Philly to Receive $200M Over 18 Years to Fight Opioid Crisis

Philadelphia will receive around $200 million over an 18-year span to fight the city’s opioid crisis, Mayor Jim Kenney announced Thursday. 

The funds will come from the national opioid settlements and be invested into various crisis response strategies, including citywide and neighborhood programs. 

“This is not going to happen overnight,” Philadelphia councilperson Quetcy Lozada said. “This is going to require several years before we really see the impact that these investments are going to make.” 

The city will initially receive $20 million in 2023 with $3.1 million going toward citywide prevention efforts, $7.5 million going toward additional investments in Kensington, one of the city’s neighborhoods hit hardest by the opioid crisis, and $400,000 going toward the Kensington Resilience Fund. The Kensington investments include home repair, rent relief and school improvements. 

“We are heartened that the City has made a significant contribution towards addressing key challenges that have been identified by so many stakeholders in our community. We are looking forward to not only the additional resources coming into our neighborhood but for the opportunity for everyone to bring their strengths to the table through a community driven, trauma informed, comprehensive planning and implementation process,” Dr. Casey O’Donnell, President/CEO of Impact Services and Dr. Bill McKinney, Executive Director of New Kensington Community Development Corporation, said in a joint statement. “Together we will shape Kensington’s future so that current community members can thrive.”

The money will also be used towards addressing the individual and community impacts of opioids, the launch of mobile methadone clinics to help treat heroin addiction, mobile wound care, an expansion of targeted outreach and engagement for at-risk communities, housing opportunities to support long-term recovery and the expansion of Medication Assisted Treatment which will include increased dosage of buprenorphine and more available methadone. 

“These investments have been informed and guided by the insight and collaboration generously offered by community leaders,” Mayor Jim Kenney said. “The overdose crisis has wrought incalculable harm on communities across the United States, and the grief and community trauma have compounded for years in Philadelphia as well – especially in Kensington and the surrounding neighborhoods. In the face of this evolving crisis, we are committed to prevention, treatment, and healing and achieving long-term change. We believe this plan can immediately impact lives and produce outcomes that residents can see and feel – in their parks, their schools and their homes.”

Local community groups have already started to provide mobile treatment clinics. They told NBC10 those resources are crucial, especially for those dealing with substance abuse. 

“There’s a lot of them that don’t have transportation or means to get into a place,” Eneida Fuentes, a health worker with Courage Medicine, said. “So providing mobile service is 100 percent great for them.” 

Philadelphia recorded 1,276 unintentional overdose deaths in 2021, the highest annual rate of overdose fatalities in the city’s history, according to the mayor’s office. 

A spokesperson for the mayor cited the impact of the COVID pandemic, restricted access to healthcare and harm reduction services and the changing drug supply as factors in Philadelphia’s overdose deaths.

“The isolation and stress of the pandemic and the growing presence of fentanyl in opioids and other drugs have led to an overall increase in unintentional drug overdose deaths, as well as a very troubling increase in overdoses among Black and Hispanic/Latino/a Philadelphians,” Noelle Foizen, Director of the City of Philadelphia’s Overdose Response Unit, said. “This crisis is growing more complex by the day, and the settlement funds will give our outreach, care, and community services a much-needed opportunity for expansion. We are committed to working across City departments and with community members and partner organizations to put an end to this crisis and heal together from the damage and trauma it’s caused.”

NBC10 spoke with various community organizers about Thursday’s announcement. Many said the investments were long overdue. 

“We need more community. We need more developing. We need jobs. We need revenue back down here,” Patrice Rogers, a community organizer, told NBC10.

Volunteers and organizers also said they want to be involved in the city’s decision making in regards to how the money is best spent. 

“If the doctors in charge aren’t even aware of the need for updated withdrawal protocols when it comes to Xylazine and the changes in our drug market then we’re still at a loss,” Sarah Laurel, the executive director of Savage Sisters, told NBC10. “Fentanyl happened ten years ago.”

Philadelphia also announced in December that a portion of the opioid settlement funds would be distributed through a grantmaking process to community-based groups through the Overdose Prevention and Community Healing Fund. The fund will invest in overdose prevention, substance abuse awareness and harm reduction programs. It will also put money towards addressing community trauma, the stigma associated with substance use and “promote safety and mental well-being for communities and community-based workers in the substance use field.” 

Organizations interested in applying for grants from the fund can submit an application through the Scattergood Foundation here. The applications are due on February 3.