5.1.2024 Fall River Opioid Settlement Funds Public Meeting

well um good evening everyone we want to thank you all first for coming out on a Wednesday night at uh 5:30 to The Atrium mic government center for this very important work we're doing um we're finding a way to make an impact with our opioid settlement funds uh first thing I have to do is thank the committee um they've been working tirelessly on this to try to find the best way that would

have the biggest impact in a very very difficult battle that goes on every day in every neighborhood across our city um I know it's hard work but we're looking for ideas and we really appreciate everyone taking time out of their busy schedules to join us tonight um the person that's been spearheading that committee um is our director of Health I want to turn it over to her um Tess

Curran thank you mayor um and I would just like to thank Banna Raposa in my office who's been doing a tremendous amount of work on on this as well um and so she's um I'm very appreciative of of all the work you've put in for that Briana um so this evening again thank you for being here um we will be doing a an overview of the funds um the payment structure the spending to date General

commitments um allowable fund expenditures uh the committee structure um the timeline of key dates and discuss the RFP uh at that point in time when I'm completed the presentation we'll open it up to citizens in input um again if you haven't already done so and you're interested in speaking please sign up um and we will be having folks um speak for three uh three minutes so the Massachusetts opioid

settlement funds uh Massachusetts and the City of Fall River has participated um in the Nationwide Financial settlements um with several companies as part of the historic legal efforts to demand abatement of the harms caused by the opioid epidemic Massachusetts will be receiving um an estimated $900 million um through these settlement funds for substance use prevention harm reduction treatment and

Recovery support of those $900 million 40% is going to municipalities and the remaining 60% will be allocated to the state's opioid recovery and Remediation fund at this time the payment structure um the city of River received the first payment in July of 2022 uh we're estimating to receive about 81 payments until 2038 uh with the last payment coming in the fall of 2038 we um are still uh under learning

and and gaining a sense of when the uh payments are coming in we at this point in time have more money than we had originally been um anticipating at at to date um so the payments are coming in at a variety of different speeds and payment structures um but it can all be tracked through the mass.gov website um that is also now linked on the city of Fall Rivers page um so it is

publicly available information and anybody's able um to take a look at that at this point in time the city of Fall River has received 1.8 million of opioid settlement funds and over the next 15 years we expect to receive nearly $8 million um again you know while this is a unique opportunity and we are certainly um taking great consideration uh when we're you know receiving these funds and spending These funds the

reason why the city of Fall River is receiving such significant amount of money is based on the impact that opioids have had on the community um you know that certainly doesn't go um you know without a heavy you know heavy heart on the the city of the of Fall River the Administration health department team um the advisory committee you know we are understanding the certainly the need here in the

community um but the impact and the reason why we're getting so much money is because of the uh impact that the opioid epidemic has had on Fall River and the the number of lives of Fall River residents that have been lost so at this point in time the spending to date in Spring of 2023 three we contracted uh with py the Pacific Institute for research and evaluation to conduct an evaluation report that report

is also available on the city of fall River's uh website um this was uh done through the substance addiction task force individuals who are participants in the task force and who work within the industry were interviewed with the py team um and goals current capacity and future Direction uh were determined through that interview process um again we encourage everybody to to take a look at that report and

it's available on the city website in Fall of 2023 um the city contracted with py again um to support the uh Fall River opioid settlement advisory committee um and dra draft Grant proposal materials and applications so to date these contracts have told $99,000 the state is really outlining what can spend funds on and how um how money can be um allocated and where it can be placed so at this point in time

funds are held in a stabilization fund um that's separate from the city's general fund um but at the time of our first payment the state had indicated that that was the required um place for us to put those funds to dispense uh stabilization fund money mayoral and city council approval of a 2third majority vote is needed again I'd encourage anybody who's interested in learning more about the

eight abatement terms including details on allowable expenses they can review that on the mass.gov website and we also have it here at the Fall River um opioid settlement funds page um so the funds uh not only the state is outlining this but the city certainly wants this as well to reflect input of our communities for people who have personal experience with the opioid crisis experts and treatment and

prevention and the staff and organizations that are carrying out this work so again um we we've heard from and will continue to hear from individuals who work in the industry again through that strategic planning process and I see a lot of familiar faces here as well um to address existing disparities and services outcomes improvements taking specific care of those in dis disadvantaged communities um to address

mental health conditions substance youth disorder and other Behavioral Health needs and encourage Innovation fill gaps fix existing shortcomings and of current approaches so the opioid settlement funds can't be used to um you know supplant existing Services the funds need to be used to expand or improve upon existing Services the state has um created a list of allowable expenditure categories

these include opioid use disorder treatment so things like expanding mobile interventions and treatment supporting treatment and Recovery um so things like housing job training Transportation um to treatment connections to care um so things like post overdose response teams supporting Emergency Medical Services um things like safe stations harm reduction so increasing access to um the lock Zone um

including the lock Zone training uh syringe Services programs and mobile units uh criminal justice needs so post prison or jail release programs harm reduction treatment or Public Safety diversion programs and some of these are just examples that I'm giving um from each category uh supporting women and families um so home visiting programs for parents and Recovery uh pregnant or postpartum treatment programs and then

