Dorchester council hears Midshore Behavioral Health annual report and approves FY26 letter of agreement

Midshore Behavioral Health presented its annual report to the Dorchester County Council on June 17 and the council approved a letter of agreement to retain Midshore as Dorchester County's local core service authority for fiscal year 2026.

The presentation summarized regional and county-specific programs, funding sources and service volumes and highlighted several developments the agency called critical to sustaining services. Catherine Dilley, chief executive officer of Midshore Behavioral Health, told the council, "We are the regional core service agency and in a couple counties including yours, we support the local addictions authority role as well for the Midshore counties." Jay Howard, behavioral health coordinator, reviewed Dorchester-specific data and program activity.

Midshore listed multiple revenue sources, with a large share coming from federal grants and state funds. Staff said their crisis provider's mobile response is transitioning to Medicaid fee-for-service reimbursement, a change the presenters said should help long-term viability but will require monitoring as federal and state funding priorities evolve. The organization said it is on the fourth installment of the state opioid response grant, which supports 12 substance-use crisis beds at the AF Wissett Center in Kent County and funds a six-person recovery house in Cambridge.

The presentation also described prevention and harm-reduction activities in Dorchester County: distribution of gun locks, deployment of Narcan vending machines and naloxone trainings. Midshore said it purchased four Narcan vending machines to be located across Dorchester County; each machine holds 200 doses and will be refilled by the Dorchester County Health Department as needed.

School-based services were a major emphasis. Midshore said that as a hub for the consortium on coordinated community supports it served more than 900 students in 10 Dorchester County public schools through March 2025, and that the county will remain a partner for FY26 programming. The presenters also noted regional planning and diversion work, including sequential intercept mapping, a coalition-based suicide-prevention effort and outreach tied to veterans and service members.

Presenters flagged sharp increases in housing instability in the Midshore region: Midshore's point-in-time count showed a 184% increase in total persons compared with 2024, with shelter counts up 175% and unsheltered counts up 150% across the five-county region. Jay Howard attributed the increases to broader regional trends and said Midshore is directing resources to outreach, rapid rehousing and a new "Defeat the Heat" cooling-station initiative for summer months.

Council members voted, by voice vote, to accept and sign the annual letter of agreement for FY26. County staff and Midshore representatives noted that final award letters for some federal and state grants were still pending; Midshore said its FY26 budget and some program details remain subject to those awards.

Council members and staff thanked Midshore staff for the report and for local partnerships, and the council formalized the FY26 letter of agreement by motion and voice vote.

The council took no further substantive action on program details beyond approving the letter of agreement; presenters left open follow-up on funding confirmations and additional school- or community-level presentations requested by local officials.