In an effort to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic, Ramsey County Public Health has rolled out a new initiative offering a financial helping hand to community organizations tackling this crisis. The freshly launched Opioid Response Community Grants program is injecting up to $1 million into the efforts of local groups dedicated to this cause.

The grant program has outlined specific priority areas that it intends to target, including support for pregnant individuals, parents, babies, and culturally specific treatment approaches. Other focal areas are health education, outreach for prevention, treatment for people in the criminal justice system, and engaging the youth in educational efforts. A total of twenty grants, each carrying a significant dollar amount ranging from $40,000 to $55,000, are up for grabs under these specified categories.

Prospective applicants can find out more about the program and pose their queries during two online information sessions set to take place on February 5th and 6th. These sessions provide a crucial platform for organizations to deep-dive into the grant process and finetune their applications. Interested parties have until the stroke of midnight CST on March 1 to submit their applications for consideration.

Those selected for grant funding will receive their notifications in early April. It's noted that each eligible organization can only pocket funding once per calendar year and must align with the specific criteria laid out by Public Health. But it's not just public funds fueling this initiative — the grant funding is sourced from the hefty opioid settlement, funneling these dollars back into the community's fight against the opioid crisis. More details can be scoped out at the official Ramsey County website at ramseycounty.us/OpioidGrants.