Expansion and Innovation Fund & Medi-Cal Administrative Activities
Request for Applications
The funding opportunities listed below are available to currently funded Round 1 and Round 2 COPHRI partners to supplement their awards, increase their existing capacity, and develop innovative programming that they would otherwise be unable to under their current COPHRI award funding level.
Please note the different deadlines for each opportunity: The deadline for the Expansion and Innovation Fund application has expired.; Medi-Cal Administrative Activities applications are due by October 22, 2025 at 1 p.m.
The California Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction Initiative (COPHRI) promotes the health and safety of people who use drugs by supporting a range of harm reduction services operated by state- and locally authorized syringe services programs (SSPs). COPHRI funding for SSPs is organized in collaboration with The Center at Sierra Health Foundation (The Center) an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that works to pursue the promise of health and racial equity in communities across California and the California Department of Public Health’s Office of AIDS.
Medi-Cal Administrative Activities
The goal of this funding opportunity is to assist capacity building and efforts to support organizational work already being performed that are likely considered MAA-reimbursable activities.The funds received through MAA are unrestricted, allowing programs to allocate them where they are most needed. Unlike many grants that limit spending to specific services, MAA reimbursements can be used in a variety of ways, including:
- Purchasing harm reduction supplies
- Hiring additional staff
- Covering overhead costs, such as rent, mortgage, or utilities
- Purchasing higher cost items such as vehicles or Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR) equipment for drug checking
- Investing in training or other operational needs
- Building an organizational financial reserve
The funding received through this opportunity is separate from the funds received through MAA. This funding is to support COPHRI partners in building their capacity to participate in MAA. Awardees can use funds to contract with consultants that can assist and take on some of the workload.
Application Support
For application support please attend our office hours on September 24, 2025 from 9:30 am – 10:30 am: join us on Zoom. Alternatively, you can attend our office hours on October 7, 2025 from 3:00 pm – 4:00 pm: join us on Zoom. For additional questions related to this funding opportunity, including issues related to the application system, to harmreduction@sierrahealth.org with the subject line: COPHRI Application Help.
Applications are due by October 22, 2025 at 1 p.m.
Expired: Expansion and Innovation Fund RFA
The goal of this funding opportunity is to increase the existing capacity with currently funded partners, this additional funding will help develop innovative programming that they would otherwise be unable to under the current funding award level. Additionally, this opportunity aims to:
- Reduce the incidence of fatal and nonfatal drug overdose.
- Reduce the incidence of infections related to injection drug use including HIV, and hepatitis B and C, systemic bacterial infections, and skin and soft tissue infections.
- Ally with people who use drugs to design and deliver low-barrier services and other initiatives that promote people’s health and safety in relation to drug-related harm and the negative effects of public and institutional policies targeting people who use drugs.
- Ensure multi-year funding sustainability for SSPs to deliver services in their role as an essential part of the continuum of care around drug use and health.
- Support connections to primary health care, substance use disorder treatment and other health care as appropriate.
We are no longer accepting applications.
