Durham is finally starting to put its slice of national opioid settlement money to work, steering the city’s first awards into treatment, recovery and harm reduction on the ground. The opening round of spending is set to expand medication assisted treatment, fund mobile addiction services and grow syringe services that are designed to prevent overdoses. City officials describe these grants as the first wave of a multi year spending plan tied to nationwide settlements with pharmaceutical manufacturers.
In a Facebook Reel on Friday, the City of Durham said it had picked three local programs for this first round of opioid settlement spending, covering expanded medication assisted treatment, mobile addiction treatment and a syringe services program, in a post via City of Durham. The city framed the awards as targeted investments meant to open more doors to care and drive down overdose deaths.
At a recent city work session, officials signed off on nearly $1 million for three organizations. Lincoln Community Health Center was awarded about $424,478 to grow its medication assisted treatment program across clinic sites. Durham Technical Community College received roughly $239,688 to strengthen Project MAPS' mobile addiction and primary care services. The Durham Community Safety Department was granted about $267,721 to add a peer support specialist to the HEART team and expand the Safe Syringe Program, as reported by INDY Week. The city chose the awards through its request for proposals process and structured them as three year contracts.
Durham Tech separately confirmed the $239,688 award and said the grant will go toward upgraded mobile lab equipment, expanded testing capacity and additional staff for Project MAPS outreach visits. Project MAPS, a collaboration with Duke Health and the North Carolina Harm Reduction Coalition, provides medication assisted treatment, wound care and care coordination at community sites, according to the college's news release. The college said the funding will let the mobile unit run more tests and see more people at regular outreach stops, improving access for uninsured and underinsured residents.
How The Settlements Flow And Who Is Watching
The money comes from national opioid settlements that require state and local governments to spend proceeds on evidence based treatment, recovery supports and harm reduction strategies. North Carolina's CORE NC portal spells out the reporting rules, including local spending authorizations, yearly financial reports and impact reports that municipalities must file under the statewide Memorandum of Agreement. Durham issued an RFP last fall to bring in local providers and set up the awards as multi year contracts, according to the city's procurement documents.
Why Durham Is Leaning On Harm Reduction
Local health officials argue that wider syringe services and mobile treatment are practical ways to keep people alive while they are still outside traditional clinic walls. Durham County public health data shows 185 overdose deaths in 2020 and 2021 and a steep increase in EMS responses to opioid calls, figures officials routinely cite when pushing for low barrier care and harm reduction spending, per the county's health page. Those numbers help explain why the first round of settlement money backs both treatment expansion and more syringe services capacity.
City leaders say these initial awards will move ahead through routine council approvals and required local reporting before any checks go out, and they note that more dollars could arrive as additional settlements are finalized. Residents and advocates will be able to follow how the money is used through the state's CORE NC reporting portal and the city's public procurement and advisory processes, including upcoming advisory committee meetings.
