Staff photo / Dan Pompili OneOhio Foundation Executive Director Alicia Nelson speaks at a public forum Monday in Youngstown about fundihg opportunities for opioid recovery and prevention programs.

YOUNGSTOWN — OneOhio Foundation Executive Director Alicia Nelson visited the Mahoning Valley on Monday evening to discuss funding opportunities for opioid recovery and prevention programs.

The public forum at Direction Home Eastern Ohio on Meridian Road was only second in a series of presentations Nelson will give across the state as the foundation prepares to open its application portal on April 2.

The agency, 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.

“We’re very excited about the innovation and the new money coming into the community,” said Duane Piccirilli, Region 7 board president and executive director of the Mahoning County Mental Health and Recovery Board. “This is going to be a great public-private partnership.”

Piccirilli said the funds from OneOhio grants will not be routed through county recovery offices like his, but will be distributed directly to successful grant applicants. However, he said the MHRB wants to partner with area organizations on grants or provide additional funding to programs funded by the OneOhio Foundation.

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.

“This group spent a year looking at what resources we already have in place,” she said of the Region 7 board.

The OneOhio Foundation identified 10 opioid epidemic abatement strategy “buckets,” and included an “other” bucket to allow for innovative ideas. Mahoning and Trumbull counties have focused on recovery support and prevention.

“Those two buckets are very broad,” Caraway said. “But it’s like someone said here tonight, the United States leads the world in opioid addiction. So we have to focus on prevention because we’ve got to stop this next generation from using.”

Nelson spoke to a nearly full room, which included all three Mahoning County commissioners, representatives from the Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber, Mahoning County Sheriff’s Office, and other local agencies.

She reviewed the process for application and approval and answered questions.

Nelson said that while each region’s process will look different, the foundation is not going to wait for every region to apply and be reviewed before distributing money to approved projects. She said funds could be disbursed as early as June or July.

The settlements from the pharmaceutical companies will be distributed nationwide and Nelson said Ohio has set a standard.

“Ohio is a model. We were the first to come up with this kind of plan,” she said. “We felt we could put together an opportunity to discuss what recovery could actually look like. Now there’s a OneWyoming, a OneUtah, and several others like this.”

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