The Communities of Practice for Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (COP-RCORP) Consortium consists of a master consortium, five local consortia, and partnerships at the state level to respond to the opioid crisis in five rural and Appalachian counties in Ohio. All of these counties have higher overdose death rates than the national average. A community of practice is a group of people who share a craft or a profession. In this case, the shared craft is the planning of activities related to addressing the opioid crisis, with the overall aim to enhance capacity and sustainability at a local level by leveraging state and community partnerships.

There are two levels of consortia in this program model. The local consortium is at the county level and is comprised of a collaboration of community stakeholders (similar to a community coalition model). The master consortium assists with training, technical assistance, evaluation, and support from state agencies and experienced communities, and is comprised of Ohio University's Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Affairs and the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation (PIRE). More information on the organizational structure can be found here. 

The program is funded by the HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program through 2022. The consortia follow an implementation plan related to the core areas of prevention, treatment, recovery, and sustainability. 

More detail on the consortium and contact information can be found in the news article here, the funding page here, and in the presentations here and here. 

This consortium has developed an innovative take-home naloxone program to respond to the service disruptions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.