Library, museum and parks propose $75,000 youth-prevention plan using opioid settlement funds

City departments — the library, the museum and parks & recreation — presented a joint proposal to the Anacortes City Council to use opioid settlement funds to support youth-focused prevention programs.

Brett Lunsford of the Anacortes Museum and staff representatives from the library and parks and recreation described a combined ask of $75,000 over five years (about $15,000 per year), to be split evenly among the three departments. That works out to about $5,000 per department per year. The departments described intended uses as youth summer and after-school programming, hiring teen/young-adult supervisors and mentors, media-production and arts engagement at the museum, and supervised drop-in gym and life-skills or employment-readiness offerings through parks and recreation.

The presenters emphasized the prevention objective: to give young people supervised, skill-building, mentored activities that reduce opportunities for substance use initiation. The written guidance cited by staff (referred to in the meeting as a Washington memorandum governing allowable uses of opioid settlement funds) highlights prevention and school- or youth-focused programs as permissible uses.

Councilmembers asked whether the proposed amounts could make a meaningful impact, requested quantification of expected reach (number of youth served), and suggested a broader work-study on opioid fund priorities to weigh other requests from county, police, and nonprofit partners. Presenters said the $5,000-per-department annual allotment was intended as a start and that the departments would return with measurable deliverables and regular reporting if funds are approved.

No council action was taken; the request was presented as a discussion item and the council discussed next steps for allocation and possible further review.