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Orange County board endorses opioid settlement grant recommendations, schedules final spending resolution
Summary
The Board received Opioid Advisory Committee recommendations and directed staff to present a final spending authorization resolution June 16. The OAC recommended three awards totaling $162,216 for FY 2026–27: Freedom House, El Futuro, and UNC Student Wellness; county has received $1,020,216.03 from the settlement to date.
Orange County commissioners on June 2 received recommendations from the county’s Opioid Advisory Committee (OAC) on how to allocate local opioid settlement funds and directed staff to bring a final spending authorization resolution to the Board at its June 16 meeting.
Tonya Stancil, the county’s harm reduction coordinator, outlined the RFP and application review process. She said North Carolina’s allocation approach results in county allocations over time and that Orange County has received $1,020,216.03 for FY 2025‑26 plus $56,236 in interest to date. Stancil reported the OAC Application Subcommittee and the full committee reviewed eligible proposals and recommended three awards for the 2026–27 cycle totaling $162,216 — below the available $200,000 ceiling. The recommended awards are: Freedom House ($85,906 for reentry services), El Futuro ($66,310 for early intervention), and UNC‑Student Wellness ($10,000 for naloxone distribution on campus).
Stancil explained the committee’s rationale for the modest UNC allocation: "The committee felt UNC, as a large institution, should be supporting that programming more substantially on its own, but that the committee also did not want students to be without access to Naloxone that they might not otherwise have. The $10,000 award was therefore intended to ensure a base supply on campus." The committee also added a five‑point priority bonus in its rubric for applications that aligned with community‑identified strategies.
Vice‑Chair Amy Fowler moved to direct staff to present a final spending authorization resolution to the Board on June 16; Commissioner Earl McKee seconded the motion. The vote was unanimous.
Next steps: staff will prepare contracts for approved community providers to begin work in July if the Board approves the final resolution on June 16.