prevention efforts so things like community- based education intervention increasing access to supports for youth so at this time then um you know the advisory committee is is ongoing and meeting monthly in November of 2023 um the city of Fall River convened the first meeting of the advisory committee um these individuals some of whom are here this evening um are tasked with providing recommendations on opioid

settlement fund spending um the individuals is a 10p person committee um these are volunteers so we are very appreciative of them them um being here tonight and of their time each month um and uh have various backgrounds including religious communities um community- based organizations Fall River business owners Municipal Finance experts and those with lived and personal experience with the

opioid epidemic so these individuals live and or work in Fall River they're invested in the community um and you know we're we're really happy to have them on board so the current strategy um phase one has been completed which was the Strategic plan work um through the substance addiction task force and through the individuals um again who working in the field um phase two we're currently in progress we're you know

collecting feedback from our residents um via the meeting tonight as well as an online survey that I'll kind of discuss in another minute and then phase three is the release for the request for proposal um which we're really excited to announce that that is live um and is open starting today through June uh 16th um applications are again available on our city web page um and um materials

must be submitted ahead of the deadline again that's Sunday June 16th at 11:59 p.m. um the city of Fall River has reserved up to 1.2 of the 1.8 million that we have currently for this initial funding cycle um this RFP process is a way for us to get the funds out into the community Through organizations that are currently doing um a lot of this work through this process we want to prioritize Fall River residents uh we

want to improve and encourage new Partnerships between community- based organizations and Municipal departments um collaborations is key and we really want that to be part of um strong applications um we want to improve data sharing ing um and that's going to be a key part of the application um evaluation process uh applications should be evidence-based have clear smart objectives and strong evaluation

process so we encourage you know anybody who's eligible to apply for that funding um again it's on the city website um and it will be open through June 16th as a reminder for anybody who hasn't done so already the Fall River opioid settlement fund survey is live through Friday it will close on Friday um we've had an overwhelming response which we're really excited about we've uh received nearly 500 people who have

completed the survey um with a range of um demographics people with lived experience um people who are experiencing homelessness um who you know certainly want to hear from um as well as people in the industry concerned family and um friends community members um so we're we're continuing that work and engaging with the community over the next few days um but um are excited about the response and we'll be doing a

data analysis of that and then be sharing that information once we've completed an analysis report so at this time I'm going to open it up to um our citizens input again um do you want to um so again speakers in the order that um that you signed up in will'll be called to the microphone we have it just right over here um if you're able to uh state your name and address and again

we're going to be keeping an eye on the clock um so if you could make sure you're limiting your comments to about 3 minutes um if we're going over the 3 minutes I'll I'll jump in um and ask you to wrap up okay let's see we have Dolly

mellow sorry hi my name is doly melow I live at 84 Stanford Street here in for River I'm uh also a business owner I own hot to hot counseling here in for River at 331 Ellsbury street I'm a licensed alcohol drug counselor I've also worked in the methadone clinic here in River and I was wanted to talk about um support treatment and Recovery you know as we know on March 23rd the Tomato

Center closed because of a grant issue that they had but they serviced a lot of of our residents with UD um as well as I was able to go down there and talk to people and be able to network you know they did provide laundry services you know sanitation issues uh for helping people to take showers and use their facilities they provided meals and again the wraparound services so something as

vital as like the Tomato Center who was vital for residents that were significantly not just for homelessness but also had mental health issues and had UD were able to use these services and I would like to see something like the funds to be allocated to help them reestablish because without those funds those people are not their needs are not being met unfortunately you know we know

there's an epidemic here we know there's a crisis with homelessness and it is you know what are we doing as a community to make sure that our people are taken care of you know I also worked for the vth here in um in new Beed so I also serve as the homeless veterans here in the city of for River most people know Dolly melow as somebody comes in and takes

care of the veterans I get them housing and get them from encampments into affordable housing or into treatment but I actually took two veterans out of too Center because Lisa Melo had called me and said we have two homeless veterans and can you come down and absolutely vth stepped up and said okay we're going to get them we're going to bring them into treatment and get them housed and that's

what we did again it was that kind of services there that was in it was like a stepping stone so that I could come in and help it's a place like that that we need in the city to keep on going and with it being seized right now I just think that there are vet not only veterans but everybody that's affected UD and veterans that are not being able

to be met and that was just pretty much what I wanted to talk about thank you thank you thank you let's see we do have Al Aruda and I do have a timer going so if you hear um a timer go off it isn't my cell phone ringing I'm just trying to keep track of the the three minutes yeah my girlfriend warned me I should just Kink my hose and that'll quiet me down

you know so um no I just wanted to preface this with um someone experienced with the tobacco settlement funds the when the way they were dispersed uh as someone who smoked for almost 50 years right uh I tried to quit smoking for 15 years and never received any help with it uh I finally did quit smoking thank God but I mean you know I think it's uh important that the money in these in

these uh programs right especially at the state level right make it down to the communities and actually the people who are actually suffering from these uh from these conditions um I've been in recovery for about 40 years uh and I've been totally clean and sober and all of that wonderful good stuff for 17 years now um there is a definite lack of uh a shelter which would accommodate people

who are at the very beginning stages of recovery and those stages are usually usually you know fraught with all kinds of difficulties people relapse constantly at that stage um there has to be I I would like to see you know some kind of accommodation for people who are still relapsing um people who are having you know a host of tangential issues right in their lives a place where they could

