Rural Communities Opioid Response Program – Northern Border Rural Workforce

Start Date 09/01/2025 ‐ End Date 08/31/2026

The New England Rural Health Association (NERHA) has been awarded a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (HRSA FORHP) for the Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP), Northern Border Rural Workforce Grant. The award totals $1.6 million over four years and will support training, placement, and sustainability efforts to strengthen the behavioral health workforce across rural Vermont and New Hampshire. 

Over the four-year project period, the program will train more than 100 Physician Assistant (PA) students in behavioral health and SUD treatment. Training will focus on competencies, including Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) prescribing, such as buprenorphine, as well as related areas like integrated care, recovery coaching and therapy. Franklin Pierce University’s PA Program will lead both didactic and clinical experiential instruction. 

Partners 

  • New England Rural Health Association (grantee) 

  • Franklin Pierce University Physician Assistant Program  

  • Northern New Hampshire Area Health Education Center (AHEC)  

  • Southern New Hampshire AHEC  

  • Southern Vermont AHEC (and the VT AHEC Network) 

  • Additional support will be provided by the Vermont and New Hampshire State Offices of Rural Health  

Needs For the Program

We need rural preceptor sites for rural clinical and hands on training. Please consider becoming a preceptor site and taking on well trained and clinically ready PAs.  

Preceptor Commitment 

  • 9 Week/40 hour commitment  

Preceptor Site Benefits:  

  • Workforce pipeline for well-trained providers 

  • Professional growth & fulfillment for preceptors 

  • Preceptor Training & Support through the AHECs 

  • Stipend for preceptor organization

This project is supported by the Federal Office of Rural Health Policy (FORHP), Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under Grant ID G62551. The information, conclusions and opinions expressed on this page are those of the authors and no endorsement by FORHP, HRSA, or HHS is intended or should be inferred.