WA Communities and Tribes Get $23M in Federal Grants to Fight Fentanyl Crisis, Support Mental Health, Conduct Research
King County, Snohomish County, Yakama Tribe, Seattle Indian Health Board all awarded grants
SEATTLE, WA – Communities around the State of Washington are getting more resources to help Washingtonians combat surging drug overdoses, improve mental health treatment, and support other important public health initiatives thanks to $23 million in Department of Health & Human Services (HHS) grants announced today by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA).
"As I travel the state listening to Washingtonians on the front lines of the fentanyl crisis, one thing has been loud and clear -- our communities need more resources to tackle substance abuse and drug overdose,” said Sen. Cantwell. “The grants announced today will support direct action in King and Snohomish Counties to address the overdose crisis, and aim to improve mental health care provided by the Yakama Tribe and the Seattle Indian Health Board. I am heartened to see that Tribes, academic institutions, and state and local governments are all working to solve these issues that have devastated communities and torn families apart.”
The grants to King and Snohomish Counties, as well as a grant to the Washington State Department of Health, are directly aimed at addressing the drug overdose crisis, and create new ways to monitor data on drug overdoses, increase harm reduction services, and improve health disparities in our communities.
Yakama Nation and the Seattle Indian Health Board are both receiving direct grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) to support the mental health of people in their communities.
Sen. Cantwell has been at the forefront of efforts to address the crisis of fentanyl, which kills more Washingtonians than either car accidents or firearms. Data released earlier this year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that the State of Washington experienced the single highest increase among U.S. states in reported drug overdose deaths from between March 2022 and March 2023, an increase of 25.39%.
Wednesday, in Tulalip, Sen. Cantwell spoke about the fentanyl crisis in an address to the National Tribal Opioid Summit. Today, she is in Yakima, conducting her ninth stop on an ongoing listening tour across Washington state to hear from people on the front lines of the fentanyl crisis. In May, Sen. Cantwell hosted a fentanyl crisis roundtable discussion in Pierce County followed by a second roundtable discussion in Snohomish County in June; last month, she convened a roundtable in the Tri-Cities, a roundtable in downtown Seattle and a roundtable in Spokane. This month, Sen. Cantwell has hosted roundtables in Vancouver, WA, Port Angeles, and Walla Walla.
In total, thirteen grants were awarded to Washington state entities. Twelve of these grants, totaling $23,102,580, will support programs in the State of Washington. The other grant is to Washington State University for an international public health program.
Grant amounts and project names are listed below.
GRANTS TO SUPPORT GOVERNMENT / NON-PROFIT AGENCIES
King County - $3,075,000
Addressing the Overdose Crisis in King County, Washington with a Commitment to Health Equity, Partnership, and a Data- to-Action Framework
Yakama Nation - $970,000
Yakama Nation School-based Trauma-Informed Support Services and Mental Health
Snohomish County - $889,476
Snohomish County Overdose Data to Action (OD2A) Community Response
Seattle Indian Health Board - $400,000
Suicide Prevention Infrastructure for Seattle's Urban American Indians & Alaska Natives
Washington State Department of Health - $4,193,955
Washington Overdose Data to Action States
Washington State Health Care Authority - $1,361,811
Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) Center for Mental Health Block Grants
GRANTS TO SUPPORT RESEARCH
Allen Institute - $6,132,469
BRAIN CONNECTS: Center for a Pipeline of High Throughput Integrated Volumetric Electron Microscopy for Whole Mouse Brain Connectomics
Seattle Children's Hospital - $4,259,296
- Enhanced Surveillance to Assess Vaccine-Preventable Enteric and Respiratory Virus Illnesses - $2,749,994
- Mediators and Modifiers of Prenatal Environmental Exposures and Child Neurodevelopment: DNA Methylation, Prenatal Diet, and Cognitive Stimulation (MEND) - $1,509,302
University of Washington - $1,820,573
- Understanding Health Inequities at the Intersection of the HIV and Substance Use Epidemics Across Racial/Ethnic and Other Underserved Populations - $738,902
- Development Of A Behavioral Economic Intervention With Personalized Resource Allocation Feedback to Reduce Young Adult Alcohol Misuse - $670,597
- Engineered Tissue Arrays to Streamline Deimmunized DMD Gene Therapy Vectors - $411,074
GRANTS TO SUPPORT INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC HEALTH
Washington State University - $7,500,000
Advancing Public Health Research in Kenya
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