City of Fairmont officially launches Opioid Settlement Funds Grant Program
FAIRMONT, W.Va. (WBOY) — The City of Fairmont recently announced that it will launch an Opioid Settlement Funds Grant Program to use distributions it has received as part of opioid settlements that have occurred across the state of West Virginia.
'From that perspective, you know, we've been taking our time because [Fairmont] City Council's main directive to us was that they wanted to ensure there was a robust process that ensured a fair application process that kind of opened us up for everybody,' said City Manager Travis Blosser.
Blosser said that there were guide rails put in place for this program to ensure that the money would be going where it needed to and making the biggest difference that it could. He said that when dealing with drug-related issues, there's a cost, and the city would rather see that the cost burden doesn't stop people from being able to benefit people and get them into a healthier environment.
'A lot of times, the organizations that are helping people don't have a lot of funds,' said Blosser. 'These funds can go back to helping to combat those issues.'
The Opioid Settlement Funds Grant Program allows individuals or communities impacted by the opioid crisis to request up to $100,000. Organizations that work directly with these impacted demographics will have the ability to request up to $50,000 as a result of this program.
According to the City of Fairmont, this grant program also requires applicants to provide a 20% funding match. Blosser told 12 News that the city does offer a waiver for this grant process, but those will only be granted under certain circumstances, and the city reserves the right to determine what those are.
'Really, what City Council wanted to make sure is that organizations we were working with had skin in the game and had an investment side,' said Blosser. 'Whether that investment side's coming from themselves as an organization or a third party that may be giving them money, they can count other dollars that they're getting as part of that match contribution.'
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Blosser added that the City of Fairmont has limited funds and once those funds are divvied out, they're gone. 'We wanna try to make sure our programs are sustainable, that they continue to function, and that they have other resources coming in that aren't just city dollars,' he said. 'Because we're not gonna be able to fund 100% of everybody.'
Blosser said that the city had a lot of discussions with the Fairmont City Council during a series of work sessions. He added that the staff internally did a lot of legwork in building the program's rubric, implementing changes that the City Council wanted to see happen to ensure that there are robust reporting requirements built into the program.
According to Blosser, the city tries to be as transparent as possible regarding what the process will look like. He stated that there are guide rails that everybody has to follow, including the City of Fairmont.
'The goal is not to have these opioid funds just sit in a bank account, earning interest for us,' said Blosser. 'The goal is to get them out in the field, making a difference for the people who are dealing with this, and to also help to curb and stop people from getting towards addiction.'
Blosser said that it's the city's hope through this program to establish a process that encourages local organizations to start working together. He stated that although he feels a lot of organizations are doing good work surrounding the opioid crisis and addiction in general, one of the primary weaknesses he noticed is that many of them are working independently.
'Some folks have money to do certain pieces of projects, and I think groups need to communicate more,' Blosser added. 'I'm hopeful that the way we've structured this kind of requires people that are gonna be successful getting dollars, that they've got partnerships with other organizations and are not trying to duplicate efforts where money may already be.'
Anyone looking for more information about this program can find it on the City of Fairmont's website. Blosser said that the city understands a lot of information must be gone over on the application, which may appear to be a big hurdle for some, but they encourage individuals and organizations to reach out with any questions.
'We want people to apply for this money,' said Blosser. 'So if people have questions related to that application, we certainly want them to reach out and we will work as [expediently] as possible to try and get them answers.'
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