go you know uh all day into the night you know wrap around Services I do like what the previous speaker has talked about but something that you know would actually accommodate a lot of the social needs that we see on our streets every day U my estimate was like you know three to five million Pro probably to do something like that you know comprehensively um so I guess as a last and final comment I'm kind of

disappointed you know that you know $900 million is coming into the state and we're seeing like 8 million which over 15 years is what $500,000 into the city that's you know in my words ridiculous uh you know we should be protesting at the state house we want a a much larger greater share coming into our community considering the impact that uh our population has suffered with this thank you thank

you um next we have Mary um

felberg as I understand it we have an an advisory committee of 10 people correct yes yes and I see seven people at the front of the room where are the other three it couldn't be here so we have two-thirds of the committee here are all of you members of the advisory committee yes yes you four are but what about the other table okay great so I commend you all for being present this is an

extremely important public meeting I could read about the Fall River problem with opioids on the cover of the Boston Globe they talked about how we had the number one physician in the Commonwealth for opioid prescriptions the reason is that this is Ground Zero for Orthopedics because Fall River people show up for work no matter how much they are hurting so it was a great place to come and prescribe

opioids without too many questions asked because that we have a work ethic like nobody else so it looks like our death payoff with interest is to receive $8 million over the course of roughly 15 years would that be an accurate characterization I understand we have suffered an inordinate number of deaths per capita compared with other municipalities so the state has roughly 150 communities

municipalities and we probably carry I would imagine 5% of the total deaths wild guests which tells me we might have gotten you know short changed a bit here I think the last speaker was probably as they say right on the money I'd love to ask the state controller how much money is coming to full River for this and how much we got from arpa and the inflation reduction act also known as the

bipartisan infrastructure Bill or Bill back better because my understanding is that the state got about a half a billion dollars from arpa and billback better alone none of which was restricted I mean some of it had to go to infrastructure but a lot of it could easily have gone into to community health programs that would be covering much of this housing for our veterans housing for the people who are sent here

from Los Angeles International Airport and the ins in Boston by bus with a brand new iPhone to live here at childbearing age with no spouse and no education many of whom are already suffering a substance abuse problem so it seems like we have a lot of holes in our numbers I don't mean to suggest any malfeasant but we are the state with the worst government transparency so if the state tells us we

have to put the money in a particular account and use it in a certain way that's what we're constrained to do I very much appreciate you all being here but I'm deeply concerned about our community's safety and viability there is more to it than building High risers all along highrises all along our Waterfront thinkk Mary we need to we need to diversify our community supports thank you Mary we appreciate that thank

you next we have uh Nikki Nikki

Fontaine I'm sure hello everyone my name is Nikki fontin I work in Fall River and I've lived here a long time I've I've also personally been homeless here in Fall River for a while um I am a person in recovery and I agree with the lack of transitional housing wet shelter of rooming houses we can get people clean and sober through treatment but then they're right back to the street where

they started um something more morbid that I haven't heard anyone say because to me this really is like blood Money More Than a grant we should maybe consider paying for funeral expenses for the people people that are burying their child and can't afford it um you know and there's a lot of services here fora is pretty lucky we have a great amount of services that are finally starting to

work together over the last few years but one thing we have nothing of is something for people in recovery to do there's absolutely nothing and boredom and isolation were a reason why I relapsed a thousand times so you know we can get people into treatment they come back to Fall River they can go to meetings that helps but it's 1 hour a day you know a lot of other communities are opening up recovery cafes or club

houses a sober place with different avenues for them to express themselves whether it's art poetry dancing something in the city um I just think that's important and one thing that we have absolutely zero of thanks thank you Nikki Stephanie Perry

hello everybody um many of you so I am my name is Stephanie Perry I'm a nurse for South Coast hospital and I an addiction Street Outreach nurse and I'm here today one to extend an invitation to the community for the hospital to be part of this conversation on a bigger scale so that we can maybe figure out as a hospital system how can we all partner together and create something that is

longstanding and self-sufficient and going to last much longer than we're here right because money's going to come for a long time we might not be here but the same issues will so again I'm I'm hoping that that's the first thing that we can have a bigger discussion in a more meaningful way with all of the partners including EMS the schools the Outreach components that we already have

in place and and really identify the gaps and figure out and I know you've heard this test I know you've heard this mic we've said it at the meeting but I want to say it again here we really need to identify where the gaps are before we can make an effective change and this committee thank you all so much for being part of it but you haven't had conversations with USS right py into interviewed 17 of

us but you guys haven't heard from us and that conversation was had with py over a year almost a year ago because it was I think in the spring of 2023 so things have changed we have zy Zen on the scene now that that wasn't even a thing we have programs that have come and gone or being rebuilt so my ask is for the committee to allow us to have a

me one a more meaningful discussion with you guys so you can see where we're at so we can move forward together and the other one and the most important is really how can we bring this community together as more of a coalition of sorts that operates as one unit with har reduction we have all these Services we all work very well together but we're not hitting all the gaps and we don't know what those gaps

are until you get everybody in the room and we really are able to identify I can do this but then I hit this point but you can do that and then you hit that point well how do we mesh those two together so that we have a longstanding effective change and that's my my big ask is to really can we have a b more meaningful discussion can the committee either come to our meetings or invite us

