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Following walkout, funding for addiction programs has been secured

Providence Journal - 9/16/2021

PROVIDENCE — The Governor's Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force has announced funding to continue certain addiction harm reduction and treatment programs. Feared loss of the funds prompted a walkout by some members of the panel last week.

According to Task Force co-chairs Richard Charest, head of the Rhode Island Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities, and Hospitals, and Health Department director Dr. Nicole Alexander-Scott, the money will come from a reordering of BHDDH projects.

The agency, the co-chairs wrote in an email to "interested parties" and task force members, "has reallocated dollars from new projects and worked with our state partners, including the Office of Attorney General Peter Neronha, to find the funding necessary to meet the requests of the community members and providers.

"Pending authorization from the Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) and the Rhode Island Department of Administration, BHDDH will continue each of the reduced contracts attached with level funding until October 1, 2022."

Charest and Alexander-Scott noted that "this is an estimate of the programs we believe are impacted, based on the expiring federal grants and the letter that BHDDH received from the community."

They added "while we cannot guarantee continued federal funding beyond that date at this time, BHDDH will work with the providers whose funding is being restored to agree on appropriate metrics upon which these contracts will continue to be evaluated, to determine any future funding for these specific programs."

The co-chairs also committed to better "transparent and community-engaged funding practices that fit within the legally-required procurement processes."

They said "We know that our community has been through a tremendously difficult time over the past 18 months, and that the recovery and harm reduction staff have been dealing with the shared [epidemics] of overdose and COVID-19. As State agencies, we recognize our responsibility to implement a better, shared funding process."

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