SERVICES & CAPABILITIES
State Opioid Response Grant Evaluation
Elevate your community impact. We empower you to gain deep insights into community trends, going beyond SAMHSA grant requirements to showcase the impact of your SOR grant funding.
OMNI Institute is proud to assist states across the country with evaluation, capacity-building, and community-oriented technical assistance services for the SOR grant. We specialize in every aspect of SOR grant evaluation and implementation oversight and offer expert support in the areas of: Evaluation Planning, Data Collection, GPRA Management, Grant Monitoring, Training & Technical Assistance, Actionable Reporting, and Needs Assessment & Strategic Planning.
Our Services
Data Driven Planning
Goal and Objective Development
Grant Impact Tracking Tools
Measurement of Grant Goals, Objectives, and Performance Measures
Utilization of Local Data to Identify Service Gaps, Areas of Need, and Populations of Focus
Facilitation of Strategic Planning Processes to Ensure Funded Strategies Align with Needs and Capacity
Subrecipient-Level Evaluation Planning and Logic Models
Data Collection
Standardized Measures Development
Consent Processes Implementation
Reminders and Training for Subrecipients Submitting Data
Development of Data Collection Systems
Training & Technical Assistance
One-On-One Technical Assistance and Support for Evaluation Activities
Group Training on Data Collection
Custom Resources for and Communications with Subrecipients to Build Buy-in
GPRA Management
Data Collection from Subrecipients
Intake and Follow-up Target Tracking
Data Cleaning and SPARS Submission via Batch Upload
Dashboard for Subrecipient-Level Tracking
Management of Follow-up Windows and Reminder System to Ensure Follow-up Outreach
Data Quality Control
Ongoing Monitoring & Reporting
Mid-Year and End-of-Year Reports on Implementation, Successes, and Challenges
Quarterly Program Data in SPARS
Pinpointing Roadblocks that Impede Implementation
Identification of Sites or Strategies that Need Adjustment
Surfacing Successes for Replication
Featured Project
Virginia SOR Evaluation
OMNI is Virginia’s evaluation partner for the entirety of the SOR grant, overseeing efforts including grantee-level logic model and evaluation planning, instrument development, training and technical assistance on data collection, integration of mixed-method evaluation efforts across the behavioral health spectrum, implementing cross-site and state level process and outcome evaluation, analysis and reporting at site and initiative level including meeting federal reporting requirements, and evaluation case studies on innovative and cross-system efforts such as use of Peer Recovery Support services in jail and collegiate settings. OMNI collaborates with the Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services (DBHDS) to strategically evaluate the impacts of the SOR grant and utilize evaluation data to iterate DBHDS’s funding strategy and focus areas for SOR initiatives. This collaborative partnership has enabled Virginia to pursue innovative strategies that are positively impacting outcomes across the continuum of prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery. In addition, there has been significant change in the capacity of the state-funded behavioral health providers to address opioid use disorder and stimulant use disorder, and the evaluation has captured the ongoing successes and challenges of this growth.
SOR Grant Evaluation Leadership Team
Katie Gelman, DrPH, MPH (she/her)
Senior Vice President
Katie Gelman is a Senior Vice President at OMNI, a member of the Executive Management Team, and is responsible for overseeing OMNI’s portfolio of projects in Behavioral Health and Community Health. This work includes numerous SAMHSA funded evaluation and capacity building efforts spanning multiple states and across the continuum of care. She brings a public health lens to evaluation efforts, centering equitable evaluation within qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-method approaches. Since joining OMNI in 2006, Dr. Gelman has led numerous assessment, strategic planning, and evaluation contracts at state and local levels spanning issues such as substance misuse, chronic disease, HIV/AIDS, maternal/child health, and opioid abatement. She holds a Doctor of Public Health degree in Community and Behavioral Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from the University of Colorado School of Public Health, and a Master of Public Health in Maternal and Child Health from Boston University.
Julia Simhai, MPH (she/her)
Director
Julia Simhai is a Director at OMNI who has held oversight roles on several federal grant evaluations across the substance use continuum of care, including the State Opioid Response Grant in Virginia; Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery Services Block Grants in Wyoming, Virginia and Colorado; Partnerships for Success grants in Wyoming and Virginia; as well as regional opioid abatement initiatives in Colorado. Ms. Simhai’s expertise includes evaluation planning, implementation, and reporting, working with both state and local partners to ensure data collection meets federal requirements and supports the state’s ability to measure progress toward key performance indicators. Through these efforts, she has developed a strong understanding of and ability to foster collaboration on evaluations among community organizations, service providers, and behavioral health staff. Ms. Simhai has also worked extensively with national, state, and local epidemiology and surveillance data related to naloxone administration, opioid overdoses, and substance use disorder service utilization to monitor overdose-related trends and identify insights to improve prevention strategy implementation. She holds a Master of Public Health Degree in Health Behavior from the University of North Carolina and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Community Health from the University of Maryland, and is a past board member of the Colorado Public Health Association.
Eden Griffin, PhD (she/her)
Director
Eden Griffin is a Director at OMNI and oversees evaluation projects that focus on a variety of topic areas, with a focus on behavioral health and substance use prevention. She currently oversees the evaluation teams for the SABG-Prevention set aside and SOR Grant-Prevention set aside in Virginia as well as the SABG-Prevention set aside and SPF-Rx projects in Alabama. In these roles she is responsible for overseeing development and implementation of comprehensive evaluation plans that track key indicators to support data-driven program decisions and adherence to federal reporting requirements. She oversees teams of researchers and TA providers to support strengths-based TA provision and evaluation capacity building among sub-recipient communities. Dr. Griffin has a depth of experience in leading and overseeing needs assessments and strategic planning processes, both at the state and local level. In Virginia, she led a strategic planning process to identify prevention priorities, plan for implementation, and align funding formulas to achieve strategic goals. Further, Dr. Griffin currently oversees an opioid needs assessment in the city of Suffolk, VA and is providing evaluation support to the Region 4 Opioid Council project in Colorado. Dr. Griffin earned her doctorate in Human Development and Family Sciences from the University of Texas at Austin and has extensive experience developing and executing mixed-method research projects.
Alana Anderson, PhD (she/her)
Senior Research Manager
Alana Anderson is a Senior Research Manager at OMNI who leads and oversees a variety of state and federally funded projects across the substance use continuum of care. She currently oversees data collection and reporting requirements for the State Opioid Response Grant in Virginia, Partnerships for Success and Substance Use Prevention Block Grant evaluations, and the Overdose Data to Action Grant in Wyoming. She has also collaborated with the Wyoming Department of Health to build dashboards using secondary data to help communities understand their needs and strengths, and motivate data-driven solutions. Dr. Anderson has extensive experience in conducting complex, mixed-methods research and evaluation across a wide variety of community and behavioral health projects which has provided her with a depth of experience in analyzing and interpreting data that is grounded in both a theoretical and practical understanding of behavior and behavior change. Dr. Anderson’s primary area of expertise is understanding the role that self-regulation plays in substance use, mental health problems, and risk behaviors. Dr. Anderson earned an M.S and a Ph.D. in Prevention Science from Washington State University.
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