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The Clackamas County Board of County Commissioners on Wednesday approved grants from opioid settlement funding to five community partners for services to address the opioid crisis in the county.
The grantees are:
- CODA, which will expand access to methadone treatment in the Clackamas County Jail
- Northwest Family Services, which will provide outpatient treatment for low-income pregnant and postpartum women and will expand its substance use prevention services in Tumwata Middle School and Milwaukie High School
- Todos Juntos, which will enhance its youth and young adult substance use prevention services in Estacada
- Parrott Creek, which will create a mobile service for individuals struggling with substance use disorders in rural and under-served areas
- 4D Recovery, which will expand its Recovery Outreach program for young adults experiencing substance use disorders and homelessness
“The opioid settlement funding provides an opportunity to save lives and address years of damage caused by the opioid crisis,” said Clackamas County Health, Housing & Human Services Director Rod Cook. “The community partners receiving these awards will help fill gaps in services and will deliver much needed prevention, treatment and recovery supports to areas of the county most impacted by substance use.”
“Health, Housing & Human Services staff went through a long and difficult process to select the winning projects out of many impressive applicants,” said Clackamas County Vice Chair Ben West. “These organizations are ready to jump in and tackle this problem.”
Since July 2021, the State of Oregon has reached agreement on national lawsuits against several companies for their role in the opioid crisis. Through these agreements, nearly $600 million will be awarded to Oregon over the course of 18 years. Clackamas County will receive approximately $24 million. In 2023, Clackamas County used the funding to leverage existing investments and continue to address current investments, including justice initiatives, youth prevention, warm hand-off programs, recovery support, diversion and treatment.
For 2024, the Board of County Commissioners approved recommendations for a community grant process to address substance use prevention, early intervention, treatment and recovery programs that support individuals with a substance use disorder and/or are involved with the justice system.
To guide long-term planning and the distribution of opioid settlement funds, Clackamas County engaged the community to identify gaps in services and priority investments. Input was gathered through listening sessions with representatives from 57 community organizations, focus groups, surveys and interviews with those with lived experience and who have been closest to the impacts of the opioid crisis.
Drug overdose deaths have been the leading cause of accidental death in the United States for the last decade. In Clackamas County, there were 97 confirmed drug overdose deaths in 2022—a 12 percent increase from 2021 and a 33 percent increase from 2020.