The Addiction Abatement Funds Working Group held its first meeting Jan. 2 to begin reviewing and recommending proposals to spend the $620,000 the town will receive from the national opioid settlement funds. As of September, Harvard had already received $186,000 of its share since payments began in 2022, and payments for a few of the seven settlements will continue into 2038. The working group will continue to meet for the duration of the settlement fund payments.
Last year, the Board of Health enlisted the help of a Boston-based firm, the Public Consulting Group, to hold three listening sessions and to conduct a survey to determine how residents thought the town’s funds should be spent. At the Jan. 2 meeting, Board of Health Chair Brad Holub presented the survey results and discussed how to move forward.
Holub said the big takeaway from the survey was that over half of respondents indicated the town should take a regional spending approach, and another third answered the regional approach question as “maybe” or “not sure.” As the Press previously reported, Harvard received a disproportionately large share of the settlement compared to other towns in the area, due to a formula that relied on 2012 spending data to determine settlement amounts. Towns with regional school districts were not credited for educational spending, which made up the bulk of spending for towns with their own school districts, bumping up settlement shares in those towns. Bolton, for instance, a town with a population similar to Harvard’s but in a regional school district, will receive only $41,000 in settlement funds. The state’s opioid use and overdose death statistics by town were not considered in the settlement share calculations.
Comments from the 171 respondents included a shared sentiment that the town should reach beyond its boundaries when considering how to spend its settlement. “I know we have received more than our share of these funds,” one respondent said, adding “let’s fund the services that reach our neighboring communities, because we’re all in this together.” Another said, “We’ve got way more money than Harvard likely needs. Pool it to do the most good—people are suffering.”
The state has identified a list of seven strategies that towns can use to spend settlement funds, and the survey asked respondents to prioritize those strategies. Prevention and education was at the top of the list for Harvard respondents, with over 63% identifying it as a “high priority.” Over half of respondents identified connections to care as high priority, and nearly half gave high priority to treatment and recovery. Holub said that in one listening session, a participant talked about the lack of recovery housing in this area.
Partnering strategies
The other four strategies were ranked lower. About 40% of respondents identified pregnancy and parenting support, harm reduction, and opioid use disorder treatment as high priorities. The lowest-ranked strategy was criminal justice-involved support, with only 21% identifying it as a high priority. A full description of each strategy, including examples, is available at mass.gov/doc/massachusetts-abatement-terms.
Holub said he attended a meeting with a half-dozen area towns, including Littleton and Stow, to discuss partnering strategies. He added that the Nashoba Associated Boards of Health, which oversees town health boards in 16 towns including Harvard, is “keen to aid in that partnership.” The state has also contracted with JSI Research and Training Institute’s CARE Massachusetts program, which provides training and technical assistance to towns receiving settlement funds, including help with writing partnering agreements.
One of the first tasks the working group will tackle is developing a rubric to help it evaluate any spending proposals that come before it. Member Bill Barton suggested that other towns may already have such rubrics, and the group should search for those to avoid “reinventing the wheel.”
Holub asked the members if any of them had contacts in groups that Harvard might potentially partner with. Police Officer Tim Schaeffer mentioned that he has contacts at the Department of Children’s and Family Services, which deals with many recovering addicts who have children. Holub said he would also reach out to Harvard’s veterans’ agent, who works for several area towns, and a resident who works at Clear Path for Veterans New England, which is based in Devens.
The group was scheduled to meet again on Jan. 21. The full report on survey results, as well as the report on the discussions that took place during the three listening sessions held last fall, are available on the Addiction Abatement Funds Working Group webpage on the town website.
