaborating with FAACT:

Maturity – The coalition has been meeting at least two years within their respective communities and has demonstrated a willingness to use data and technology to address substance use in its jurisdiction.
Leadership – The coalition gathers highly influential stakeholders and local leaders who are passionate about the substance abuse and addiction crisis for their communities.
Diversity – The stakeholders or members come from a variety of backgrounds and have demonstrated the ability to collaborate with and support diverse populations.

Through tailored data-driven analysis and community outreach, FAACT strives to provide structure and resources for communities in need with the help of these high-impact coalitions and stakeholder groups. Our work with community coalitions has delivered impactful outcomes across Virginia within the last year:

FAACT partners with Horizon Behavioral Health’s DART (Data to Action Resource Team) to analyze contributing factors and overall impact of substance use and mental illness in Central Virginia.
We developed a Resource Map in collaboration with Virginia Overdose Prevention Resource Collaborative (VOPRC) to determine where overdoses are occurring and where treatment facilities are needed which can ultimately help with resource allocation. Data provided by FAACT also allowed VOPRC leaders to identify and address a surge in xylazine overdoses.
We recently launched a Resource Locator with the help of community leaders from the Roanoke region, namely from the Bradley Free Clinic and Roanoke Collective Valley Response. The locator allows users to track down local resources such as treatment centers, recovery programs, peer support and much more just by an address input.

To learn more about Voyatek’s Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Analytics Framework, click here.

-Voyatek Leadership Team