This project will add one Match Support Specialist position to the Big Brother Big Sisters of the Tri-State (BBBSTS) staff team to enable the organization to match approximately 80 to 100 new children with adult mentors during the project period. The children added to the program will be removed from the organization’s waiting list and also be identified through outreach to schools in the Tri-State region. Mentors will be recruited using both virtual and in person recruitment tactics.

Grant Awarded: $67,460
Funding Priority: Mental Health

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Tri-State Website

Recovery Point West Virginia (WPWV) will address employment and transportation barriers by establishing a social enterprise initiative, which will provide employment for individuals in the later stages of recovery to work as drivers, providing treatment-related transportation to other individuals in the community who lack access to reliable transportation. RPWV will initiate this project in Huntington, and approximately six months later, in Charleston. The project will have two distinct revenue streams that will run concurrently. One revenue stream is the certification of RPWV as a vendor through the West Virginia Medicaid non-emergency transportation program (NEMT). The second revenue stream is a “fee for service” partnership in Cabell County with Creating Opportunities for Recovery Employment (CORE), Provider Response Organization for Addiction Care and Treatment (PROACT), and the Appalachian Transportation Institute (ATI).

Grant Awarded: $300,000
Funding Priority: Substance Use Disorder

Recovery Point WV Website

This project will develop and implement a medically assisted treatment (MAT) opioid use disorder treatment program in Coal Grove, Lawrence County, Ohio. Program services offered by a multi-disciplinary team will include MAT (using suboxone and naltrexone), behavioral health groups, individual counseling, peer recovery supports, employment services, primary care, psychiatric care, self-help groups, and wrap-around services. The program expects to serve approximately 150 patients, primarily residents of Lawrence County, Ohio, during the grant period.

Grant Awarded: $300,000
Funding Priority: Substance Use Disorder; Mental and Behavioral Health

Shawnee Family Health Center

West Virginia lacks sufficient community-based services and innovative programs to meet the growing needs of foster care youth and young adults who have been affected by physical and emotional abuse, homelessness, and the substance use disorder crisis. Through this project, Stepping Stones presents a promising model that will aid the surging numbers of foster care children in West Virginia. The Tiny Home Village, as part of the comprehensive “Youth Transition Project” will offer a supportive environment to these transitioning youth, ensuring their basic physical and safety needs are met, and providing them room to focus on the more complex tasks of becoming stable, productive, and happy adults.

Grant Awarded: $226,000
Funding Priority: Food Insecurity, Mental and Behavioral Health, Substance Use Disorder

Stepping Stones, Inc. Website

This multi-faceted project will support individuals in Opioid Use Disorder recovery at the recently opened WHWC Medication-Assisted Treatment (MAT) Program. The first component of this project will offer a weekly Meal Kits program for six months of each project year to approximately 40 individuals/families in year one and 60 individuals/families in year two. The second component of this project will focus on stigma reduction by hosting six community stakeholder forums with facilitation support from the Marshall University Center of Excellence for Recovery. For the third project element, WHWC will work with a consultant to develop a comprehensive Peer Support Model to support patients in the MAT program.

Grant Awarded: $231,000
Funding Priority: Food Insecurity, Substance Use Disorder

Williams Health & Wellness Center Website