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Court approves $525,000 in opioid-abatement harm-reduction contracts and proclaims September as National Recovery Month
Summary
The court ratified three harm-reduction contracts totaling $525,000—each for $175,000—with LifeWorks, Texas Harm Reduction Alliance, and Vibint Health to fund outreach, drop-in harm-reduction services and hepatitis C linkage; the court also approved a proclamation recognizing September as National Recovery Month.
Travis County on Sept. 9 approved three contracts using opioid-abatement funds to expand local harm-reduction services and ratified a proclamation recognizing September as National Recovery Month.
Health and Human Services staff presented three negotiated contracts — LifeWorks, Texas Harm Reduction Alliance (THRA), and Vibint Health — each for $175,000 and each with a contract term of June 1, 2025 through Sept. 30, 2026. The contracts fund community-based services that follow SAMHSA harm-reduction best practices and include: outreach and drop-in harm-reduction services, recovery support, mental-health and low-barrier care for people who inject drugs, hepatitis C testing and navigation, and a focus on transition-age youth and reentry populations.
Court members moved and seconded approval. Travis County staff emphasized that these agreements expand existing local services (the groups have worked in the community previously) and that the funds are from opioid‑abatement settlement proceeds rather than the general tax base; an HHS presentation noted these dollars are a legal settlement outcome from litigation against opioid manufacturers and are earmarked for community mitigation. Texas Harm Reduction Alliance representatives told the court their outreach team made 378 engagements countywide in the previous month and tracked 379 overdose reversals attributable to naloxone they distributed.
The court also approved a proclamation recognizing September as National Recovery Month and heard remarks from judges, service providers and recovery advocates about specialty courts, family treatment court successes, and the local network of providers. The court approved the contracts and proclamation unanimously.
Why this matters: The contracts fund proven harm‑reduction and treatment access programs for people at high risk of overdose and support local providers who coordinate street outreach, reentry navigation and hepatitis C treatment — all components public-health officials and advocates identify as critical to lowering overdose deaths and improving recovery outcomes.
