Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey has announced the first awardees of the first round of opioid settlement funding to address the opioid crisis and its devastation in local communities.
During a March 12 press conference, Frey said that Access Healing Center, Communidades Latinas Unidas En Servicio (CLUES), Generation Hope, Greater Minneapolis Council of Churches (GMCC), and the Minnesota Somali Community Center (MSCC) had all received funding as part of the Community Opioid Response and Engagement (CORE).
These organizations received funding ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 to help reduce disparities in opioid deaths and emergency room visits.
The CORE initiative is funded from national settlements reached with opioid distributors and manufacturers. Minneapolis expects to receive $18 million, which it will disperse over the course of 18 years. The Minneapolis Health Department, led by Commissioner Damōn Chaplin, will manage the program to work alongside the awardees.
“It’s no secret that the opioid crisis is hitting cities and urban areas particularly hard around the country,” Frey said. “We have an obligation to step up here at the local government.”
The mayor shared the importance of working with culturally specific treatment organizations to best address the disparities experienced by communities of color suffering from the opioid crisis. He stated that Native Americans have 30 times more deaths than white people, while the Black community sees four times the number of deaths compared to whites.
According to City leaders, data will be at the forefront of their approach to managing the funds and evaluating its effectiveness. Deputy Commissioner Heidi Ritchie said that metrics will go into every single one of their contracts with the awardees, a standard for the City.
Numbers around hospitalizations and overdose statistics will help inform the City of the efficacy of the program. There were 1,002 opioid-involved drug overdose deaths in 2022, a three percent increase from the previous year. Minneapolis accounted for 24% of those deaths despite being seven percent of the state’s population.
“Those aren’t just numbers,” Ritchie stated, referring to the hundreds of deaths in Minneapolis over the last few years. “They are community members who are gone forever. People who will never live out their dreams, and beloved family members whose absence has left a permanent void.”
Ritchie shared that her own family has felt the heartache of addiction and that lived experience helps drive her work in the Health Department.
Frey stated that he included $1.5 million in additional funding for treatment facilities in his 2024 budget. The one-time investment will go toward capital improvements at two long-term treatment facilities in Minneapolis.
Turning Point Inc., a nonprofit organization that specializes in providing treatment and recovery programs for Black individuals, was allocated $500,000. Another $1 million will go toward a contract with Helix Health and Housing Services to tackle the issues surrounding homelessness, substance use disorder, and mental health.
According to the mayor, the City’s approach in working with these organizations is threefold: prevention, response to crisis, and treatment to get better.
“These are going to organizations that put people first,” he said. “They recognize the importance of meeting people where they’re at and providing culturally responsive treatment and prevention services to our underserved community, and specifically to our youth.”
Councilmember Jeremiah Ellison, who represents the 5th Ward where Turning Point is located, stated that more than money, culturally specific responses were crucial to combating the crisis.
“What you’re seeing there are not only great organizations, but they’re also [those] who can help our city attack this crisis,” he said. “You’re seeing organizations who understand their community, who understand the specifics of how to reach people in their community.”
Hassanen Mohamed of the Minnesota Somali Community Center took to the podium during the press conference to speak about the impact of the opioid crisis in the Somali community. “This is a very serious issue in our community,” he said.
“We have lost a lot of members. We’re dealing with a crisis that we have never seen before. It’s something that has devastated almost every family in our community.”
Mohamed shared stories of his interactions with parents who have lost their children to opioid addiction and emphasized that the problem would not go away with one-time funding or short-term funds, but by sustained efforts in partnership with the city and other government agencies.
Commissioner Chaplin, who took the position just over a year ago, shared that several of his family members are in long-term recovery. His mission is to find solutions and instill hope for those suffering from drug misuse.
“We are committed to long term solutions with a focus on equity,” he stated. “We’re actively engaging with both intra- and intergovernmental agencies, including the state and county, to strengthen our alliance in response to the opioid epidemic.
“We are encouraging community members to take an active role by taking a survey to share their thoughts on the opioid epidemic and how we are going to use our opioid settlement dollars going forward.”
The schedule on how to disburse the funds is yet to be determined. The City will receive $400,000 to $800,000 a year. About $150,000 has already been earmarked for underserved communities, and the City will be creating a request for proposals on that bid in the first quarter.
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