CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WCHS) — The West Virginia First Foundation is the organization tasked with allocating approximately $1 billion to the state’s Opioid Settlement Fund. We just recently announced which organizations have been selected to receive our first grants.
While counties, cities and towns have already begun receiving settlement funds to dissolve in their own ways, the foundation itself has begun the grant application process for organizations to access state allocations.
The foundation said 38 projects were selected from 174 applications received and allocated a total of $10.4 million.
The Nicholas County Health Department is one of the organizations that received funding.
“The First Foundation is funding some primary prevention projects in the state and a lot of different things to really see what works, what works, and what doesn’t work. We are really excited to see that,” said Dr. Anita, Nicholas County Health Officer. Stewart said.
NCHD received $150,436 to support the launch of the Integrated Community Engagement (ICE) Collaborative Program in Nicholas County. The ICE Collaboration was originally developed in Iceland as a prevention program aimed at stopping substance use before it begins.
The idea is to give young people more access to activities they might be interested in, such as the outdoors, art and music, to foster interests outside of high-risk behaviors. Stewart said this is a successful program that has been implemented in Fayette and Wyoming counties.
“What we know is that Fayette and Wyoming counties have already cut their tobacco use in half and reduced their drug use by 50 percent in five, almost six years. Cannabis use has decreased by about 40%. E-cigarette use has decreased by about the same amount.”
Stewart said the agency will now need to hire an employee to run the ICE Collaborative program, meet and collaborate with school and community leaders, and listen to what young people want from their communities. .
Another organization that received funding is the West Virginia Court Appointed Special Advocates Association (CASA). CASA won $279,812.91
The organization is made up of 400 volunteers around the state appointed by courts to defend children in abuse and neglect cases, an area of the justice system that has been overwhelmed by the drug crisis.
“While we are seeing a decline in the number of children placed in foster care across the state, the CASA program actually saw the opposite. Community Advocates working with youth who have experienced abuse and neglect. There is either more trust in the people or there are greater demands on them,” said Shanna Gray, CASA state director.
Currently, CASA is located in 32 of the 55 counties. Gray hopes this funding will help them expand their reach.
“We will be distributing the funds to 11 local CASA programs, with the aim of recruiting more volunteers so that we can pair them with children involved in abuse and neglect proceedings. “It’s about really supporting and strengthening the volunteer network that does the training,” Gray said.
Stewart said as these organizations begin receiving funding, he hopes the weight of how the state got here is respected in how the money is spent.
“We need to take a hard look at why such funding is available and why so many people have lost their lives and loved ones because of it,” Stewart said. The way to truly honor the hardship and true grief is to dig deep into these projects and work hard to honor them, to maintain their integrity, and to honor those we lost.”
In a press release announcing the grant, the West Virginia First Foundation said there is still $8.8 million left in this initial allocation, so original applicants must reapply or correct deficiencies in their initial application. He said he was contacting them to make the corrections and reapply.
For a complete list of those who received their first funding, please visit click here.