to yours and I hope it's acceptable thanks thank you Stephanie Denise

Hoy hello thank you for hosting and uh thanks for your volunteerism I'm Denise Hoy and uh I've been in recovery almost 26 years so I have a couple of struggles with just even using the word word opioid because I feel like we forget about alcoholism we forget about this crystal meth there's people with just marijuana problems so even star having the name of opioid you know it kind of

leaves out a lot of people that might feel that they are not sick enough or have done enough to maybe even qualify for anything that's going on in the community so that's one of my things also I work at Family Service in the CSA program in the wraparound services and there is nothing for youth so with youth we have traffickers going after kids in middle school we have all the online

threats they use drugs as a way to get them to be in that sort of Lifestyle um and we have nothing for them we have very few substance abuse counselors that are actually within agencies or private that really have never really worked with youth we had one place here that worked with youth and there wasn't enough access to it so they actually left it was like through the health and human services so that's

my fear is if we don't get people at the age of 10 11 12 never mind 16 then we are missing a whole generation of people and it's never too early to educate it's never too early to get them involved in ways that are fun but they can also learn and I think like there's a lot of different services that everybody has like a corner but no one really comes together and that's what I

have found like so you know I mean wraparound came about because someone sued Mass health right because because people weren't communicating with one another and kids weren't getting the treatment they needed you know and so you know I would hate to see you know the all of that happened you know and I I know there's a lot of barriers I know insurance is a big barrier you know but

I honestly didn't catch that beginning that we only got8 million in that many years I thought it was more than that so I I just feel like definitely we got to go to the state house we got to do something like we need more funds everybody always needs more funds but I think that's my biggest struggle is by the time that I get the kids on my case load and then there's nothing for them

in the high schools that they could go to are voluntary so teens if they're not even willing to admit there's something they have nowhere to even maybe get that education piece and that's really where I feel some some of the money definitely needs to go because by the time someone's 20 they're already in you know what I mean by the time and so so that's my biggest gripe about the whole thing thank you thank you

Denise good evening my name is Seth I'm the city administrator so it's only 6:05 and everyone came out and had some really wonderful feedback and thoughts I just want to open open it up for questions or if anyone else has anything that they want to say um we'll start it in a second Mary Pat um but if anybody based upon what other folks said want to jump on up and I want to second that I want

to add to that I want to say something this is the time to do it uh otherwise we'll open it up to questions and we have some really knowledgeable people um I am not one of those knowledgeable people I'm just the city guy uh but we have some people that really kind of understand uh this uh universe and really um have been working in different ways um to to make effective and

meaningful change um so if you want to hear from the committee and you have questions let's do it is anybody want to say anything before we start that go for it hi there my name is Satie I'm um with River to recovery actually we have basically our whole team here um 157 Pleasant Street in Fall River so I think a lot of the speakers today have brought up some really valid points I

think Miss Fontaine what you said about um having something to do for these people right like we we definitely we bring them in we do the meetings they're wonderful um but then there's that that boredom that isolation that sets in and what are what are the resources right how can how can we engage how can we keep them active and excited and find happiness and joy again and I think

that's a huge piece that's missing right now how do we help them find joy right and I think I'm not sure who said it but also um allowing us to have a voice in the conversation you know inviting us to these meetings or coming to our meetings and hearing what we have to say we are on the ground in the communities talking to the people and we really have valuable feedback and valuable

information for you guys so invite us in or come to US tour the facilities be there I know you guys are most likely volunteers your time is precious but we open our doors to you at River to recovery and I'm sure many of the other community institutions as well come visit us talk to us we're here for you we can be a resource for you as well so that's all thank you thank you

Shady hi everyone thank you uh my name is Bill Kylie I'm the executive director of the Boys and Girls Club one of things that uh struck me again was the piece about uh people being bored and needing a place to go well there's lots of I'm going to guess there's lots of places similar to the Boys and Girls Club that have underutilized capacity during the day you know for us our kid the kids

come to the club after school and evenings but during the day you know we have underutilized capacity and um as far as you know obviously treatment and Recovery are the biggest pieces of where this money should prob should be going um but as far as uh servicing youth to prevent them getting into that situation Boys and Girls Clubs Of America has a whole inventory of evidence-based

programs and we do it with kids every day and as the person who was speaking said a fun place for kids to be where they can learn and keep themselves safe so just throwing it out there thank you Bill great hi I'm Danielle at uh recovery coach at River to recovery and Fall River and so I faced some challenges in in with the clientele that I serve and I think you know the treatment for

addiction is restoring hope so they come in Hopeless and jobless and familyless and homeless and and all that so we try to put all that together for them I'd like to see some of the funding go for occupational Training or job skills or getting the community more involved and giving people jobs and and mostly for um maybe helping them when they first come out of treatment with funding for Extended Stay

in sober housing because they stay there for so long and then funding's cut off and they have yet to get IDs and such to get back to work so it takes a little more time so I just wanted to add that okay thank you would anybody like else like to say something

okay so my name is Nadia pette um I'm a nurse about 22 years in June I'm a community nurse I visit all types of homes all in Bristow Plymouth County not right now um but I did work at South Coast for many years um I was just thinking back you know I see a lot of patients Ortho heart issues mental issues always opioid a little bit with everything looking at allowable expenditure uh categories you're missing

