Community stakeholders most impacted by the opioid crisis decided which local groups would receive grants to decrease harm

The Overdose Prevention and Community Healing Fund announced its first round of grantees who will share almost $2 million to fight the city’s opioid epidemic, which is responsible for about three deaths a day.

But instead of the Kenney administration, stakeholders were the deciders, selecting the 27 winning groups making this one of the city’s largest ever participatory grantmaking initiatives. Participatory grantmaking is a process that puts decision-making power in the hands of those impacted by the problem.

Two community groups were created with the responsibility to review and select the grants. Members had to live in Philadelphia, have a clear connection to the impacted communities, and be a subject matter expert.

“It was awesome to have more community input.”

“We’ve given agency to the community,” said Joe Pyle, president of the Scattergood Foundation. The foundation, a longtime advocate for participatory grantmaking, manages the Overdose Prevention and Community Healing Fund.

“It was awesome to have more community input. Everyone’s opinion was heard,” said Jennifer Somerville, director of development for Timoteo, a youth development sports program, and one of the participants in the three-month-long grantmaking process. Somerville, who was raised in Kensington, said she witnessed how the opioid epidemic devastated her community.

Seventy-five organizations applied for this initial round of funding that offered two types of grants: capacity-building and program grants. Ten agencies received $20,000 capacity-building grants to support general operating costs. In announcing the grant recipients on Thursday, June 8, Mayor Jim Kenney said, “It is wonderful to see these funds going to people on the ground.”

The 17 agencies that received program grants are tasked with providing direct support. Tatyana Woodard of the Ark of Safety, which will use the money for a drop-in center serving the transgender community, praised the grant-making process for having the “courage to back grassroots organization.” The Ark of Safety is a shelter in North Philadelphia specifically for queer and trans communities.

The Homeless Advocacy Project (HAP) will utilize its $100,000 to build up its civil legal services center. “HAP is committed to meeting people where they are,” said Tanya Rambert, executive director.

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To be eligible, agencies were required to have budgets under $5 million, have leadership that reflects the communities served, and preferably be based in Kensington or North Philadelphia, neighborhoods hardest hit by the opioid epidemic. However, citywide agencies such as Philadelphia Prevention Partnership, which received a capacity-building grant to help support its graphic arts training program and to be a safe place for youth, were eligible.

Pennsylvania is expected to receive up to $1.07 billion over the next 18 years as the result of a national deal with Johnson & Johnson and three major drug distributors — Cardinal Health, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen. Philadelphia’s portion is about $200 million.

The Pennsylvania Opioid Misuse and Addiction Abatement Trust, the primary oversight organization overseeing how counties spend the money maintains a list, called Exhibit E, of approved and recommended opioid abatement strategies.

Pyle said they are looking to fund programs that focus on overdose prevention, substance use awareness, and harm reduction, as well as holistic programs that address community trauma, stigma associated with substance use, or promote safety and mental well-being for community-based workers in the substance use field.

Six months ago, Kenney unveiled his spending plan for the initial $20 million and it included $3.1 million for the Prevention Fund as well as $7.5 million for the Kensington Health & Wellness Corridors Master Planning effort, led by New Kensington Community Development Corporation (NKCDC) and Impact Services to provide resources promoting youth development and public safety.

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“Life in Kensington is complicated. We are all suffering through daily trauma here. Be it the man sleeping in the street, the child who can’t walk to school, homes in disrepair, parks unusable,” said Bill McKinney, NKCDC executive director and longtime Kensington resident.

“These are all results of the opioid epidemic, an epidemic that has been amplified by structural racism, classism, and most people’s desire to contain rather than solve the problem.”