Marion County Commission to dole out portion of its roughly $717K in opioid funds
Apr. 30—FAIRMONT — Two Fairmont and one Farmington organization may be the first to receive funds from Marion County's roughly $717,000 allocation from the State of West Virginia's opioid settlement.
County commissioners will decide whether to approve or reject the applications from Compassion Central, Center of Hope and North Marion High School's Talking About the Consumption of Substances. Compassion Central and Center of Hope requested $20,000 each while T.A.C.O.S. requested $10,000.
"These all came in through our outside agency requests as part of the budget process," County Administrator Kris Cinalli said in an email. "Since these three had drug treatment as part of the services they provide, they were eligible for opioid funds. It's important to get this money flowing as quickly as we can to help with addiction service, which is what the funding was provided for."
Compassion Central is a faith-based nonprofit, community recovery organization. The organization is led by George and Cathy Boyle, who are renovating the parsonage attached to the Central Church of the Nazarene on Walnut Avenue to become a recovery house for up to 10 adults.
According to their application, they want to use the funds for the refurbishing project. The money has a specific purpose as well, $12,000 will go to renovating the bathroom and $8,000 will go toward the kitchen.
"We are currently working with the city planning and zoning committee and a local contractor to develop renovation plans that will meet expected standards for housing multiple residents," Executive Director Cathy Boyle said in the application, "but already know that significant work will be required in the bathrooms and kitchen, including additional plumbing, electric and finish work."
Rev. Mark Staples of Mt. Zion Missionary Baptist Church, of Fairmont, applied for $20,000 for renovations to the Church's Center of Hope. The building functions as a community center that houses academic enrichment and after school programs, as well as mentoring for K-12 and college students. The center also offers community karate and will offer Zumba this summer.
Staples' application states that since Sept. 2022, $38,000 has gone into renovating the Center. The application doesn't state specifically what the $20,000 will be used for, but does say that the renovations are guided by a field architectural analysis provided by the Brownfield Office at WVU. The application states that Center of Hope funds are kept separate from general church funds and expenses, with differing accounts at two different financial institutions.
Mt. Zion plans to schedule entities such as Narcotics and Alcoholics Anonymous, counseling services and Celebrate Recovery at the Center once the building is restored. The application also states that Center of Hope is in the process of getting Internal Revenue Service approval as a nonprofit organization.
"These partners in hope can then deliver services at this location for minimal to no expense to participants," Staples wrote in the application. "Additional life-enhancing services will be added as community needs indicate."
Finally, T.A.C.O.S. is part of the North Marion GameChanger Peer Leadership Program, which seeks to have peer leaders set goals to create substance-free spaces for students to attend after prom. The funds would go toward providing startup funds for the substance-free peer leadership program.
GameChanger itself is in its second year at North Marion. Johnna Perris, teacher and group coach, wrote in the application that GameChanger works directly with schools to implement and maintain the Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation's peer leadership programs. Perris wrote that research shows the programs help students make healthier life choices.
"We are in our second year of implementation at NMHS," Perris said. "Over 15 students and growing, have committed to being a peer leader and making healthy choices when it comes to drugs, alcohol and nicotine."
Jonathan Board, incoming executive director of the West Virginia First Foundation, said the foundation cannot influence fund disbursement outside of the memorandum of understanding adopted by the foundation. The memorandum lays out guidelines on how opioid funding should be used. The foundation is responsible for distributing funds from the settlement to cities, towns and counties.
Cinalli said each of the three applications are consistent with guidelines set by the memorandum, which outlines treatment, prevention strategies, awareness, education and engagement methods that are eligible for funds.
"The Commission ultimately decides the amounts and which expenditures to use opioid funds for, but again, these appear to follow the guidelines in the MOU," Cinalli said. "We hope to do/fund many more of these in the near future."
The meeting is set for Wednesday morning at 10 a.m.
Reach Esteban at efernandez@timeswv.com
