State Awards $2.6 Million to Launch Diversion Program for Substance-use Disorder

BOSTON — As part of ongoing efforts to address the state’s overdose crisis, the Massachusetts Department of Public Health (DPH) announced $2.6 million in federal grants over the next three years to support the launch of an initiative aimed at reducing exposure to the criminal legal system among people with substance-use disorder.

The program, Diversion to Care (DivCare), seeks to establish new collaborations with community organizations and enhance existing ones among local public health, public safety, and criminal legal system partners to promote community-based harm-reduction services among communities disproportionately impacted by overdoses, specifically Black, Latino, and Native American communities.

Grant recipients are Riverbend (formerly Lowell House) in Lowell, and the cities of Brockton, Northampton, Revere, and Worcester.

“We can and we must continue to address the overdose and opioid crisis so that people can access treatment that meets them where they are at and does not perpetuate stigma,” said Kate Walsh, secretary of Health and Human Services. “This funding shows our commitment to supporting equity-informed, evidence-based initiatives that encourage and promote safety, treatment, and harm reduction. This is part of our ongoing efforts to target interventions that effectively reach those who bear some of the heaviest burdens of substance-use disorder and overdose.”

DivCare will encourage communities with high rates of overdose to engage in a collaborative process to identify alternative responses to substance use and overdose that center racial equity and prioritize evidence-based harm reduction, recovery support, and treatment services.

Alternative responses will be at the intersection of public health and public safety and be designed to divert people with a substance-use disorder to appropriate services when they come into contact with the criminal legal system.