late life behavioral issues starting at 60 have we done any statistics to see what ranges have had the opioid epidemic do you have those numbers here for Far River the categories I don't have the the in terms of the numbers of the age ranges of of overdoses I don't have that information um available right now um Nikki unless you want to speak to that if you happen to have those numbers on

the top of your head otherwise there is a software program that that Nikki's team um has and you can speak to that Nikki because I was thinking way back my first degree is psych um at be and I had attended bradle Baro retreat they have a wonderful program many moons ago that I did my psych rotation there that'd be a great valuable um start it's obviously it's a volunteer you have to admit

yourself to that program a lot of it is dual diagnosis so you're focusing on opioid and how we can treat the disorder not including the alcohol and dual diagnosis issues and I think once we start with that and follow through that kind of program and then have secondary and tertiary um groups where they're improving it would be very good and that's how we can get them back to the workforce the community and keep

checking in every month or however the program would be laid out but we need to work together more um the other part is on veterans are our veterans who need services are they following up with like the Brockton VA or Elm Street in New Bedford um so that we Providence so we they can have those Services they have those services so I'm not taking away from any veterans because they are our community here but

we have those Ser they have those services that they can utilize I don't know if we're connecting all of those to help those are my thank you questions would anyone else like to speak you want to respond go for it you want to do the M microphone just so it's all recorded and stuff sorry

Nikki you brought up a lot of really great points thank you I can tell you that the city is currently building a database called gilada we've been working on it for over the last year because up on until that point we didn't have a very great means of tracking everything so we do break it down um by gender age um Naran Administration drug use uh what substance was used and everything we could possibly think of we

we've you know added as we went um I can definitely I don't have them off the top of my head I can get them to test if you'd like uh anyone here would like to see those stats I know that we just had an overdose of a 71 year-old male on fentanyl who had no history or signs of um opiate abuse and just from reading the reports month to month we do have a

pretty fair amount of I would say 50 plus uh age range that does overdose so you are correct in that but I can get the exact stats for you to tests in the uh by probably Monday okay thanks all right question Time Mary Pat you've had your hand up oh there was one more person I'm so sorry I jumped the gun I apologize that's okay um I'm not sure if anybody

already talked about this I apologize I was late U my name is Nicole I'm the clinical social worker at River to recovery um something that always stands out to me in the um substance use field is the barriers um the barriers for women in particular particular to um access to care and to treatment um we've made a lot of efforts at the center to start like women's groups and do things

like specifically um to help women but it seems to be um harder to get women to come in and I think that's a that's an issue everywhere not just specifically to us so I would like to see funding go towards helping um women get break down those barriers so they can get easier access to treatment I think there is still a lot of stigma um not just surrounding um people who use drugs in

general but women in particular um going off of that I would like to see some funding go towards like more harm reduction efforts maybe um education about Naran I mean it's always surprises me how much stigma even um the substance use Community has towards harm reduction like Naran because I think we just a lot of people just don't know um and then and sad and Daniel already brought up like

the the piece where it seems like we have clients that come in and then there's that period of time where they're kind of just stuck so having um like vocational training or some sort of educational programs to help them like kind of make that next step and integrate back into the community would be really great great thank you than you all right very quick Qui before we open up the questions just to just to

kind of clarify process a little bit so the the RFP request for proposals all right that's that's launching today and is open for the next six weeks is an invitation to organizations in the community to make a proposal to do the thing that they want to see happen that they believe needs to happen in order to make a difference in this effort all right so as much as there are a lot of incredible ideas and

perspectives on the committee the idea is that the proposals and the ideas we want to have come from the community and then the committee evaluates them um and then based upon the criteria that are in the RFP and and you can actually see that there's there's a number of criteria there's how it's going to be rated um you know based upon you know how uh how closely does it try to reach out specifically to Fall

River people uh if you if it's not just for people but it's broader that's fine that doesn't disqualify you but you know there's a preference there's a there's a desire to really help the people that live in our community if we can do that there's a lot of other criteria like that and that will help you sort of have a rubric to follow uh when your organization or an organization that

you're familiar with or associated with wants to put together a proposal um so that's just so you you kind of understand what we're hoping for to come out of this meeting and and the RFP itself is for organizations that um need the funding to support a wonderful idea give some structure to that wonderful idea and submit it to the committee before the 16th 16th cor great do you have any

questions I stand up here and I think about people I've met I think about the process prostitute that I met in an ER who was addicted to methadone I think about another prostitute I met in New Bedford I think about my cousin who works with at at risk High crisis teenagers who did not get paid by Mass health as a sole practitioner counselor for 12 months starting in March a year ago no paychecks she submitted

everything properly she had been a therapist in Connecticut and Massachusetts for something like 15 years and all of a sudden the state decided not to pay sole practitioner counselors working with teenagers and and kids you know adolescence and puberty in crisis so the mother commits suicide and this is one of her patients and what does she do when the state she's in month eight the

mortgage is due she's not seeing any income at all from all these paychecks owed to her by Mass health I don't understand how our state works like this I don't understand how the Tomato Center had to fold When Miss Melo created it on her own seeing a need down in the Bay Street area and didn't get the funding and it it had to close its doors I don't understand why we can't find a safe

place for our veterans to live when we have Federal funding and all kinds of programs and we have never seen so much slush fund money in this state in this city in our lifetimes so please you know help us figure out how to deal with these problems because those of us who have friends and neighbors who are suffering the police who have to face these people the you know the whole

