Summary
The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) is soliciting applications from organizations to fund one centralized Reentry Navigation Support and Training Assistance Center. "The Center" will operate as a dual-impact model to reduce overdose rates by providing direct navigation services to justice-involved individuals and technical assistance to other organizations who help individuals involved with the legal system.
Overdose remains one of leading causes of death among people recently released from prison, including those on parole. Compared to the general population, fatal and non-fatal overdose rates are significantly higher for individuals recently released from incarceration and those on supervision. To break this cycle, the technical assistance center will work to help stabilize individuals impacted by the criminal justice system to reduce overdose rates by connecting people to treatment/recovery services and other community resources.
Eligible organizations include organizations serving people at risk of overdose, community-based organizations, non-profit organizations, and municipal, county, or Tribal agencies (including but not limited to health and human services (HHS), and social services). Applications in response to this request for applications (RFA) must be submitted online using this application survey.
Applicants must conduct their work in the state of Wisconsin and must be comfortable with navigators participating in overdose prevention services in public safety settings and/or working with justice-involved people.
The deadline to apply for this funding opportunity is 11:59 p.m. on December 11, 2026. Questions related to this RFA must be submitted in writing to BHS Funding opportunities and may be submitted through December 4, 2026. This funding announcement, a courtesy copy of the application, and question/answer document (updated weekly) can be found on the DHS website.
Do not include personally identifiable information (PII) or protected health information (PHI) in your responses.
Background
People recently released from incarceration, including those on parole, are significantly more likely to experience an overdose compared to the general population. In 2024, people who were incarcerated or under supervision at some point in their life accounted for 52% of overdose deaths in Wisconsin. From 2014-2024, 2,005 opioid-related deaths occurred while someone was under active WI Department of Corrections (DOC) supervision and an additional 3,342 occurred post-discharge.
In the United States, over half of those incarcerated in state prisons have been diagnosed with a substance use disorder (Enich et.al., 2023). When individuals with a history of opioid use are released from incarceration, they are at a high risk of overdose and additional adverse outcomes (Enich et al., 2023). This is because people who are incarcerated without access to opioids experience a decrease in tolerance, increasing their risk of an overdose when using opioids after their release. Evidence-based interventions including medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD), peer recovery support, healthcare access, and coordinated community reentry planning can significantly reduce morbidity and mortality for individuals navigating community supervision.
To prevent overdose deaths and improve health outcomes, it is necessary to establish support for individuals navigating the criminal justice system, including those on probation, parole, and extended supervision. By providing direct navigation services, professional development, and education to community organizations, the Center will ensure individuals are connected to treatment and recovery services and other wraparound supports to reduce overdose rates.
Funding opportunity
This funding opportunity seeks applications from eligible organizations to establish and operate a centralized Reentry Navigation Support and Training Assistance Center. The selected agency will implement a dual-impact strategy that combines statewide organizational capacity building with direct client stabilization services. Applicants must demonstrate their capacity to fulfill the following core program goals:
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Capacity to hire or contract reentry navigators: The selected Center must possess the administrative infrastructure to directly hire, onboard, or contract a reentry navigator. This reentry navigator can be a certified peer recovery specialist, case manager, community health worker, or an individual with lived experience who is uniquely equipped to support peers under community supervision.
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Provide reentry services that reduce the risk of overdose: The Center will deploy its navigators to deliver direct services to individuals navigating probation, parole, and extended supervision. Navigators will actively mitigate overdose risks by developing individual plans of action; facilitating direct health and wellness advocacy; managing supervision requirements; and removing barriers to essential needs.
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Technical Assistance (TA) Metrics: Logging and tracking organizational TA requests, training hours delivered, and client engagement.
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Individual Client Data: Securely tracking direct navigation encounters, participant progress, and service outcomes without compromising client privacy.
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Sub-Grantee Reporting and Performance Templates: As the Center you will be responsible for federal reporting requirements that include unique navigator encounters, the specific distribution of peer-support and other relevant supplies by local zip codes, successful linkages to evidence-based substance use disorder (SUD) care, cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), or Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD). This opportunity is funded through the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Overdose Data to Action for States (OD2A-S) program.
Funding amount: initial award amount is $75,000. Based on successful project performance, an additional $150,000 will be awarded for the following project year (FY28).
