Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird has awarded five grants totaling more than $1.6 million to agencies that are helping Iowans with an addition to opioids or programs that warn of the dangers of an opioid addiction.
“These are organizations that are making a big difference to stop that cycle of addiction and to help with prevention and recovery,” Bird said. “…What’s happening here today is saving lives either through prevention or treatment.”
Manufacturers, distributors, and marketers accused of fueling the opioid epidemic are paying tens of millions of dollars to the State of Iowa as part of a national agreement to settle lawsuits. During a news conference in the Iowa Capitol on Thursday afternoon, Bird announced $317,000 from Iowa’s opioid settlement fund is going to efforts in north central Iowa. “Cerro Gordo County has a high percentage of drug overdose deaths compared to other Iowa counties and it’s something that they are taking action and care deeply about. Their Department of Health works with the North Iowa Justice Support Program known as Bridge to Recovery,” Bird said. “They meet with inmates in the jail, provide peer-to-peer support and life skills.”
Samatha Severson of the Cerro Gordo County Department of Public Health said the program’s goal is to help inmates so they don’t return to the vicious cycle of an opioid addiction once they’ve done their time and are released. “These people are worthy. They do matter,” Severson said, “and there are plenty of opportunities out there for us to help them change their life.”
The Society of St. Vincent de Paul has received a $919,000 grant for its work to help Polk County inmates as they’re released from jail. A St. Vincent de Paul kiosk set up at the jail a year ago has already helped 2000 released inmates find ways to get transportation, apply for jobs, get housing and treatment. The organization also operates a Sobering Center in Des Moines for adults dealing with an addiction. “For the last nine years we’ve been growing our prisoner re-entry services and our workforce retraining program,” said Steve Havemann, CEO of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul of Des Moines, “really focusing on breaking that generational cycle of poverty and incarceration and knocking down barriers to success.”
Havemann indicated the people they’re helping get jobs are earning an average wage of well over $18 an hour. “We’re focusing on a liveable wage, long term change and this grant will allow us to grow our services and provide more in-depth services,” Havermann said, “getting folks to treatment, knock down barriers to housing, workforce training, continuing education and re-entry.”
The Warming Shelter in Sioux City is getting a $300,000 grant to help homeless who have substance abuse issues. A $57,000 grant is going to substance abuse prevention programs for the kids who participate in Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Iowa activities. The Johnson County Sheriff’s Department will use its $6000 grant to buy a “Drug Terminator” machine to incinerate confiscated and expired medications, including opioids. Attorney General Bird is encouraging other organizations to apply for state grants from Iowa’s opioid settlement fund and she plans to announce more recipients before the end of the year.
The State of Iowa is expected to receive $365 million from opioid settlements, with $179 million of that going directly to counties. The rest — about $189 million — goes to the state. The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services is responsible for distributing 75% of that and.the attorney general’s office is responsible for the other 25%. The legislature created an Opioid Settlement Fund in 2022, but it wasn’t until this year that a distribution system was established due to disagreements on which state entities should be responsible for dividing up the money and awarding the grants.