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Social Solutions supports NIDA in tracking national substance abuse trends.
Through the State and Local Epidemiology Planning and Information Development contract, Social Solutions works with the National Institute on Drug Abuses’ (NIDA's) Community Epidemiology Work Group (CEWG) to provide and enhance capacity for responding to emerging drug abuse problems. The purpose of this contract is to continue and expand NIDA’s applied epidemiology program which began in 1976 by organizing and executing work group meetings composed of epidemiologists, ethnographers, and other drug abuse research experts and to provide for discussion of findings from secondary analysis of local, national, and international research data in a selected number of geographic areas. To enhance technical capability of CEWG representatives and quality of CEWG reports, CEWG meetings include sessions on research and analysis methods. Through this contract Social Solutions is also responsible for communicating NIDA’s most current drug epidemiologic information. To do this, Social Solutions determines effective methods of communication with target populations in the public health and scientific community with the goal of enhancing NIDA’s capability to provide information concerning epidemiologic patterns and trends, new and emerging problems, and risk factors in the most useful and timely manner. Social Solutions partners with Alvarez & Associates to address drug abuse internationally With funding from the United States Department of State (DoS), through a subcontract from Alvarez and Associates, Social Solutions is providing International Demand Reduction expertise to the DoS’ Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement. To assist DoS in reducing global demand for illicit drugs, Social Solutions is: 1) developing, administering, and analyzing the results of a needs assessment to determine the training needs of international drug prevention and treatment providers; 2) developing, implementing, and evaluating HIV training for international drug prevention and treatment providers; and 3) conducting feasibility, best practice, pilot, and evaluation studies. Social Solutions further assists Alvarez & Associates and the DoS with the development of culturally appropriate materials and methods for demand reduction work in Latin America, South America, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Africa.  Social Solutions Staff Co-Author Three Chapters in: The Complete Writing Guide to NIH Behavioral Science Grants
Social Solutions has collaborated with editors Larry Scheier and William Dewey to create a comprehensive writing guide to prepare potential applicants for the rigors of NIH grant review. The goal of the book is to familiarize readers with the procedures and politics underlying the review process and the requirements for grant submissions. Designed to help a wide range of potential investigators improve their grant writing skills, the book addresses an expanse of substantive expertise and covers different strategies and grant writing tactics. Beginning with generally accepted guidelines for research applications, the book also includes the essential points of scholarship and criteria considered mandatory for reviewers.Social Solutions staff co-authored chapters on minority and international funding opportunities; Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) grants and contracts; and fellowships for pre-doctoral students.
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