ONEOHIO RECOVERY FOUNDATION AWARDS $1.97 MILLION FOR 14 LOCAL PROJECTS TO ADVANCE PREVENTION, TREATMENT AND RECOVERY IN REGION 9
COLUMBUS, OH – Fourteen projects focused on saving lives, preventing substance use disorder, expanding access to treatment, supporting recovery, and strengthening community resilience in Adams, Brown, Fayette, Highland, Pickaway, Pike, Ross and Scioto counties have been awarded a combined $1.97 million through the OneOhio Recovery Foundation's Regional Grant Cycle 2. The 14 awards support locally driven, evidence-informed work that responds to the local impacts of substance use disorder and co-occurring mental health conditions, putting opioid settlement dollars to work where they can make a meaningful difference.
Ohio's opioid settlement dollars are most powerful when they reach the organizations and communities closest to the work of prevention, treatment and recovery, said Alisha Nelson, Executive Director of the OneOhio Recovery Foundation.
“These grants will help local organizations expand the prevention, treatment and recovery services that people and families rely on,” Nelson said. “We are proud to support work that will reach more residents, strengthen communities, and help more Ohioans build healthier futures.”
“Local communities understand their needs better than anyone, and that is what makes these awards so important. The projects being funded were identified by local partners across the eight-county region. These are the people working in our communities every day, responding to the challenges they see firsthand, often with limited funding and resources in our rural areas. These investments will strengthen support for children and families, improve crisis and reentry services, and help connect people to the treatment, housing, and recovery resources they need,” said Tonya Sturgill, OneOhio Region 9 Board Chair.
In total, Regional Grant Cycle 2 makes up to $45.7 million available across the state. Project funding directly serves people with substance use disorder, including those with co-occurring mental health conditions, as well as family members affected by substance use disorder, according to purposes approved by the OneOhio Memorandum of Understanding.
Region 9 Grant Awards
Adams County Children Services: $239,180 for Family Search & Engagement Specialist, with a focus on Ohio Start & Congregate Care Youth Impacted by Opiates Disrupting the Family System, which strengthens family search, engagement, and kinship placement efforts for children and youth affected by parental substance use disorder through a dedicated specialist, Ohio START coordination, and youth-centered permanency roundtables.
Area Agency on Aging District 7, Inc.: $63,800 for Pathways for Kinship Kids, which helps grandparents and other kinship caregivers raising children affected by parental substance use disorder cover school supplies, academic fees, and extracurricular activities, promoting educational stability, social connections, and youth resilience.
Ascend Innovations, Inc.: $76,500 for The Adams, Lawrence, Scioto ADAMHS Board Digital Crisis Infrastructure Enhancement Project, which adds behavioral health hospital crisis notifications and shared data tools to improve crisis response, outpatient treatment engagement, care coordination, and service planning.
Coleman Professional Services, Inc.: $250,000 for Fostering SUD Recovery with Crisis Stabilization and Treatment in Paint Valley, which supports a new 24/7 crisis stabilization unit in Chillicothe, including walk-in services and a 23-hour crisis receiving unit that makes emergency behavioral health evaluations more accessible.
Community Action Commission of Fayette County: $203,266 for Peer Support Services for Jail Re-Entry, which will expand peer-led support for people leaving jail, strengthen continuity of care after release, and address barriers involving housing, employment, identification, and behavioral health services.
Highland County Board of Developmental Disabilities (HCBDD): $464,256 for Hopeful Horizons Multi-System Youth Home, which will provide integrated respite, therapeutic supports, and temporary emergency placement for multi-system youth in crisis while helping caregivers reduce stress and preserve family stability.
Ohio Recovery Housing: $56,750 for Pathways in Practice: Turning Recovery Housing into Recovery Action, which will equip recovery housing operators with practical, easy-to-use tools for individualized recovery planning, accountability, and long-term recovery.
On Our Way Home, Inc.: $180,000 for Region 9 Recovery Access & PRO Infrastructure Initiative, which supports Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation (CARF) accreditation, workforce development, and recovery-centered transportation to improve continuity of care, reduce relapse risk, and strengthen long-term recovery in Adams, Brown, and Highland counties.
Paint Valley Alcohol, Drug Addiction and Mental Health Services Board: $63,466 for Youth Mental Health Treatment Access in the Juvenile Detention Center, which provides mental health treatment for youth held at the Ross County Juvenile Detention Center to strengthen coping skills, improve impulse control, and reduce the risk of future incarceration.
Paper City Mentoring Project, Inc.: $128,500 for Reducing Risk Through Relationships: Expanding Mentoring as a Proven Prevention Strategy for Ross County Teens, which will expand one-to-one community mentoring for at-risk high school students, helping them build confidence, strengthen connections, and develop healthy strategies that reduce substance use risk.
Pike County Juvenile Court: $75,000 for Girls Empowerment Group: Court-Directed Support for Justice-Involved Youth, which will expand trauma-informed group services and supervised experiential learning for justice-involved girls on probation or community control to improve behavior and support long-term stability.
Scioto County Counseling Center, Inc.: $86,261 for Regional Drop-In Center, which will support the operations of a weekday drop-in center providing basic services, connections to community providers, and referrals to treatment and support for people experiencing homelessness.
Talbert House: $38,600 for Jail-Based Treatment Access, which will add a full-time staff member to provide treatment in a jail setting, expand access to medications for opioid use disorder, and support successful reentry.
Tristate Family Connections, Inc.: $40,800 for Sleep Safe, which will provide safe beds and essential household items to families participating in Family Drug Court and Felony Drug Court, helping meet child-welfare requirements and remove barriers to reunification.
Together, these awards will strengthen youth prevention and family support, expand recovery-oriented housing and treatment services, improve crisis response and care navigation, and reduce barriers for justice-involved residents and others affected by substance use disorder.
All grant awards were approved by the OneOhio Board of Directors following a robust, multi-step process designed to ensure local input, integrity, accountability, and alignment with OneOhio's approved purposes. The Foundation is working with approved organizations to complete the grant agreement process and move funding into communities across Ohio. Grants are contingent on a fully executed grant agreement.
For Regional Grant Cycle 2, applicants first submitted Funding Inquiries through the OneOhio Grant Portal. Eligible inquiries were reviewed by Regional Grant Review Committees, and selected applicants were invited to submit Technical Applications. Where applicable, submissions were reviewed by the OneOhio Expert Panel to ensure alignment with evidence and the OneOhio MOU. Successful applications were then reviewed by Foundation staff and the Grant Oversight Committee, with final funding decisions made by the Board of Directors.
Regional Grant Cycle 2 builds on the Foundation's inaugural grant cycle, which awarded more than $45 million to 245 projects statewide. That first round supported a broad mix of strategies, including youth prevention initiatives, school-based mental health supports, recovery housing, treatment expansion, post-overdose outreach, peer support, supports for children and families affected by substance use disorder, and workforce development for the behavioral health field.
Grant recipients must submit biannual programmatic and financial reports, and the Foundation may request supplemental information or conduct site visits or virtual meetings as needed. These requirements reflect the Foundation's commitment to ensuring that every dollar is used responsibly and produces measurable and lasting impact.
A complete list of approved grant recipients can be found at OneOhioFoundation.com/GrantAwards. Additional awards may be announced as projects complete the review and approval process. Organizations interested in future funding opportunities should visit OneOhioFoundation.com/Grants and sign up for updates from the Foundation.
