Carlsbad groups say opioid settlement funds expanded crisis care, plan countywide youth resilience program
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Summary
Representatives from the Carlsbad Coalition and LifeHouse told Eddy County officials that opioid settlement funds have helped expand crisis services and staff training; the coalition plans to spread its Sources of Strength youth resilience program across the county in the current fiscal year.
Joanna Wells, spokesperson for the Carlsbad Community Anti Drug and Gang Coalition, and Phil Houston, executive director of LifeHouse, told Eddy County officials during public comment that opioid settlement funds have expanded local crisis services and that the coalition plans to scale a schools-based resilience program countywide.
Wells said the coalition, which partners with the county, has used its first year of opioid settlement grant funding for a media campaign to raise awareness about opioids — mentioning oxycodone, hydrocodone and fentanyl — and that the current fiscal year will focus on community outreach and expanding the Sources of Strength program to reach parents, students and extended family across Eddy County. "This focuses on protective factors rather than always risk factors," Wells said.
Houston said LifeHouse has used opioid settlement funding received over the last two years to support crisis programs, additional staff training and building upgrades that allow the agency to increase access to services and divert people from what he called "unnecessary incarceration." "For the last 2 years, we've received opioid settlement funding...and we've been able to fund our crisis programs, some additional training for our staff, remodeling some space to have the ability to receive scribe and divert people from, unnecessary incarceration and give people access into our programs," Houston said.
The witnesses described the coalition's approach as combining prevention in schools with countywide outreach. Wells said the Sources of Strength curriculum — a resilience and protective-factors program the coalition already implements in schools — is being adapted for broader community engagement so that "every sector of the community" can be reached: parents, children, grandparents and other family members.
No formal motions or votes were recorded in the transcript. The public-comment presentation identified how settlement dollars have been used locally and outlined next steps for outreach and program expansion; county staff or officials did not announce a decision or directive within the recorded segments.
