The Consolidated Tribal Health Project, a nonprofit health clinic in Redwood Valley that is governed by a consortium of eight federally recognized tribes, received a $68,986 grant to address opioid use in Mendocino County, particularly among Native American communities. 

The grant was awarded through the Tribal Opioid Response program, which is overseen by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, a federal agency that funds efforts to address opioid use and overdoses in Native American communities. SAMHSA is an agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  

The Tribal Opioid Response program was created to expand access to U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved medications for opioid use disorder and to provide harm reduction services, rehabilitation programs and youth-focused prevention efforts to Native Americans.  

According to the California Department of Public Health, Native Americans in Mendocino County have some of the highest rates of opioid-related overdose deaths of any racial group.  

Molly Brown, a psychotherapist with a focus on addiction and clinical social worker at the Consolidated Tribal Health Project, said the clinic also received assistance in obtaining the grant by working with the California Rural Indian Health Board, a nonprofit founded in 1969 to restore and enhance health care for Native American communities. 

The health board helps member tribal clinics secure federal funding, training and other resources, serving as a liaison between California’s tribal health programs and the federal government. 

Brown explained that the Consolidated Tribal Health Project had to meet certain requirements to be eligible for the grant funding. She said the grant directed the health center to use the money for specific tasks and provided a list of about 16 requirements. One of those requests, Brown said, was for the center to install vending machines that would dispense Narcan medication that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and save lives. 

“The list breaks it down into required and optional items, and from there we determine how much of the list we can get done,” Brown added.  

This story originally appeared in The Mendocino Voice.