Number of awards: 1
Expected grant cycles
Year 1 (FY27): March 1, 2027 – August 31, 2027 (initial award)
Year 2 (FY28): September 1, 2027–August 31, 2028 (contract renewal)
Intended outcomes
Short-term outcomes
- Increased use of navigators to link people involved in the criminal legal system to care and services.
- Increased access to overdose prevention education and services, including increased distribution of naloxone.
- Increased availability of and decreased barriers to care/services especially for those disproportionately affected by overdose and those previously underserved by overdose prevention programs and the healthcare system.
- Increased awareness of the drug overdose epidemic, overdose prevention efforts, and evidence-based approaches.
Intermediate outcomes
- Increased linkages to care post release and engagement of care in correctional settings.
- Expanded utilization of evidence-based approaches to prevent and respond to overdoses.
Long-term outcomes
- Increased uptake of evidence-based treatment and retention with long-term recovery supports, with a primary focus on opioid and stimulant use disorders.
- Decreased fatal and nonfatal overdoses.
Program requirements
- Use reentry navigators to connect individuals being released from incarceration to overdose prevention services and link people to care (evidence-based treatment for SUD such as MOUD, CBT, contingency management) and other social services.
- Ensure people who use drugs who are involved in the criminal legal system have access to overdose prevention and reversal tools, treatment options, and drug checking supplies.
- Establish referral networks in the community including housing, transportation, and medical care partners.
- Build referral pathways and warm handoffs between key systems and acute care settings.
- Provide trauma-responsive case management.
- Support people who use drugs to address barriers and connect them to resources.
- Develop, implement, and/or utilize a client data collection system.
- Participate in collaborative meetings with other DHS-funded navigators to build relationships, trouble-shoot challenges, brainstorm pivots, and celebrate successes.
- Collaborate with awarded applicants from the Reentry Navigator Program funded by the Division of Public Health.
- Develop and distribute educational resources as needed.
- Establish support and referral networks.
Reporting requirements
A combination of quantitative and qualitative data will be required annually for federal evaluation purposes including the number of technical assistance requests received and fulfilled, number of referrals to services, number of overdose prevention service encounters and location of encounters, and number of naloxone doses distributed within zip codes. In addition, grantees will need to report on their work to expand the reach of overdose prevention services, overall program accomplishments, and other relevant metrics resulting from awarded funds. DHS will work with the awarded agency to collect and report required metrics.
In addition to program and reporting requirements, organizations receiving this award will be expected to work with DHS to:
- Create a specific statement of work with deliverables
- Engage in regular coordination and communication with DHS partners to facilitate collaboration, assess resources, and eliminate repetition amongst navigators across the state
- Document all encounters, referrals, outcomes, and other program indicators
- Identify and provide reporting metrics for project evaluation
- Modify program implementation as necessary
Eligibility
Eligible applicants are organizations serving people at risk of overdose, community-based organizations, non-profit organizations, and/or municipal, county, or Tribal agencies (including, but not limited to health and human services, and social services). Eligible organizations will practice inclusion and may not discriminate on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, age, disability, or national origin in their staffing policies, use of volunteers, or provision of services.
Funding terms and conditions
- This application is for an initial award period from March 1, 2027 - August 31, 2027. Contracts will be awarded annually with the possibility of one contract renewal based on the availability of funds, and the ability of the grantee to meet all contractual objectives.
- A second year of funding may be awarded based on the availability of funds and grantee performance.
- DHS reserves the right to increase or decrease award levels and scope of individual contracts during the contract period, and/or reconfigure the program model at any time during the funding cycle based on the conditions noted above or a lack of adequate performance on the part of the grantee.
- Should additional funding become available, DHS reserves the right to use the results of this competitive application process to fund additional applicants that applied but were not selected.
- DHS will negotiate the terms of the award, including the award amount, with the selected applicant(s) prior to entering into a contract.
- If contract negotiations cannot be concluded successfully with a recommended applicant, DHS may terminate contract negotiations with that applicant.
- The contracts resulting from this request for applications will be between DHS and the awarded applicant(s).
- Grantees using subcontractors will be responsible for ensuring subcontractors abide by all terms and conditions of the grant.
- There is no match requirement for this grant.
- The selected applicant must follow all reporting requirements as defined by DHS. Quarterly reporting requirements will include a summary of expenditures, number of overdose prevention supplies distributed, types of referrals provided, and an account of program accomplishments or other relevant metrics resulting from awarded funds.