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Residents urge Rowan County to invest $500,000 in youth prevention with opioid settlement funds
Summary
Multiple public commenters asked the Rowan County Commission to allocate $500,000 of opioid settlement funds to create a coalition-based youth action agency focused on prevention, workforce and outreach.
Several Rowan County residents used the commission’s public-comment period on March 17 to ask commissioners to direct opioid settlement funds toward early prevention programs for local youth.
The request centered on allocating $500,000 to create a youth action agency using a coalition-based, evidence-backed model to prevent delinquency, substance use, violence, teen pregnancy and mental-health challenges.
The speakers said the money would fund a full-time coordinator, youth stipends, outreach and engagement, and other start-up and sustaining costs. "We are here to ask you to please invest opioid settlement funds using strategy A-6 into early prevention for our youth," Grace Hensley said. Hensley identified herself as a member of Downhome North Carolina.
"We are also here to advocate for the investment of $500,000 of the opioid settlement funds into creating a youth action agency using a coalition-based and evidence-based model," Michael Pope said, describing the proposed budget items as a coordinator, youth stipends and outreach. Pope and other speakers said the model would align local organizations and provide pathways beyond school for older and younger youth.
Daquan Coleman said the coalition should act as "an umbrella for all these different organizations" already doing related work in Rowan County, so programming and referrals can be structured and measurable. Brandy Gardner Berg, who said her family has been part of the community for more than 130 years, noted that some coalition programs under review — Communities That Care Plus and Prosper — are on lists the speakers said would qualify for opioid funds.
Speakers framed the request as prevention that could avoid higher downstream costs such as juvenile detention or long-term treatment. Commenters repeatedly urged commissioners to prioritize evidence-based, coalition models when allocating the county’s opioid settlement dollars.
The commission did not take action during the public-comment period; the speakers’ request will need to be raised later in a formal agenda item for any allocation or commitment of funds.
