Updates on Opioid Settlement funding disbursement

Story by Kirk Lane, Tenesha Barnes & Colin Jorgensen Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership, AAC Litigation Counsel

As you may know, Arkansas counties and cities, represented by the Arkansas Municipal League (AML) and the Association of Arkansas Counties (AAC), will receive over $200 million dollars in opioid settlement funding to abate and alleviate the impact of Arkansas’s opioid epidemic, across the next 10 to 15 years.

The AML and the AAC formed the Arkansas Opioid Recovery Partnership, which ensures settlement dollars are dispersed to vetted organizations that are using evidence-based programs and strategies to abate the opioid epidemic in Arkansas’ cities and counties. This update will provide a look into recently funded ARORP projects. If you do not see a project in your county, please encourage organizations in your area to apply for funding.

Here are some quick updates as of April 14, 2023. If you have questions about submitted applications in your area, please reach out to ARORP Deputy Director Tenesha Barnes at tbarnes@arorp.org.

Snapshot of applications received

• ARORP has received 84 applications for funding totaling $50,422,781.19.

• ARORP has approved 51 applications for funding totaling $7,652,398.

• ARORP has four projects totaling $211,607 that are in line for ARORP Advisory Board review.

• ARORP has 11 projects totaling $8,715,568 that require additional information from the applicant.

• ARORP has denied 15 applications totaling $31,159,977.20.

• Three applicants have withdrawn their applications totaling $1,429,181.45.

Funded projects in your county

Each time ARORP disburses settlement dollars to a project in opioid prevention, treatment, or recovery, we turn the county where the project originated purple on the map on our website. Our initial goal is to turn the entire state of Arkansas purple, meaning that every county has received opioid settlement funding.

ARORP announced readiness to receive applications and the first meeting of the ARORP Advisory Board was held on Nov. 4, 2022. In less than six months, ARORP has put $7,652,398 opioid settlement dollars back into Arkansas cities and counties. Funding has supported:

• New recovery housing providing 30 new beds for men in Johnson County

• A recovery community organization in Craighead County providing services like housing referrals, transitional living placement, support groups, financial literacy courses, Narcan trainings and community support to more than 400 peers

• Two overdose response teams in Garland County (Hot Springs Police Department) and Craighead County (Craighead County Sheriff’s Office).

• A statewide effort to support families who have experienced overdose — Hope Movement Coalition

• Support for Arkansas Drug Takeback, including new Take Back boxes

• A treatment/recovery center in Pulaski County

• A treatment/recovery center in Logan County

• Support for the Sevier County Detention Center drug treatment program, including funding for peer support specialists within the jail

• Funding for peer support specialist positions at Crisis Stabilization Units

• Funding for training for Coalition Partnership Empowerment (COPE) community coalitions. At the end of their training and ARORP funding, these community coalitions will be able to apply to be a Drug Free Community (DFC), with federal funding to become sustainable, transformative forces in their communities

• A training program for Arkansas’ county judges and county and city officials to protect their communities by utilizing COPE community coalitions to abate the opioid epidemic

• 12,228 naloxone kits dispersed and naloxone community trainings provided across 20 counties by Naloxone Community Heroes, including:

1. Hot Springs Police Department — Garland County

2. University of Central Arkansas Addiction Studies Program — Faulkner County

3. River Valley Medical Wellness — Pope County

4. Saline Health Foundation — Saline County

5. John 3:16 Ministries — Independence County

6. Wolfe Street Foundation — Pulaski County

7. Izard County Overdose Response Team

8. Sharing Hope through Lived Experience Ministries — Independence County

9. Exodus Life — Jefferson County

10. Harbor House — Garland, Sebastian & Crawford Counties

11. UAMS/Crisis Stabilization Unit — Pulaski, Perry, Saline, Lonoke, Jefferson, and Grant counties

12. Western Arkansas Counseling and Guidance — Sebastian County

13. Haynes Village Hero — Lee County

14. SOZO Addiction Recovery Center — Garland & Saline Counties

15. UAMS/Crisis Stabilization Unit — Washington County

16. PEARL — Benton County

17. Safe Haven Ministries — Johnson County

18. Sevier County Sheriff’s Department