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Funding Announcement: Barnstable County Receives $550,000 for Opioid Prevention Award

We are pleased to announce that the Barnstable County Department of Human Services on behalf of the Barnstable County Regional Substance Abuse Council was awarded a five-year $550,000 grant from the Massachusetts Department of Health Bureau of Substance Abuse Services to support an Opioid Abuse Prevention Collaborative.

Barnstable County’s Substance Abuse Council (SAC) was established in January 2014 by the County to coordinate a regional public health approach to substance abuse across the continuum of prevention, criminal justice, treatment and recovery. The purpose of SAC is to establish a communication infrastructure across municipalities; identify needs and addresses gaps and disparities in the service system using SAMHSA’s Strategic Prevention Framework (SPF) model; maximize interagency and inter-municipality collaboration; and maximize funding and resource opportunities to address the problem of substance abuse in our region.

The grant award will support a Barnstable County Opioid Abuse Collaborative (OAC) and will be structured as a working committee of the SAC with a specific emphasis on planning and implementing opioid prevention strategies. The funding will allow the region to build upon existing collaborations among members of the SAC and enhance, expand, and formalize collaborations between participating municipalities.