issue of the police and recordkeeping is its own question but I I don't understand how how this community keeps going sometimes because I see so much suffering here and and these are the people who have seen it personally that's why we're all in the room and we want to care we offer services in some cases like the Boys and Girls Club does an amazing job giving kids hope giving them purpose giving them a sense of fun

and joy but we need to integrate across all these different service providers and get out of the box of I'm Social Services we are Recreation we are arts and culture and work holistically I keep hearing people say that so I'd love to know who designed the survey and how we can incorporate this kind of thinking and problem solving and evidence-based results you know use National models we know work oftentimes

it involves the parents oftentimes the parents are out of commission so what are we doing to support these holes when so many of the people who come here are already in crisis how do we help sustain people how do we do the right thing and not short change those we know personally from childhood from the neighborhood from work there's some very tough choices but there we'll never see the kind of money

we have now and I don't understand why we don't have three matching programs to go with this money because we've got the we've got the pockets for it at the moment we could be drawing from all kinds of sources to supplement this and use this as seed money for related initiatives across the whole city where are where's Jake gawen Claus where's Mike Rodricks chair of ways and means where's Carol Fiola the head of

infrastructure you know where's our speaker proem Pat Hadad of Somerset these people are reconfiguring our census block groups and deciding that we're ineligible for federal support as environmental justice communities unlike places like Welsley and nuet which don't have to go through the appeal process and get approved when their median income is 13 or 14% % above the state average for those census block

groups we're seeing ours merged with richer Waterfront neighborhoods on either side contrary to census guidelines if I may Mary those are all really good questions good points big questions um do you have a question for the committee yes what are we going to do to integrate across all the city's programs efficiently so we are thinking holistically about the needs of our community I love the question about

where are the data where are the most the deepest areas of need and what are we thinking in terms of prevention so we don't end up with as many parents and kids in a pickle and what are we doing to support the police who so often have to face these incredibly tragic and heartbreaking situations do we can we carve out any money for their emotional well-being and for the firefighters who

respond to every Naran call cu those poor people burn out and we need them no no doubt about that um one of the things that we can't do with this money is um essentially replace monies that are already being spent for police and for fire most of it's for new initiatives uh we can't augment it with new initiatives in police and fire not really and across St ANS as well as

South Coast so it's kind of a fine line but but that is a big piece of this that that we can't take money that the city budget for for police for fire whatever and we're going to use opio money for that um we can't augment it not really no that's not being done at other communities I thought it was if it is it's not really uh to the letter of the

the requirements so well I I'm here to tell you when it comes to things like environmental justice communities the requirements are malleable almost in at infinitum you'd be amazed how far the law can be stretched in Massachusetts I'm actually as a lawyer I'm never amazed at how far the law be stretched uh I've been I've been stretching it for a long time and so I don't disagree with you but I think that

the the line is probably brighter than we realize so I just want to give more time for other people to ask questions if that's okay thank you we had a dialogue with our sister communities with LEL with haal with Brockton to see what they're doing in spending this money and how they're finessing it to help create a multiplier effect across the community with help to other agencies there's nothing that says we

can't take money already already budgeted for one thing and shift it a bit and then plow some of this money to offset that shortfall there are create there's creative financing I think it's debatable but I I hear what you're saying so but I I appreciate all the points you made thank you so much any other questions sure

um I just wanted to do a quick plugin my name is Shaya chassis I'm the director of Housing and basic needs with Catholic Charities of Fall River and I just wanted to do a quick plugin just to put the word out there um we have a great program here in the city that the city does fund through our agency and that's the F of coordinated entry it is a service provider um resource so if

anyone's in need of any service not just related to homelessness or a substance use disorder any resource that they need they can call the for of coordinated entry at the 774 520 2555 my staff I have three staff daily that answer those phones from 8:30 to 5 and if there's a resource that they don't have they're in front of a computer they can obtain it 774 520 2555 thank you thank you any

questions got to use the microphone I'm sorry I'm sorry Stephanie

I may Nicki use the microphone so you have to use the microphone I just have a quick question so I know the deadline it opens today and it closes June 16th is there any way that that can be extended because if we're really going to be meaningful with this money we have to have bigger conversations and I think a month and a half doesn't really account you know help us with that situation so

is that a hard stop June 16th after 12 months

right so like what what is the reasoning for that short time frame of turnaround I'm just curious anybody else want to I don't want to dominate this this I don't want to be the answer guy all right I'll give you an answer all right here we are all right fair enough um so this is actually my job in Government Center answer terrible questions and be the bad

guy so uh here we are um so there was a six- week opportunity for organizations to get their proposals together after that they'll be reviewed um and what we imagine happening is that based upon the proposals that come in there'll be additional conversations with the applicants um so similar to the way the arpa money was handled for anybody that applied for Arbor money there was a

review period uh and then those folks were invited in to have a conversation about the application to understand whatever questions might have to have the opportunity to um to really make the pitch to the committee um and the idea would be for once uh an application uh if it's in fact allowed uh if it's endorsed by the committee um that the money would be distributed in the fall

so what we wanted to do is is try to create a period for people to to put together applications knowing that a lot of folks have been anticip ating this for quite some time uh that they knew the money was was coming that they knew there' be an opportunity to apply for the money 6 weeks to formalize the application and then a review period that review period is more open-ended

