$1.3M grant to help R.I. workforce affected by opioid crisis

PROVIDENCE – The R.I. Department of Labor and Training will receive $1.3 million in federal funding to help create jobs for people who lost employment due to struggles with substance use.

The funding from the U.S. Department of Labor will also help train people for jobs in addiction and mental health treatment and in pain management.

The money comes from the Opioid Disaster Recovery Dislocated Worker Grants, which creates temporary jobs and provides services to workers affected by the opioid crisis.

Announced on Nov. 1, the grant will be administered by the DLT’s employment and training administration. It is the third allocation of a $3.9 million National Health Emergency Dislocated Worker Grant that was announced in April 2019, when $1.3 million was released. A second installment of $1.3 million was released in September 2020.

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State officials have said they expect the grant to create jobs and provide training for about 670 people across the state.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor new release announcing the grant, overdose deaths in Rhode Island have more than doubled in the past decade, with 153 fatal overdoses reported in 2010 and 384 deaths in 2020. Illicit drugs caused 36 overdose deaths in 2010, a number that jumped to 275 in 2020.

Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.