GOLDEN — Gateway to the Rockies Opioid Council (GROC) has announced ten recipients will receive opioid settlement funding from a series of opioid manufacturers.
The groups were announced Monday and Tuesday, according to Program Manager Dr. Chelsea Shore-Miller.
They include:
- Denver Recovery Group
- Jefferson County Public Health
- Resilience 1220
- Recovery Works
- Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office
- Gilpin County Parks and Recreation
- City of Lakewood Police Department
- Monarch Recovery Services
- Clear Creek Community Crisis and Health Assistance Team (CHAT) (Renewed)
- Advocates for Recovery Colorado (AFRC)
These ten recipients will divide $11.2 million among them. Now they will discuss how to use that money.
Shore-Miller said all 50 states will split $45 billion over 18 years. Then the money is again divided up within the state.
That's how the Region 10 Opioid Abatement Council, or GROC, got the amount they did.
"The council, our council, in specific, was eager to get money out into the community, and so they opted not to do a feasibility or needs assessment study. So we opted a route of funding organizations on the ground, doing work aligned with addiction recovery services, developing a strategic plan from input of community members, people with lived experience in recovery who use drugs," Shore-Miller said. "And then, through the funding of those organizations, we'll collect evaluation data to understand the gaps, needs and successes of mitigating the Opioid crisis in Region 10."
This is GROC's second grant cycle.
Two groups were renewed this year, she said, and eight others are new to their funding.
When asked about the impacts from the first round, Shore-Miller called it a bit of a mess.
"So there was four programs funded in the first round, and they didn't have an in person, program manager, there was an outside consulting firm and so, and then our fiscal agent is Jefferson County," she said. "And so the four grantees did not have the proper post award support that they needed to really implement their projects and collect the data that they needed."
Shore-Miller said most of their contracts finish and then they'll be able to put together an impact summary. This round, she said they're making changes to provide more support to the awardees.
"All of our grantees, will have quarterly learning forums, so they'll be able to meet with me for an hour to two hours every quarter, talk about the implementation of their project where they need to do troubleshooting," Shore-Miller said. "There'll be a networking opportunity so that they can build off of each others services and send referrals, creating a true ecosystem of care for people either suffering addiction or seeking recovery from addiction."
GROC hopes to have all contracts finalized by the end of July, with funding out in August, according to Shore-Miller.
