Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. In 2017, more than 1,700 people died of a drug overdose in Indiana—an all-time high. This surge in overdose deaths has been driven by opioids, which now account for more than 80% of overdose deaths. Along with effective substance use prevention and harm reduction strategies, properly addressing the opioid epidemic requires ensuring access to effective treatment for individuals with opioid use disorder. That includes those in the criminal justice system. A large share of individuals in prisons and jails have misused opioids, and it’s estimated that 24%-36% of all heroin addicts pass through the criminal justice system each […]

Alex Cohen is the Director of Learning and Evaluation for the Richard M. Fairbanks Foundation. School closure is among the most controversial interventions in education, and the issue is back in the spotlight with Indianapolis Public Schools’ recent vote to close or transition four high schools. The impetus for the high school restructuring at IPS is the low enrollment at these schools, which led to the district operating mostly empty buildings. This has imposed a financial burden on the district and spread limited resources even thinner. The hope is that closing or restructuring high schools into middle schools and concentrating resources at only four high schools will lead to higher-quality […]