Mike Wolanin | The Republic An exterior view of the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress Bartholomew County Hub in Columbus, Ind., Monday, June 15, 2020.
Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress (ASAP) officials are putting together a county-wide application for additional opioid settlement funds in what officials said could result in a significant expansion in recovery housing locally.
The effort comes after state officials announced that they would make an additional $25 million of Indiana’s share of nationwide opioid settlements available to local governments through a one-time matching grant.
The grant seeks to support recovery housing, evidence-based prevention, jail treatment, harm reduction, behavioral health in the workforce, enforcement and other community services and initiatives, state officials said.
Since state officials announced the grant opportunity, ASAP has been working with local organizations and officials to gauge their need for additional funding and is compiling requests into a county-wide application that ASAP will submit to the state, said ASAP Executive Director Sherri Jewett.
So far, the funding requests that ASAP has received would help add upwards of 75 recovery beds in Bartholomew County, Jewett said. There are currently about 120 recovery beds at various facilities across the county — and demand far exceeds local capacity.
Proposed recovery homes
Several organizations have submitted requests to open or expand recovery housing in Bartholomew County, Jewett said.
Bridge to Dove, a nonprofit that was formed by former St. Peter’s Lutheran Church Pastor Mark Teike, is hoping to open a level-four recovery house in Bartholomew County with 15 beds for women, Jewett said.
Centerstone has made a proposal to add a level-three recovery house in Bartholomew County with 10 to 12 beds for men.
Additionally, Thrive Alliance has agreed to a proposal in which it would fund 80% of the purchase price for five recovery homes in Bartholomew County, with the remaining 20% being split between the county’s and state’s share of opioid settlement funds.
Those five homes would add roughly 50 additional recovery beds, mostly of which would be for men, Jewett said.
West Virginia-based Ascension, which has previously worked with ASAP, has expressed interest in operating the homes and would lease the facilities from Thrive Alliance.
“All of these requests related to housing are sufficient to get these residences operational,” Jewett said. “Once they are operational, they will be self-sustaining. …It’s just this initial capital that is needed to get them open, and once that happens, they’ll be able to be viable on their own without any additional support.”
Opioid settlements
The grant funding comes from Indiana’s share of nationwide settlements with a major pharmaceutical manufacturer and the nation’s three largest drug distributors over their roles in the opioid addiction crisis.
In February 2022, drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three distributors finalized nationwide settlements totaling $26 billion to resolve about 3,000 lawsuits from state and local governments who sought to hold the companies liable for an epidemic that has been linked to the deaths of more than 500,000 Americans over the past two decades, The Associated Press reported.
The settlements resolved lawsuits that alleged that the companies helped fuel the opioid crisis, including downplaying the risk of addition to prescription opioid pain medications, among other claims, according to wire reports.
Under the terms of the settlements, Johnson & Johnson has nine years to pay its $5 billion share, including up to $3.7 billion during the first three years. The distributors — AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson — agreed to pay their combined $21 billion over 18 years.
In July, the Indiana Attorney General’s Office announced that Indiana would receive $507 million as part of a multi-state agreement. The amount sent to each state under the opioid settlement depends on a formula that takes into account the severity of the crisis and the population.
Local governments in Bartholomew County will collectively receive a total of $3.2 million through 2038 as part of the settlements, including $3 million for Bartholomew County, $194,011 for the city of Columbus and $9,343 for the town of Hope, according to the attorney general’s office.
Jackson County will receive about $1.66 million in settlement funds over the course of the next 16 years, while Jennings County will receive about $968,813.
Any funds that the local officials receive through the one-time matching grant would be in addition to the local community’s individual share of the opioid settlement.
Earlier this week, the Bartholomew County Council voted unanimously to put up all of the funds the county has received so far as part of the opioid settlement as matching funds for the state grant.
ASAP, for its part, is not requesting funding for itself, but rather will be the fiscal agent that will apply for the funds from the state and then will disperse any funds received through the grant to organizations whose projects are approved, Jewett said.
How to join
ASAP is urging organizations that think they may qualify for grant funding and want to join the countywide grant application to fill out an application form at www.asapbc.org/opioid-settlement-application by Monday.
ASAP officials will then review and compile the requests into one application and submit it to the state by the grant application deadline on Feb. 28.
So far, ASAP has received proposals from Turning Point Domestic Violence Services, the Bartholomew County Jail Treatment Program, among other programs and initiatives, Jewett said.
“We are going to do one application for Bartholomew County,” Jewett said. “Anyone interested in applying for funds can go to ASAP’s website. …If someone is interested in applying, there are specific rules that the state has put in place. There are specific programs that can be funded. They can fill out an application if they want to apply.”
Sherri Jewett
How to apply
Organizations in Bartholomew County that are interested in joining the countwide application for grant funding can visit the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress’ website at www.asapbc.org/opioid-settlement-application for more information.
