The Tennessee Opioid Abatement Council has announced its first round of community grant recipients, with $81 million set to be distributed throughout the state.
In Nashville, Belmont University landed the most funding: $2.9 million for a harm reduction program called BU Trains.
Applications for the grants opened in September. Organizations proposed projects that fit into a set of remediation strategies determined by the council. Treatment programs received the highest subset of money statewide at $32.8 million. The next-highest was recovery support at $19 million. The remaining categories were primary prevention ($12.2 million) and around $8 million each for education and training and harm reduction, with the smallest number awarded for research and evaluation, $752,508.
Out of 396 proposals, the council approved 116 grants. The council is set to receive more than $600 million in the next 18 years from various lawsuits against companies that made, distributed or sold opioid painkillers, including Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson and Walmart.
The first funds from opioid lawsuit settlements will be put into action in Nashville this year
The list of Nashville recipients is as follows, from the highest to lowest dollar amount awarded:
Vanderbilt University Medical Center is set to receive a combined $2.8 million.
$1.7 million for its Firefly recovery support program for moms and babies.
$778,300 will support infants with neonatal exposures
$237,305 wlll be used for management of opioid use disorder for medically acute patients
Meharry Medical College was awarded a combined nearly $2.6 million.
$853,088 for treatment of indigent, uninsured opiate users
$619,726 to expand a mobile harm reduction program, Helping Our People Effectively (HOPE)
$697,019 for an additional HOPE mobile clinic
$429,513 for research under the name Tennessee Harm Reduction Efforts for Advanced Data
Mental Health Cooperative will receive $2.3 million for its treatment continuum.
Metro Nashville is set to receive $2.1 million for its opioid care system project, part of the prevention category.
Neighborhood Health will implement a program called “preventing overdoses and restoring souls,” a treatment program for $1.4 million.
The Next Door, a Midtown-based addiction treatment facility for women, was granted $1.2 million to expand treatment services.
Interfaith Dental Clinic of Nashville will use $94,500 for education on screening and addressing opioid use disorder at the dental office, which it described as a “key access point.”
Centerstone was granted $771,992 to use in its medication-assisted treatment program.
Nashville CARES is set to receive $495,000 for a harm reduction program called Drug Awareness Response Team.
Samaritan Recovery Community, a Nashville treatment organization that recently opened a new location, received $350,000 to expand treatment beds and hours.
Mending Hearts, an advocacy organization focused on incarcerated women, was awarded two grants: one for outpatient medically assisted treatment ($500,000) and psychodrama therapy ($175,000).
Welcome Home Ministries, an abstinence-based recovery program, was awarded $250,000 for its programming.
“When the history of the opioid crisis in our state is written, people will look back at this date as a landmark on the road to healing the unbelievable harm done to so many families and communities,” says Stephen Loyd, Opioid Abatement Council chairman. “At every meeting, we pause to ‘remember our why,’ and I can say that the level of thought and care put into this process truly honors the ‘why’ for all of our members and the countless families that have been touched by opioid addiction in Tennessee.”
The Metro Public Health Department will also award at least $23 million in opioid abatement funds locally, with a plan to implement a 15-month pilot program focused on recovery in incarcerated and recently hospitalized populations. The organization closed its request for proposals on Jan. 23, and awardees have not yet been announced.
This article was first published via our sister publication, the Nashville Post.
