Sen. Adam Gomez Announces Opioid Recovery Grants Awarded in Springfield
BOSTON — State Sen. Adam Gomez joined the Healey-Driscoll administration this week in announcing grants worth nearly $275,000 being awarded in the Springfield area to combat the opioid epidemic, with Choice Recovery Coaching and the Black Behavioral Health Network set to receive $222,500 and $50,000, respectively, to help the organizations deepen their impact, scale their work, and build a strong and sustainable infrastructure to meet the needs of populations in historically underserved communities.
“The opioid epidemic has taken so much from our area, with families being torn apart and our resources stretched thin,” Gomez said. “I am grateful for the organizations doing meaningful work on the front lines of this issue and providing necessary supports in our area, and for the Healey-Driscoll administration prioritizing underserved populations that have seen an increased rate of overdose deaths, like Springfield has. We can’t be complacent against this issue — we must continue to push back against its stigmatization and help affected individuals on their path to recovery. These funds are crucial in this fight.”
The announcement comes as part of the administration’s $3.75 million commitment in grants to 18 grassroots organizations to reduce the harms caused by the opioid epidemic in communities disproportionately impacted by overdose deaths. The grants are the first to be awarded through the Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership, a new grantmaking program designed to support communities and populations that have been historically underserved and have experienced a high rate of opioid-related overdose deaths.
Mosaic was developed earlier in 2024 through a collaboration between the Department of Public Health’s Bureau of Substance Addiction Services and RIZE Massachusetts to increase the equitable allocation of Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF) grants to small community-based organizations and municipalities that often face significant obstacles and barriers to accessing more traditional funding opportunities.
The primary goal of this first round of funding is to help organizations deepen their impact, bring their work to scale, and build a strong and sustainable infrastructure to meet the needs of the populations they serve. Each organization will receive between $16,000 to $150,000 annually over a three-year period to focus on one or all of the following areas: prevention, harm reduction, connections to care, recovery supports, trauma, grief, and family supports.
In addition to this first round of funding, there will be two additional rounds of grantmaking this fiscal year, which ends on June 30, 2025. All rounds of grantmaking will be informed by those with lived experience and expertise related to the overdose crisis. Overall, the Mosaic grantmaking program represents a commitment by the Commonwealth to dedicate $5 million annually over the next 18 years (or 18% of the total opioid settlement funds in the ORRF) toward funding locally led initiatives to address the harms caused by the opioid epidemic.