CDC Foundation Builds Partnerships to Prevent Overdoses in Rural Georgia

Funded by the Georgia Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust, initiative supports 18 rural community coalitions

ATLANTA, Jan. 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Federal data shows overdose deaths have been declining nationally for more than two years. In Georgia, however, the decline is lower than the national decline and data from the Georgia Department of Public Health indicates that over the past five years, roughly one in five overdose deaths in the state occurred in rural counties. This development underscores the disproportionate impact of the overdose crisis in communities with fewer prevention, treatment and recovery resources. To help address these gaps, the CDC Foundation announced today a new initiative focused on strengthening overdose prevention efforts in rural communities across Georgia.

The CDC Foundation, funded by the Georgia Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust, is working with 18 community coalitions across rural Georgia to strengthen community-based responses. This effort builds on the CDC Foundation's proven history supporting the Overdose Response Strategy (ORS), a national model that brings public health and public safety partners together to share data, deliver evidence-based interventions and reduce fatal and nonfatal overdoses. Through this project, each coalition will receive direct funding of up to $250,000, along with tailored technical assistance over a 14-month implementation period ending March 2027.

"Communities in rural Georgia are facing a complex and persistent overdose crisis that requires locally led solutions," said CDC Foundation president and CEO Judy Monroe, MD. "By investing in partnerships that connect public health and public safety and support innovative, evidence-based strategies, we are helping these communities build sustainable solutions that save lives now and into the future."

Rural communities face unique and compounding challenges that increase the risk of fatal and nonfatal overdoses. These areas often have fewer health care providers, longer distances to treatment and recovery services, and limited access to overdose prevention services, while also experiencing higher rates of economic hardship and social isolation. Strengthening connections between public health and public safety in rural counties is critical to closing these gaps and ensuring communities have the data, partnerships and locally tailored strategies needed to prevent overdoses, protect communities and save lives.

This initiative builds on the ORS framework by fostering cross-sector collaboration, using real-time data to inform strategies and engaging multi-sector partners to tailor responses based on community needs. By investing in rural coalitions and providing hands-on capacity building support, the CDC Foundation aims to strengthen local infrastructure and improve access to prevention, treatment and recovery services across Georgia.

Coalition programs may include activities such as:

• peer-to-peer recovery support and one-on-one counseling;
• trauma-informed care and compassion fatigue training for first responders;
• expanded access to naloxone and fentanyl test strips through targeted community distribution and training;
• school-based education to strengthen youth decision-making and refusal skills;
• culturally appropriate overdose prevention outreach; peer support specialist and first responder co-response models;
• evidence-based services for people who are incarcerated or recently released; and
• the establishment of recovery resource centers.

The following 18 community coalitions were selected to participate in the initiative. The list includes community-based organizations, recovery community organizations, family shelters, faith-based organizations and other local partners.

This effort is made possible with support from the Georgia Opioid Crisis Abatement Trust.

About the CDC Foundation
The CDC Foundation helps the public health system including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) save and improve lives by unleashing the power of partnerships to protect the health, safety and security of all communities, everywhere. The CDC Foundation is authorized by Congress to mobilize philanthropic partners, corporations, organizations and individuals to support the critical health protection mission of CDC and the nation's public health. Since 1995, the CDC Foundation has launched more than 1,450 programs aimed at protecting communities across the country from a variety of health threats—from chronic disease conditions, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, to infectious diseases like malaria and HIV to emergency responses such as Ebola and Zika. The CDC Foundation is uniquely positioned to advance public health and managed hundreds of programs in the United States and in more than 100 countries last year. Learn more at www.cdcfoundation.org. Follow the CDC Foundation on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X/Twitter and TikTok.

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SOURCE CDC Foundation