These grants come as overdose deaths dropped 9% last year in the state, Gov. Mike DeWine said. This outpaced the national decrease of 2%.
“In Ohio, we’ve put into action one of the nation’s most comprehensive and aggressive strategies for fighting substance use and preventing overdose deaths – and these SOS grants are a key piece of the puzzle,” DeWine said.
These grants are the fourth round of State Opioid and Stimulant Response (SOS) grant funds awarded throughout Ohio. The grants were received by the Ohio Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services (OhioMHAS) from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA).
OhioMHAS then distributed more than $68 million to county Alcohol, Drug Addiction, and Mental Health Services (ADAMHS) boards and community-based providers.
“This funding is vitally important to supporting our ongoing work to prevent and reduce overdose deaths in our state,” said OhioMHAS director LeeAnne Cornyn.
| County | Agency | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Butler | Butler County Mental Health and Addiction Recovery Services Board | $1,082,866.95 |
| Butler | Envision Partnerships | $362,615.00 |
| Butler | H.O.P.E. Full Pastures Therapeutic Farm | $97,500.00 |
| Clark | McKinley Hall | $151,986.82 |
| Clark | Mental Health Services for Clark & Madison Counties | $308,053.85 |
| Clark | Wellspring | $46,708.20 |
| Greene | Greene County Educational Service Center | $217,495.30 |
| Greene | Hope Spot | $129,074.00 |
| Greene | Recovery Centers Inc. dba Womens Recovery Center | $107,187.63 |
| Greene | TCN Behavioral Health Services, Inc. | $366,158.10 |
| Miami | Tri-County Board of Recovery & Mental Health Services (Miami, Darke, Shelby) | $295,114.95 |
| Montgomery | ADAMHS Board for Montgomery County | $4,118,826.34 |
| Montgomery | Goodwill Easterseals Miami Valley | $168,445.75 |
| Montgomery | OneFifteen Recovery | $231,285.00 |
| Montgomery | Sidewalk Soldiers | $52,791.62 |
| Montgomery | Urban Minority Alcoholism and Drug Abuse Outreach Program of Dayton (UMADAOP of Dayton) | $160,642.50 |
| Montgomery | WestCare Ohio, Inc. East End Community Services | $120,664.64 |
| Preble | Preble County Mental Health & Recovery Board | $541,222.88 |
| Warren | Mental Health Recovery Board of Warren and Clinton Counties | $635,048.15 |
| All of Ohio agencies | $68,726,207.44 |
OhioMHAS worked with statewide partners, state-level agencies and DeWine’s RecoveryOhio initiative to identify Ohio’s goals for SOS funding. Key priorities include:
- Reducing unintentional overdose deaths
- Increasing access to substance use disorder treatment
- Preventing youth substance use
- Increasing recovery support services
- Supporting responsible prescribing practices and statewide education efforts
- Promoting integrated harm reduction practices
OhioMHAS will use a portion of the $100 million in funding to partner with state agencies to ensure life-saving naloxone and other community resources are available throughout the state. Naloxone, or Narcan, is a treatment that can rapidly reverse an opioid overdose and is most commonly in the form of a nasal spray.
The Ohio Department of Health has increased the number of naloxone kits it has distributed by 520% since 2019. Last year, ODH distributed 291,000 kits, DeWine said.
Opioids, stimulants continue to threaten communities
While the state’s 9% decline in overdose deaths is headed in the right direction, Ohioans are not out of the woods yet, Cornyn said.
“While the data is trending in the right direction, we’re not out of the woods yet,” Cornyn said. “Fentanyl remains a serious threat to our communities, and that’s why we are committed to thoughtfully investing these resources in projects that make a real difference, and ultimately save lives.”
In Montgomery County, which has seen large numbers of overdose deaths in the past year, there is a 46% drop in overdose deaths in year-to-date comparisons of January through September in 2023 compared to the same time period in 2024, according to the Community Overdose Action Team.
There were 239 overdose deaths reported in Montgomery County in January through September in 2023 compared to 129 in that same time period this year. To date, there have been 137 overdose deaths in 2024, according to preliminary data from the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.
Overdose deaths in Montgomery County have continued to decline since 2021. There were 337 overdose deaths recorded in 2021, 316 in 2022 and 292 in 2023, according to data from the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office.
While in decline, Montgomery County still had one of the higher rates of overdose deaths compared to other counties in Ohio, according to the state’s 2023 overdose report. Montgomery County’s rate of 57.8 overdose deaths per 100,000 people outpaced the state’s rate of 43.5 overdose deaths per 100,000 people.
| County | Rate of overdose deaths per 100,000 people |
|---|---|
| Butler | 51.0 |
| Champaign | 29.1 |
| Clark | 54.3 |
| Darke | 32.7 |
| Greene | 28.9 |
| Miami | 27.7 |
| Montgomery | 57.8 |
| Preble | 40.8 |
| Warren | 21.1 |
| All of Ohio | 43.5 |
The $4.1 million going to Montgomery County ADAMHS comes as the agency has been working with a reduced budget.
“One of the things that we have to acknowledge is that we have indeed gone through some financial challenges over the course of this last funding year,” said Helen Jones-Kelley, executive director of the Montgomery County ADAMHS board.
After Montgomery County ADAMHS spent down its reserves and grant dollars while taking lower allocations from the county’s human services levy, some agencies saw deep reductions in funding compared to what they’ve gotten in the past from the organization.
“These additional dollars will allow us to provide some direct funding for services, which then takes some of the burden off of levy dollars and allow us to utilize those dollars in different spaces where need exists,” Jones-Kelley said.
It’s a win-win situation for both ADAMHS and the community, she said.
“We told our community we would go after additional grants to enhance our service delivery, even though we were in a period of decline in access to funding but this gives us a chance to rebuild our resources, and we’ll continue to seek other dollars to provide supportive services,” Jones-Kelley said.
This new award will position Montgomery County to continue prioritizing target populations to further reduce opioid overdose deaths.
Funding priorities for Montgomery County include pregnant and postpartum women and children; recovery supports such as recovery housing, peer supports, and employment supports; and programs that provide increased access to medications for opioid use disorders, said Jennifer Hochdoerfer-Chiles, senior program coordinator and grant writer for Montgomery County ADAMHS.
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