Alkermes Announces Recipients of 2022 Alkermes Inspiration Grants® Program
– 6th Installment of Competitive Grants Program Awards Funding to Nine Innovative Programs Focused on People Living with Addiction, Serious Mental Illness or Cancer –
DUBLIN, Oct. 27, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Alkermes plc (Nasdaq: ALKS) today announced the 2022 recipients of the Alkermes Inspiration Grants® program. Grants were awarded to nine nonprofit organizations working to address the needs of people living with alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder and cancer. The selected programs also have a focus on addressing unmet needs in historically under-resourced or underrepresented communities with longstanding and widespread health disparities.
"This year's Alkermes Inspiration Grants recipients inspire us with their innovative approaches to providing critical support for people living with addiction, serious mental illness or cancer, as well as their caregivers and family members. These organizations have the potential to positively impact people across the U.S. and offer an opportunity to engage diverse communities in new ways," said Richard Pops, Chief Executive Officer of Alkermes.
Nearly 250 applications were submitted for this highly competitive program. Submissions were evaluated based on a set of criteria outlined in the request for proposals, including clearly defined needs, objectives, activity format, mode of delivery and intended audience, and relevance to historically under-resourced or underrepresented communities. Grant recipients were selected by a committee that included senior leaders from Alkermes and individuals from outside the organization chosen to represent the perspectives of people with lived experience, caregivers and patient advocates.
"Alkermes' desire to support high-impact programs that can help those affected by addiction, cancer and serious mental illness came through clearly throughout the review process. I was impressed with the purposeful and collaborative effort, and the particular focus on supporting underserved communities and regions across the country," commented committee member Sharon Slade, Chief Marketing Officer, Cancer Research Institute.
Since 2016, the Alkermes Inspiration Grants program has awarded more than $4.5 million in funding to innovative programs that support the needs of those impacted by serious diseases in our areas of focus. For more information on the Alkermes Inspiration Grants program, please visit https://www.alkermes.com/responsibility.
2022 Grant Recipient Organizations and Programs:
The American Psychiatric Association Foundation's Building Bridges to Care: APAF Mental Health and Faith Community Partnership aims to foster dialogue to improve the understanding of mental health and substance use disorders, reduce stigma and increase connections to care with local community organizations, including faith-based organizations. The group will develop and disseminate culturally appropriate mental health information and resources for people with mental health and substance use disorders, including schizophrenia and bipolar disorder and/or caregivers for people living with these illnesses.
Community Anti-Drug Coalitions of America (CADCA) will create an alcohol use disorder (AUD) awareness video and fact sheet to further support CADCA's training of local grassroots groups, known as community coalitions, with the goal of developing effective community problem-solving strategies related to substance use disorders. Groups are taught how to assess their local alcohol, tobacco and other drug-related problems and develop a comprehensive plan to address them. The video and fact sheet will be used to increase awareness and reduce stigma of AUD and seeking treatment.
Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance's (DBSA) Addressing Mental Health Disparities Through Peer Support program will train Asian American/Pacific Islander, Black and rural peers with lived experience as support group facilitators and create 10 peer-led support groups. The goal is for participants to address and overcome systemic barriers, increase their access to mental health support and achieve positive mental health outcomes along their recovery journeys.
Foundation for Women's Cancer's (FWC) Move The Message campaign is designed to motivate high-risk and historically marginalized communities to take preventive action by increasing awareness of gynecologic cancers through dissemination of vital FWC resources. Gynecological cancer mortality rates are increasing among women of color and rural women, with late-stage diagnoses more prevalent due to lack of education and awareness. FWC will take its message directly to communities across the country to drive awareness and enhance education and support of early diagnoses by motivating people to help #MoveTheMessage.
The National Association for Children of Addiction's (NACoA) Children Deserve Recovery, Too! program seeks to deliver NACoA's Children Program Kit training on-demand via a Learning Management System to 40 community-based youth-serving nonprofits in historically under-resourced and underrepresented communities with high rates of alcohol or opioid use disorder. Children living with a parent or caregiver who has alcohol or opioid use disorder are at high risk for experiencing adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), making them vulnerable to lifelong negative mental and physical health consequences. Early prevention and intervention are key for addressing this systemic issue, and this program will provide proven, trauma-sensitive, culturally informed educational support programs to mitigate the impact of ACEs.
Ovarcome's Lifecycle of OVARCOMING program seeks to eradicate disparities in equity of care and information to Ovarcomers that are in an underrepresented part of the population. Ovarcome will educate, inform, engage and empower ovarian cancer survivors, caregivers, friends, family members and the general population with information on screening, genetics, detection, diagnosis, and treatment; a book of inspiration with real life stories for newly diagnosed patients; a video and resource packet to make Ovarcomers feel cared for; and a Clinical Trials Finder in both English and Spanish, among other resources. This information will help people take ownership of their treatment process and the journey of OVARCOMING.
Parents of Addicted Loved Ones' Healing Families of Substance Use Disorder in the Nation's Largest Cities program will start free weekly meeting groups utilizing Parents of Addicted Loved Ones' evidence-based education in the nation's 15 largest cities. The lessons used in the meetings will give parents whose adult children suffer from substance use disorder (SUD) the tools needed to encourage their loved one's recovery and provide peer-to-peer support to face the challenges of SUD.
Sound Mind Live's "Released" Mental Health Docuseries on bipolar disorder will be a five-part docuseries that will take us inside the lives and work of five influential musicians living with bipolar disorder. Each episode will focus on one artist living with bipolar disorder and how their journey with the condition and making music helped them break free from stigma to find support, healing and, ultimately, themselves to share their creations with the world. This will further the work Sound Mind Live does to bring together a coalition of mental health and music organizations with musicians and music lovers to build a supportive community and open dialogue around mental illness.
Young People in Recovery's (YPR) Native American Youth Substance Use Disorder Recovery Support Services Pilot will be a community-based chapter and redesign of one of their existing life-skills curriculum programs to be linguistically and culturally appropriate for Native American youths who struggle with substance misuse or who are in recovery from substance use disorder. YPR will partner with one tribe to launch a new chapter to serve tribal constituents under age 30. The program will be staffed by Native Americans and create a youth advisory board to inform the program with the values, language, and traditions of the specific tribe.
About Alkermes plc
Alkermes plc is a fully-integrated, global biopharmaceutical company developing innovative medicines in the fields of neuroscience and oncology. The company has a portfolio of proprietary commercial products focused on alcohol dependence, opioid dependence, schizophrenia and bipolar I disorder, and a pipeline of product candidates in development for neurological disorders and cancer. Headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, Alkermes plc has a research and development center in Waltham, Massachusetts; a research and manufacturing facility in Athlone, Ireland; and a manufacturing facility in Wilmington, Ohio. For more information, please visit Alkermes' website at www.alkermes.com.
ALKERMES INSPIRATION GRANTS® is a registered service mark of Alkermes, Inc.
Alkermes Contacts:
For Investors: Sandra Coombs, +1 781 609 6377
For Media: Katie Joyce, +1 781 249 8927
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