The DuPage County Heroin/Opioid Prevention and Education (HOPE) Taskforce has announced the award of grants totaling $100,000 to expand its capabilities in the fight against the opioid crisis in the County.

The grant awardees and a brief description of each project include:

•  DuPage Health Coalition – $50,000. The funds will increase the number of DuPage County emergency department physicians certified to administer medication-assisted treatment (MAT) for opioid use disorders.
• Access Community Health Network – $30,412. The grant will allow the expansion of MAT services at the Access Family Health Center in West Chicago.
• The Edward Foundation – $19,588. The funding will be used to create new peer-support recovery groups in DuPage County.

“Opioids and substance use disorder continue to take too many lives,” said Greg Hart, HOPE Taskforce Co-chair. “Our new grant partners will expand DuPage’s efforts to fight this epidemic through innovative solutions that leverage public, private and non-profit partnerships.”

The proposals serve DuPage County residents and align with the Framework of the HOPE Taskforce: reduce access to drugs; reduce opioid use and misuse; increase overdose response; provide integrated mental health and substance use disorder treatment and recovery; and address substance use prevention and education.

“We welcome the opportunity to deepen the collaboration with these partners as we work to reduce the impact of the opioid epidemic in DuPage County,” said Dr. Lanny Wilson, HOPE Taskforce Co-chair.

The grant funding is made possible by the DuPage County Board, which has agreed to provide $100,000 annually to support the work of the HOPE Taskforce.