At its first meeting of 2024, the OneOhio Recovery Foundation announced its initial grant application cycle, which will launch March 4.

The charity, charged with managing Ohio’s share of the multi-billion dollar settlements reached with the pharmaceutical industry over its role in the opioid epidemic, will make more than $51 million available across the state. Region 7, comprising Mahoning and Trumbull counties, is eligible for more than $2.8 million, which will help fund substance abuse prevention, treatment and recovery projects.

“After all this work, we’re finally seeing the dollars coming into the communities to help deal with this crisis,” said Region 7 Board President Duane Piccirilli, who is also the executive director of the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board.

Piccirilli said the board has agreed to divide the money up by county, based on population.

“It’s just an opportunity for the local community to come together, to address issues and challenges with the opioid epidemic,” he said. “It’s a little over $1 million per county per year, and I think that’s significant.”

The request for proposals, to be distributed March 4, will outline the details required to apply for funding.

Applications will open April 2 and are due May 3. The foundation said it is working with a software company to open its grant portal, through which all applicants will submit their proposals. That portal can be found at OneOhioFoundation.com/grants.

The website launched Wednesday, along with individual websites for each region, where visitors can view information about board members, meeting minutes, meeting dates and locations, and other information. Those websites will serve as resources for the regional boards to learn from each other’s projects.

In addition to the funding cycle timeline and the website launch, Executive Director Alisha Nelson announced that the Foundation’s leadership will be making trips to each region to provide information, answer questions about the grants, listen to community members’ stories, and hear suggestions about how to carry out OneOhio’s mission. The first meetings will be held in March in Franklin County, which is considered Region 1, and also here in Region 7.

April Caraway, executive director of Trumbull County Mental Health and Recovery Board, said Region 7 officials have developed strategies in anticipation of the funding and will be ready when the application period opens.

“We had to give OneOhio our funding priorities. Those are prevention and recovery support, but those are pretty broad buckets,” she said. “The need is great and the cost to treat this disorder is higher than anything else we’re seeing.”

She said opioid use disorder ranks fourth in Trumbull County in terms of frequency of diagnosis, but it is the most expensive.

“It’s more expensive than treating a person with schizophrenia,” she said.

Caraway said the recovery support needs in the Mahoning Valley include step-downs after detox, supportive housing, life-skills training, transportation and employment assistance.

She said Mahoning and Trumbull counties have a large number of certified treatment programs that provide counseling and other standard substance abuse services.

“It’s the services you can’t bill to insurance or Medicaid that we know create a gap in our community,” she said.

For prevention, Caraway said the strategy is to focus on programs in schools emphasizing the risk of first use of drugs and alcohol.

“Then we had a lot of discussions about keeping our categories broad, because we’re hoping there are agencies that will bring a new idea,” Caraway said. “What might work in the Mahoning Valley might not work in southern Ohio, because it might not be the same need, and that’s what I like about the OneOhio abatement plan.”

dpompili@vindy.com