PROVIDENCE – A nearly $900,000 federal grant is funding a new program aimed at the drug overdose crisis in the Ocean State.
The Imani Breakthrough Recovery Project, launched by the Recovery Workgroup of Gov. Daniel J. McKee’s Overdose Prevention and Intervention Task Force, has received an $877,568 grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Facing the Holidays with a Cancer Diagnosis
The holidays are often painted as a time of joy, tradition, and togetherness. But for…
Learn More
The intervention effort aims to equip community organizations and houses of worship with resources on how to engage with and offer help to people who are at risk of overdosing.
Communities of color, along with other underserved groups, are at the core of the effort.
“During the pandemic, communities of color were significantly impacted, and people need to know that help is available, and it is available in a familiar and safe setting,” said Executive Office of Health and Human Services Secretary Womazetta Jones. “This program provides a new avenue to reach people who need services that will help them turn their lives around.”
The Imani project was first launched in Connecticut with the help of two Yale University School of Medicine professors.
Linda Mahoney, who serves as Rhode Island’s state opioid treatment authority and as an administrator for the R.I. Department of Behavioral Healthcare, Developmental Disabilities & Hospitals, learned of the effort and introduced it to Rhode Island health leaders.
Overdose deaths are continuing to increase in the state, health officials say, with accidental deaths involving the synthetic opioid fentanyl more than tripling since 2014.
Elizabeth Graham is a PBN contributing writer.
$877 thousand dollars from DHS is certainly needed.
While this is being funded, the federal government and RI
are in the process of legalizing recreational marijuana???
Make sense?
Jane Casey, Professional Security Services, Inc.