The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services has announced a competitive grant opportunity to help make transportation to recovery efforts for substance abuse more widely available.
Six groups will receive $200k each, with the funding totaling $1.2 million. The money comes from the Opioid Healing and Recovery Fund, a result of the nationwide opioid settlement payments- in which Michigan will receive $1.6 billion from by 2040.
Check out our full guide to the opioid epidemic and the resulting settlement payments here.
This grant opportunity is open to recovery and harm reduction organizations, Substance Use Disorder treatment providers, Tribal services and organizations, and Substance Use Disorder peer service organizations.
Logan O’Neil is a Opioid Response Program Specialist with MDHHS. She said that Michigan has gone from having one of the highest opioid overdose death rates in the nation to seeing numbers better than the national average since 2017.
"There's a wide variety of purposes the funding can go toward," O'Neil said. "We try to direct these funds in an equitable way and make sure that those resources are getting to the communities that have been hit the hardest."
When asked why they chose transportation specifically, O'Neil explained that transportation tends to be a huge barrier for those looking to recover.
"Many don't own their own vehicles, or they might lack access to public transportation options. So this is one way we can kind of fill in that gap in services. Particularly because a lot of insurance plans don't cover transportation, so it's a very big need for folks."
This is the second time MDHHS has ran a grant program to aide with substance abuse treatment transportation. The first funds were distributed in March of this year to 17 different organizations.
The grant application period runs until November 26th, with the money being distributed in February. Interested parties can visit the EGrAMS website for more information.
