Pulaski County supervisors on Oct. 27 heard a presentation on the New River Valley Recovery Ecosystem, a multi-jurisdictional program funded through the Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority to prevent and treat substance use disorder in the New River Valley. Anna Champion, project manager for the Regional Commission, and Kenzie Weaver, community accountability coordinator, described regional services that stretch from prevention and school-based programs to peer-run outreach and expanded treatment access.

The presenters said the ecosystem is in year three of a planned five-year project funded by competitive OAA grants. "This year's competitive award was $3,800,000, from OAA with localities offering matching funds of almost $400,000," Champion said. She told the board Pulaski County committed match funds "of almost $47,000 this year to the project," and that Pulaski residents would receive about "$826,000 worth of grant and services," producing what Champion characterized as about "$18 worth of services" for every dollar the county invested.

Why it matters: County officials said the program leverages settlement funds to deliver treatment, prevention and recovery supports across five New River Valley localities (Floyd, Giles, Montgomery, Pulaski and the City of Radford). Presenters emphasized transportation, school prevention and peer-support staffing as priority investments to reduce barriers in rural communities.

Program highlights presented to the board included an expanded transportation network, school-based prevention curriculum and large-scale peer expansion. Weaver said transportation work included an expanded reservation-based community transit program, gas cards and travel training, and distribution of nearly 300 bus passes in Pulaski County last year by the Rise Above outreach program. On schools, the presenters described a neuroscience-based substance-use curriculum developed in partnership with Virginia Tech and delivered to school staff in each locality.

Weaver emphasized the role of peers: "Peers are the heart of all of this," she said, describing peer recovery specialists as people with lived experience who support individuals across the recovery continuum, use a self-sufficiency matrix and help clients set goals. She said peer staffing has expanded regionally and that a regional peer coalition now counts nearly 50 active members.

Presenters also described service delivery metrics for Pulaski County in the most recent fiscal year. Weaver reported about "315 referrals and 101 linkages just in Pulaski County just in the last fiscal year," and highlighted the Rise Above mobile outreach unit and a winter shelter pilot called Rest and Rise Pulaski. Champion noted the Recovery Ecosystem’s competitive award this year and said the project returned substantial services to Pulaski relative to the county’s match.

Board reaction: A board speaker praised the county’s strategy of investing in prevention and recovery alongside traditional economic and infrastructure investments, saying the work could serve as a model for rural communities. County staff reiterated that the ecosystem is a regional effort coordinated through the Regional Commission with many partner agencies.

Next steps and context: Presenters said the ecosystem will continue peer staffing expansion, broaden community transit hours, and open the Community Collaboration Center in Pulaski. Funding cited at the presentation comes from Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority settlement distributions and competitive OAA grants; localities provided required match contributions.