and so by early fall end of the summer September October the idea is to to be Distributing the money again though it is a very slim amount of time right it's a very short amount of time if we're going to have bigger conversations those conversations take time especially if in my thinking it if we don't want to operate in silos we need to com combine our efforts right so if I'm going to combine a hospital

effort with another hospital or another Community program it takes time and planning on our level to just go to the top so we can get approval on even the proposal and six weeks isn't a long time of a turnaround especially for a hospital system and for many Community agencies so I think if we could just really think about that and maybe have some exceptions to extend that I know

with the Opera funds it was kind of more of an on going Y where this is now open close and it just seems like and and you know this room isn't very full right so the people who know about this are the same people who always know about this the people who could also benefit from this conversation might not even know that the conversation's begun and may find might find out two weeks from now

which then gives them four weeks you know so like as a community I just hope that we can extend that deadline we see it in the paper or whatever after the right we the realate talking about housing development after it happens people don't know when time to show up and it truly does take a long time for a turnaround in a hospital system and the hospital systems both South Coast and St ANS has committed to

working together in maybe collaboration with the fast team or EMS or the schools all of us together but that is a big ask to have a six week turnaround right at the start of still here Mike you want to jump in sure Mike you guys use your microphone sorry okay can I use this yeah yeah that that's our mic okay all right U speaking only for myself uh in response to to Stephanie's comment I'm

and I'm very open-minded about what you're suggesting uh but I I do want to say that we want to balance that uh along with the uh feeling that we want to get the money out because there has been some criticism of the process that the money didn't get out fast enough too so it it is a balancing act so we we you know the Comm I'm I'm sorry the committee will be talking you know

we're going to at our next meeting we'll we'll go over everything that we've heard tonight uh and and that issue of whether to be extended I guess we'll discuss it uh but but understood that that the other push against us is to get the money out once a month

all right so we'll have a conversation we'll have a conversation about extending the deadline is that okay Tess all right so we're going to have a conversation about extending the deadline all right I think that's fair it's an absolutely reasonable request I will I want to push back a little bit around the conversation because this committee although there are a number of folks on here in this committee who are

very capable of participating in that conversation in a very knowledgeable way this committee isn't a policy committee it's a just it's a it's more of an appropriation committee so if there's conversations to be had I think there's folks that are glad to be part of them but the very reason why members of certain organizations you know the kind of the big organizations the people that

could ask for this money are not on the committee is I think we were thinking that the conversations are going to be had in the community that formulates the proposals and then we look at them um if if anybody has a different perspective please speak up that I agree is definitely concerned about potential conf by putting you provider agencies on the committee then apply for the funds but

we need some time and notice to review and and prepare notes and come up with plans that will be as productive as possible for the money yeah understood two weeks it's not the end of the world I agree I agree so yeah we can have that conversation we'll we'll put that information out if we can if we can do that uh I think part of it was the idea of if we distribute the money in the

fall for those folks that are on a calendar fiscal year then they could you know anticipate from a budgeting standpoint being able to put their programs in place starting January 1st um that was certainly part of the conversation but if there's a a way to extend it um I think we can have that conversation no promises but we'll talk about it um in terms of the conversation I would just say that that I I would

hope that's happening in the communities that are doing the work um because what we we actually you know want more to you know have that conversation happening and then have it yield proposals that we can look at that are amazing and that are transformative that we can then help to fund so but we're not here to tell the community what it should be doing you know they just we all want time to talk

to each other to try to and talk to people in in sister cities if you will look at our comparables and go what's working and how are you going to do this and how do you sp further funding with this initiative you know what works instead of each of us inventing the wheel I here that City AE once a montha zoom and development father that that have some discussion just may what service providers are thinking um

and get the word out there you know that a lot thank you yes sir so like one of the concerns I have is the fact that this is really kinds of money right compared to the kinds of needs that are present has anyone considered on the committee an idea of like floating a b a 15year bond for like you know $7 million right and then using this money over 15 years

paying the bond off and then you know having an actual real impa on the need that's in the so that would actually um somebody on the committee would end up in jail if we did that um yeah and so no no no it's it's actually kind of a wonderful idea um in terms of how to make the money go farther and have it make an immediate impact um but when you have something in

a stabilization fund and the way this money is actually it would be really really bad and we've already kind of done the whole jail thing um and we're trying to move past it right yeah yeah um so yeah it's just it's just not you know it's not allowed I'm sorry yes ma'am how much are we getting because I missed about $8 million yeah so and then where's that 60% stat whatever what was that I guess

all right you want to do this I can if you'd like you know I keep asking my friends here to come up thank you for coming up and they're just like no no you're on your own so that's that's awesome thank you all right 900 million to the whole state all right so 40 million is actually direct I'm sorry 4% is directly to the communities all right so if you

have if we have 900 Mill ion that's 360 million to directly to the communities we got eight right and if I could um so this yeah eight total goes to the state so the state that's going to the state remediation fund so at this point in time the state remediation fund has a has a number and all again this is all publicly available information but in terms of expansion of harm reduction

they've committed $3.4 million the state remediation fund to that so implemented Community the lock Zone purchasing program um they're developing certain grant opportunities for M municipalities um funding syringe service programs um in uh Brockton and Worcester things out in western Mass um there there's a variety of of things going on but no there hasn't been anything in Fall River at this time

