Contract Review Committee awards opioid-prevention grant to Artist Association; selects Fairwinds for treatment award after second vote

The Nantucket Contract Review Committee voted June 27 to award the opioid-prevention grant to the Artist Association and, after further discussion and a second motion, to award the opioid-treatment grant to Fairwinds.

The prevention award was approved 3–1 on a roll call: Sue Mintonan voted No; John Beloche, Linda Williams and Committee Chair Veronica Bolchick voted Yes. The treatment award initially resulted in a 2–2 tie and failed; the committee took additional discussion and then passed a second motion 3–1, with Veronica Bolchick casting the lone No vote. The transcript does not specify the dollar amount for the prevention award; the treatment award was recorded as $35,000.

Why it matters: the grants are part of Nantucket’s opioid-response funding for prevention and treatment programming. Committee members debated program specificity, measurable outcomes and whether the single-award, all-or-nothing format prevented smaller programs from being funded.

Committee members said the rubric used to score applications did not map well to the targeted nature of the opioid grants. The chair said the rubric being used was developed for broader substance-misuse grants and would not be reused in its current form for opioid-specific awards; the committee agreed the rubric will be revised over the summer. Members repeatedly said the rubric numbers were advisory and that the committee was free to select the program it judged best, provided it could justify the choice.

Discussion and concerns - Evidence and clinical elements: Several members said the Artist Association’s prevention program was novel and attractive but lacked clearly documented evidence-based clinical elements and visible involvement of mental-health professionals. Committee members asked staff to seek more clinical supports in program design and to include stronger reporting requirements if the Artist Association receives funding. - Reporting and measurement: Town staff proposed adding required pre- and post-program self-assessments (Likert-scale surveys) to grant reporting. Town staff member Jericho Meeley said, “Likert scale collected data is real data,” and recommended including that as an explicit reporting term so results can be collected and used as program evidence. - All-or-nothing constraint: Committee members repeatedly noted the grant process required one award per category and could not be split between applicants for these awards. Several members said they preferred being able to split funds but acknowledged the current award rules prohibited it. - NAMI and presentation format: The committee discussed a NAMI-linked proposal; members agreed the provider’s submission did not follow the requested format and that made scoring difficult, even though some members found the program content strong once they reviewed it closely.

Budget and program details cited in deliberations - Fairwinds (treatment award) projected Q1 budget for the requested $35,000 included approximately $18,000 for salaries (about 1.5 full-time-equivalent PRC staffing for 13 weeks), $2,200 for clinical supervision, $3,000 fringe benefits and $1,000 for clinical transportation support. The application listed an anticipated reach for Q1 of 18 participants; prior fiscal years’ PRC client counts were reported as FY25: 34, FY24: 47, FY23: 57. - Committee members noted staffing fluctuations have affected service reach and urged the committee to monitor capacity and actual client counts under the grant reporting terms.

Decisions and next steps - Prevention: Artist Association awarded the prevention grant (committee vote 3–1). The transcript does not state a dollar amount for this award. - Treatment: Fairwinds awarded the treatment grant for $35,000 after a second motion and vote (3–1). - Reporting: Staff will prepare grant agreements that include reporting requirements; committee directed staff to include program start/end dates and pre/post self-assessments as part of reimbursement terms. - Rubric revision: Committee directed staff to revise the grant rubric over the summer for future opioid-specific and substance-misuse grant cycles.

Winners will be notified by staff, and the committee chair indicated staff should tell unsuccessful applicants that the decision reflected the all-or-nothing structure of this award process and not an overall judgment that their programs are not valuable.