Yakima County awards $75,000 to neighborhood reentry pilot, declines several opioid-settlement requests

Yakima County commissioners agreed on Feb. 13 to award $75,000 from the county's opioid settlement funds to a neighborhood reentry pilot run by Yakima Neighborhood Health Services and declined several other requests in the first-round awards.

The commissioners said they would not fund a proposed "RUN" outreach team and opted not to fund the larger "My Baby and Me" residential proposal in this round. Commissioners also confirmed that KDNA's prevention proposal had been awarded in this cycle and that larger projects should pursue the county's forthcoming mental health and substance-use RFP in the fall.

Why it matters: The opioid settlement funds are one-time, flexible dollars county leaders are using to support treatment, recovery and prevention programs. Commissioners said they wanted to prioritize pilot projects and prevention while retaining flexibility to reallocate funding if state-level changes or broader RFP opportunities arise.

During the discussion, Commissioner McKinney said he favored prevention-focused investments: "I'm gonna speak in favor of more prevention," and said existing programs had not yet reduced drug-related harms in the community. Commissioner Curtis proposed declining some large requests this round and directing applicants toward fall funding opportunities: "I would propose that we say no for this application for these opioid settlement dollars for at least this round," he said.

After discussion about scalability and program fit, commissioners settled on a $75,000 award for Yakima Neighborhood Health Services' neighborhood reentry pilot, with the intention that the award be treated as a pilot and negotiated with the awardee on scope. Melissa, Human Services staff, told the board that "they did indicate that this is a scalable project. And so the commissioners are free to award whatever they want, and then we can go back to the awardee and ask them if that's doable."

Commissioners expressed particular concern about the cost-effectiveness and reach of the largest request reviewed, the "My Baby and Me" program. One commissioner said the application appeared to request roughly $445,000 spread over multiple years and that the scoring committee had rated it near the bottom of applications reviewed. Commissioners asked staff to request additional detail from that applicant and signaled they preferred to hold off on funding the program in this round.

On the RUN outreach team application from Yakima Neighborhood Health Services, commissioners agreed it was better suited to another funding stream and recommended awarding it $0 from the opioid settlement dollars. Commissioners also discussed Project PAWS and continuity of care for people leaving incarceration, noting neighborhood reentry programs complement the county's jail-based medication treatment efforts.

Board members asked staff to notify applicants that were not funded this round and to encourage them to apply to the county's forthcoming mental health and substance-use RFP this fall. Commissioners also said they would monitor state legislative activity for changes that might affect how treatment and involuntary intervention options are delivered.

The board did not take a roll-call vote recorded in the transcript for the awards; discussion closed with commissioners indicating no objections to the proposed set of awards and next steps. The county's staff will finalize award negotiation details with successful applicants and return with final agreements as needed.