increase access to medication for opioid use disorder $3.1 million that's expanding access to medications for opioid use disorder uh new me mobile methodone delivery programs uh new medication unit uh for the middle Sex House of Corrections uh Workforce Development expansion of Supportive Housing Programs that's $6 million for the housing programs and $15 million for Workforce Development so there's a range

of uh programs that the State remediation fund is working on those are happening throughout the Commonwealth so yes and that's all publicly available information I do but I have one more question really to that sure so when we write these grants for Fall River for Cara and all that stuff opiates the the data the Census Data nationally is that Massachusetts is the 10th largest city in the state but for

all of the last year since 20 2016 we were in the top five for opiate overdose fatalities so I'm just really confused where they got that we only get 8 million so the model there's there was a model that that was created um at the state level with lawyers and experts that model allocates settlement money using three different factors the you uh US Health and Human Services data on prevalence of over um opioid use

disorder in a County from 2007 to 2016 uh the factor number two was CDC dat sorry theep Sor uh yeah 2016 2007 to 2016 um the factor number two was the Centers for Disease Control Data and other Federal data on overdose deaths from 2006 to 2016 the third Factor was d uh DEA data on opio opioid shipments from 200 6 to 2004 to the county the model then allocates number of uh dollar amounts

based on US Census Data showing how County municipalities have historically split funding for government functions relevant to opioid abatement so this again you can find this information outlined on the State website you spoke a little that last one spoke a little rapidly sure um the mo those those three factors um were then compared with um US Census Data showing how County and

municipalities have historically split fundings for government functions relevant to opioid abatement so that was the formula that was based on all the ways we've been short changed in the past a third of the decision making is based on our history of being short changed it's so that that is how the the funds were allocated um and and unfortunately at this time in it's very clear on the State website that the the

funding amounts are uh not uh yeah they are set in stone oh yeah all we actually have some some insight onto this well here's here's one way to think about the concerns about uh how much fall river is getting the state is getting 900 million right 40% of that is going to 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts 40% of 00 million is 360 million 351 cities and towns that averages to about a million per

Community we're getting eight so that is for for how many years 15 years for everybody yeah all of all of it has spread out over 15 years all of these figures are across 15 years so we're getting eight so we we are getting a a an amount that is based on our population base and as well as the extent of the problem so we did we you know compared there are a lot of

communities that are getting very modest amounts in the hundreds of dollars and they're not happy about that either so so it's a it's a limited pie that's being split up in in in the best way that the I admittedly the experts uh decided to do but but the formula was imposed on us and there was nothing that we could do uh to change it but we have the chair of ways and means of down

there are things legislature was not at the table when this was discussed I know Senator rodri had no role in he has a role in everything not in this so basically the people who have 540 million of this are the ones who decided that we should have what we have no they they didn't either the the formula was decided among those who negotiated directly with the drug comp money that's that is good thank you any other

questions if not I think we're going to wrap up any last yeah is there any appetite for the panel to have collaborative uh proposals where you have one Grant one grantee that's the lead agency and then others that are in it so this panel is so open-minded it's almost ridiculous um so yeah no so yeah if there are organizations that want to collaborate uh to try to do something where it leverages the respective

strengths of the different organizations um and you want to bring a proposal that's fantastic one of the reasons why if you look at the RFP there's not a ton of limitations and constraints on things like that is that we we want to see you know things that change our city um and if that requires you know I mean you guys do do certain things incredibly like you're doing it for the Youth

initiative right now with arpa um there's you know to me uh there's no question in my mind that there are things you could bring to bear as the boys and girls club that a lot of other organizations couldn't do uh but at the same time you know there's folks like River recovery that are doing their thing exceptionally well as well and there's other organizations I don't mean they just single those two out but you

know you guys are here tonight if there's a collaboration this this panel is going to be open to it uh all day long I'm not saying that you know it's going to be the successful one because there's probably going to be a lot of really good applications no I just think that that would be one more benefit of extending the deadline a little bit longer give people the opportunities to consider collaborative

efforts in fact the um the rubric indicates that applications that do have collaboration amongst more than one you know one or more Community Partners will be evaluated um highly um it will you'll meet the excellent category for the for the rubric evaluation I should have read the rubric

closer RFP it's on the RFP correct y anyone else yeah um so will the funds be going to create new programs or the funds be going to exogram or both so the the goal for these funds is to either create new programs or expand upon existing programs so we can't put money towards a program that's that's currently funded it has to be an expansion or you know an addition to a

new a new program so that's that's the focus of these funds anyone else going going all right thanks so much um all of our well at least Tess's email and my email are easily found on the Fall River website um Tess's director of Health and Human Services I'm the city administrator um I'm not going to offer these nice Folks up uh yet but um there are ways to get in touch with us so if

you have more questions feel free to call uh and we can put you in touch with the right person likely Tess is the right person I'll have to put you in touch with the right person and um uh appreciate so much uh the questions the thoughtful uh insights and advice and um looking forward to some really uh excellent proposals and we'll have that conversation about extending the deadline and just in terms of another um

email we did create an opioid funds it's up on the screen opioid funds fall rer ma.gov email address so any questions you can um Briana and I both monitor that email thank you so much