Washington will receive $23 million to combat the fentanyl crisis and improve mental health

Various Washington communities will receive parts of a $23 million grant from the Department of Health & Human Services (DHHS) as announced by U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell on Friday.

Fentanyl overdoses kill more Washingtonians than firearms or car accidents. Recent data released by the Center for Disease Control shows that Washington had the highest drug use increase among U.S. states between 2022 and 2023. This was an increase of 25.39%.

A total of 13 grants were awarded to various Washington state entities. The money went to support programs in the State of Washington in the form of 12 separate grants. The final grant was awarded to Washington State University for an international public health program.

According to the DHHS, the money will provide more resources to help combat the surging rates of drug overdoses while improving mental health treatment options. These resources include new ways to monitor overdose data, improve health disparities between communities, and increase harm reduction services.

Sen. Cantwell has been hosting roundtable discussions about the fentanyl crisis across Washington. On Wednesday, Cantwell spoke in Tulalip at the National Tribal Opioid Summit. Throughout August, Cantwell has hosted roundtables in Walla Walla, Port Angeles and Vancouver, 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 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.”

Both the Seattle Indian Health Board and Yakama Nation are also receiving grants from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration to support mental health in their communities.

All grants are listed below:

GRANTS TO SUPPORT GOVERNMENT / NON-PROFIT AGENCIES

King County - $3,075,000

Addressing the Overdose Crisis in King County 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