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Clanton nonprofit asks Chilton County for $77,500 in opioid-settlement funds to open women'only sober house
Summary
Homegirl Industries requested $77,500 from county opioid-settlement funds to pilot a four-bed sober living house in Clanton for women in recovery, describing program structure and local service links; commissioners directed the group to follow the county'funding request form process.
Homegirl Industries asked the Chilton County Commission on a public-comment night to consider a $77,500 request from county opioid-settlement funds to start a four‑bed demonstration sober living house in Clanton for women aged 18 and older.
The request came from Ralph Hendricks, who identified himself as board president of Homegirl Industries, a Clanton nonprofit founded by Sally Higgins in 2022. Hendricks said none of the requested money would be used for renovations to the historic Hotel Wilson, a project the board has "chosen to step away from." He described the project as a nonmedical residential house for women in recovery with two basic rules: "You stay sober and you work," and an average stay of six to eight months.
Hendricks said the pilot would house four women; one resident would serve as a house manager with at least a year of recovery experience. The budget Hendricks presented included rent for a two‑bedroom house, utilities, transportation, accounting, insurance, staff and urinalysis testing ("15 to $25 per urine") and totaled $77,500. He said referrals would connect residents to local services including a hospital, a longtime Alcoholics Anonymous group in the county, and a mental health center.
Why it matters: Hendricks cited county opioid statistics to frame the need. He referenced a 2023 state report that marked Chilton among counties with increased overdoses and said overdose‑related emergency room visits in Chilton rose about 30% from 2021 to 2023; he also said EMS overdose incidents doubled from 2019 to 2023. Hendricks said the county's substance‑abuse treatment rate declined from about five people per 1,000 in 2014 to about two per 1,000 last year, underscoring his argument that women in recovery are underserved locally.
Commission response and next steps: A county official on the dais told Hendricks there is an established process for county funding requests and said any applicant must complete the county's funding request form and submit it through the commission office. The official said "any department within the commission has [to] fill out this form and request a budget amount" and that Hendricks should follow that process to bring the request back for formal consideration.
Hendricks also said he would reach out to Carolyn Potter of the WellHouse in Odenville to coordinate and learn from existing programs; a member of the public who spoke afterward described WellHouse as a larger residential complex with multiple staged houses.
No formal county vote or commitment was made at the meeting; commissioners directed the presenter to submit the county's funding request form for future consideration.
Hendricks closed by saying Homegirl Industries would run the house as a demonstration serving four women and that the organization would refer additional candidates to other facilities if beds were unavailable.
The commission meeting packet and scheduling for formal consideration were not discussed on the record during Hendricks's remarks; the funding request therefore remains at the application stage.
