Norfolk County approves $16,500 in opioid settlement grants for 11 local organizations

Norfolk County commissioners voted Jan. 8 to award $16,500 in opioid-settlement grant funds to 11 community organizations across the county, allocating $1,500 apiece to each successful applicant.

County Director John Cronin told commissioners the awards are part of ongoing distributions from national settlement funds tied to manufacturers and pharmacies. The county has received prior distributions and has a remaining balance to distribute; the current phase covers 11 of 21 applicants that completed eligible applications.

The awards draw on funds from recent nationwide settlements with manufacturers and retailers named in Cronin’s presentation, and the county partnered with the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office to route funds to local coalition members. Cronin said the county has thus far received $20,573.82 (FY23), $27,045.43 (FY24) and an additional $12,307 as of Sept. 6, 2024, leaving $40,814.50 available for distribution. For the current round the county increased the per-applicant award to $1,500, up $500 from the previous year.

Cronin identified the 11 awardees in the meeting packet and named the groups that successfully applied: Braintree, Canton, Cohasset, Franklin Safe Coalition, Medway Substance Use Prevention group, the North East Drug & Alcohol Resource (NEDDAR) prevention alliance, Randolph Substance Abuse Prevention Coalition, Walpole Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Awareness, Weymouth Substance Abuse Prevention Team, Healthy King Philip (listed as King Philip), and Gilly's House in Braintree. Cronin noted that additional coalition members may apply in subsequent rounds and that future annual receipts are expected to be smaller—roughly $4,000–$5,000 per year under the settlement structure—which the county plans to distribute using the same scaled approach.

The commissioners moved, seconded and voted to approve the awards as presented. Cronin said the county will draft award letters, transmit them to the district attorney’s office for signature, return the signed letters to the county for commissioners’ signatures, and place the disbursements on an upcoming warrant for payment within a few weeks.

Why it matters: The disbursements use settlement dollars intended to support local prevention and treatment work; widening the pool to additional coalition members aims to channel small, targeted awards to groups directly engaged in local substance-use prevention and support work.

Provenance: Topic discussion begins in the transcript at the county director report and the opioid-grant presentation (first relevant excerpt: "opiate grant awards for Norfolk County Community Organizations from National Opioid Settlement" at timecode 1223.41) and ends at the commissioners' vote to approve the awards (timecode ~1848.35).