Opioid Abatement Authority walks applicants through new grants portal and application rules

A presenter for the Opioid Abatement Authority led a webinar demonstration of the Authority's new grants portal, showing local governments how to register, submit Cooperative and Individual grant applications, and manage budgets and carry-forwards.

The webinar, intended for city and county applicants, covered portal features (dashboard, grants management, members, historical downloads, estimated funds lookup), registration requirements including an official primary-contact letter on locality letterhead, and the application flow for a new Cooperative grant and a FY26 renewal of an FY25 Cooperative award. The presenter demonstrated that the entity that begins a Cooperative application is listed as the Fiscal Agent and that Cooperative applications must include at least two localities from the same Department of Behavioral Health region.

Why it matters: local governments rely on these grants for opioid-abatement programs and must meet portal requirements to receive awards. The portal centralizes historical grant records, annual reporting and award packages, and adds an Adobe e-sign option so signatories can complete Cooperative agreements online.

Key portal and application steps

Registration and verification: applicants must register by selecting their organization type (city or county) and searching for their locality name. The portal requires upload of an official primary-contact letter on letterhead (from the county executive or equivalent) to verify the primary account user. Primary account users can add secondary users; the presenter noted a system limit of five members per city or county and recommended including at least one finance-team user.

Dashboard and award workflow: the dashboard displays cumulative award amounts, awarded application counts, upcoming due dates, and a tabbed workflow for application status (in progress, submitted, under review, signed back, awarded, closed). Awarded projects and any requested contingency documents appear in the awarded tab; applicants receive award packages through the portal.

Cooperative agreements and e-signatures: the portal auto-generates Cooperative agreements showing partner contributions and signatories. "This Cooperative agreement must be signed before we can submit the application itself," the presenter said, adding that the portal uses Adobe e-sign to collect signatures and that invite emails for signing do not automatically create portal user accounts.

Budgets, matching funds and carry-forwards: the presenter demonstrated entering direct distributions and non-OAA matching funds (examples used in the walkthrough included $15,000 and $10,000 line items and a sample $200,000 total project request). She emphasized that the application will not let applicants proceed unless revenues and expenditures match for each year. On carry-forwards she advised applicants not to reduce their FY26 requested amount by the carry-forward total: "don't reduce your 26 requested amount by your carry forward because the system is going to take care of the carry forward here for you," the presenter said, and demonstrated how to mark expenditures as expended or encumbered when completing a renewal.

Renewals and amendments: the presenter showed that the system treats renewals and amendments as separate applications. Applicants can amend objectives, timelines and performance measures in an amendment but generally cannot change awarded amounts in an amendment.

Q&A and next steps: in response to an attendee's question, the presenter confirmed a locality may both participate in a Cooperative partnership application with neighboring jurisdictions and file separate individual projects: "yes so if you can file as many individual applications as you'd like as many Cooperative applications as you'd like as well," she said. The webinar recording and slides will be posted on the Authority's website and YouTube; the presenter reminded attendees of a scheduled Q&A session on the 30th and an attendee survey to collect feedback.

The Authority's portal walkthrough provides practical, step-by-step guidance for localities preparing Cooperative or Individual grant applications, with particular attention to documentation, budget matching and the Cooperative agreement signing process.