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Opioid Abatement Authority demos new grants-portal communications tool for city and county applicants
Summary
The Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority demonstrated a new communications feature in its web-based grants portal that lets applicants tag staff, attach documents, bookmark exchanges and use an application-scoped communication history; staff also reviewed registration, user roles, document downloads and the Adobe e-signature flow ahead of an April 1 deadline.
The Virginia Opioid Abatement Authority on a support webinar demonstrated a new communications feature in its web-based grants portal designed to let city and county applicants send questions and keep a searchable record tied either to a jurisdiction account or to a specific application. The agency opened the session by reminding attendees that the city/county application period closes on April 1.
Senior business analyst Matt Terrell led the walkthrough. "This allows us to have a constant record of our communications between us and the cities and counties," he said, explaining the tool (referred to as "chatter" in the portal's Salesforce backend) stores messages on either the account level or with an application so staff can refer back to earlier exchanges.
Terrell showed three ways users can access communications: a "Contact us" link under the user name in the top-right, the "Communications" item in the left sidebar, or the "Communication history" link inside a given application. He demonstrated typing the at symbol to tag staff and emphasized that the attendee must click the suggested name in the dropdown (typing alone does not register the mention) for the system to send a notification email.
Users can attach documents, bookmark posts for later retrieval, and sort communications by most-recent activity. Terrell also demonstrated the application-filtered view: users select project name, fiscal year and application name (for example, "Fairfax County Cooperative new/amend/annual report") to narrow messages to that submission.
On user access, the moderator said each jurisdiction must designate one primary contact authorized by the city or county executive or agency head; that primary contact can invite up to four additional users for the account (a total of up to five users). She noted that officials who must sign applications do not need portal accounts because the e-signature process runs through Adobe outside the portal.
Terrell walked through the Adobe e-signature experience: the designated signer receives an email link, can review the document without an Adobe account, delegate signing to another person if needed, download a PDF copy, and then sign. The signer and the portal contact receive confirmation emails when signing is complete and the application is submitted to the Opioid Abatement Authority.
Staff also answered operational questions: there is currently no self-serve option to delete an in-progress application from a home screen; applicants must contact portal support (Terrell offered to remove items on request). The moderator posted a link to a map and contacts for regional abatement resource coordinators, named Jenny Sawyer as an Eastern Region contact, and noted the central region is temporarily unstaffed but that several staff can assist.
The authority said it will post the webinar recording and the slide walkthrough to the grants-info page and encouraged applicants to reach out to regional coordinators or info@voaa.us for help. The session closed with a reminder that once the portal deadline passes on April 1 the ability to submit will be disabled until staff reopens the system.
