GREENFIELD — A year after its first meeting, the Opioid Use and Prevention Commission is making progress toward establishing grant opportunities for organizations and individuals looking to implement addiction prevention and treatment programs in the city.
City Council established the commission in May 2025 and it held its first meeting a few months later. The commission was tasked with determining the best ways to spend the city’s $1.7 million in opioid settlement funds, and informing the city on issues related to opioid use, overdose and addiction prevention.
On Monday, the commission amended the proposed program overview and funding framework that outlines five different programs the commission will fund and implement: a burial assistance fund that helps people who lost a loved one to an overdose; organizational grants of $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000; individual microgrants of up to $2,500; individual recovery support; and an urgent needs program.
The draft framework explains that organizational grants can be used to support addiction prevention, treatment, harm reduction, recovery support, justice system diversion and reentry support, and data/program evaluation. The microgrants are designed to support small community projects addressing recovery, prevention, harm reduction or education.
The urgent needs program would be administered by an outside agency that would be contracted via a request for proposals process. Opioid Use and Prevention Commission members explained that, as they only meet monthly, they would work with another agency that has the staff hours to review applications as they come through. The draft framework states the program is “intended to provide timely, trauma-informed, person-centered assistance that supports recovery, harm reduction, stability, connection to care and other approved opioid-abatement purposes for eligible individuals connected to Greenfield.”
For individuals who do not need urgent assistance, the individual recovery support program could be used to help fund “recovery coaching, peer-support services, recovery groups, wellness circles, recovery education, meeting supplies, transportation connected to planned recovery programming, recovery meetings, treatment engagement, employment-readiness activities, certification fees, work-readiness supplies, recovery housing support when planned and not an immediate emergency, wellness activities connected to recovery goals, technology or communication support needed for recovery meetings or telehealth, childcare tied to recovery programming participation, family-support activities related to recovery, outreach or stigma-reduction materials, and one season of camp tuition or related camp expenses for a child affected by a parent’s or caregiver’s substance use.”
Commission members questioned Monday whether the application for organizational grants was too restrictive. For Tier 1 ($5,000) grants, applicants must provide documentation of their budget, a letter of support and a nondiscrimination policy, but Tier 2 ($10,000) requires additional organizational financials, lists of board members and resumes. Tier 3 ($25,000) requires audited financials and three letters of support.
“It feels like a lot, even for me,” said commission member Abbi Godfrey, who also works for The RECOVER Project in Greenfield. “I can’t remember the last time I was asked for my resume for a grant application.”
Member Pedro Alvarez said that for smaller organizations that are just getting started, some of the required documentation may be difficult to acquire, and easing up on the application process could help get new programs started.
“For grassroots organizations, it’s gonna be pretty intimidating,” Alvarez said. “It could be an up-and-coming org, not really established yet. They’re looking to secure some funds to really get them over that hump where they can really become a really good nonprofit in the community, but again, answering some of these questions can be daunting.”
After discussion, the commission agreed to ask the city attorney for feedback on the minimum requirements for grant applications.
Commission members added that further work needs to be done on the rubric to give further clarification and strict criteria on how to grade applications.
Funding the programs
The draft framework explains that the city has received $649,903 in opioid abatement funds as of the end of fiscal year 2026, and is expected to receive a total of $1.7 million through 2038. The commission is planning to spend $2 million through 2038, supported by the settlement funds and interest revenue.
Since 2021, Massachusetts has been awarded more than $1 billion from nationwide settlements with opioid producers, distributors and pharmacies, including Johnson & Johnson, CVS, Walgreens, Teva and Allergan.
The Greenfield commission plans to spend $55,000 annually on burial assistance, capped at $5,000 per burial; $480,000 will be allocated in organizational grants across six grant cycles ($80,000 per cycle); $10,000 will be budgeted annually for individual microgrants; $10,000 will be used annually for individual recovery support; and $25,000 will be spent yearly on the urgent needs program.
However, Chair Sarah Ahern said changes to the budget may be necessary in the future, as she was recently notified about two new opioid settlements. A payment schedule has not been finalized, but she said Greenfield is set to receive $151,674 from Purdue Pharma and $29,529 from a mix of several distributors.
In May, the state Attorney General’s Office announced that a $7.4 billion settlement was reached with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family. Of that settlement, $105 million would be coming to Massachusetts.
Questions raised on interest transfer
Ahern added that the commission may not be able to rely on interest revenues in the future. She recently became aware that the city had moved $18,985 in interest to the general fund, following guidance issued by the state’s Division of Local Services (DLS) that said settlement funds can be placed into and spent from special revenue funds, but interest on these accounts can be placed into a municipality’s general fund.
“I did raise an inquiry with the financial team to kind of figure out what happened. … The interest was moved to the general fund,” Ahern said. “DLS issued guidance. … There was one sentence that gave municipalities the authority to [transfer] the interest-generated revenue to the general fund.”
A December 2023 bulletin from the Division of Local Services states that municipalities can vote to place settlement funds into a special revenue fund and adds that “any interest belongs to the general fund.”
However, Ahern said she had contacted the Attorney General’s Office, which had met with the Department of Public Health and the Bureau of Substance Addiction Services (BSAS), and agreed that interest on opioid settlement funds should be used for the same purposes as the original funds.
“They were all in agreement that DLS should have never issued that guidance,” Ahern said. “So BSAS is approaching DLS and trying to get them to rescind.”
Ahern said that in speaking with Greenfield Finance Director Stephen Nembirkow, she is confident that the city will abide by any changes Division of Local Services makes to the guidance and, moving forward, accrued interest should stay with the settlement funds.
Opioid Use and Prevention Commission members said that if the allocation schedule and potential new guidelines from the state are released in the next month, they can consider increasing grant opportunities and rework their budget framework at the next meeting, along with work to edit and potentially vote to approve the grant application guidelines and grading rubric.
