Community stakeholders most impacted by the opioid crisis decided which local groups would receive grants to decrease harm [Philadelphia Inquirer]

Participatory grantmaking was used to identify round one grantees. It is one of Philadelphia’s most significant forays into participatory grantmaking to date.

The Overdose Prevention and Community Healing Fund announced its first round of grantees who will share almost $2 million to fight the city’s opioid epidemic, which is responsible for about three deaths a day.

But instead of the Kenney administration, stakeholders were the deciders, selecting the 27 winning groups making this one of the city’s largest ever participatory grantmaking initiatives. Participatory grantmaking is a process that puts decision-making power in the hands of those impacted by the problem.

Two community groups were created with the responsibility to review and select the grants. Members had to live in Philadelphia, have a clear connection to the impacted communities, and be a subject matter expert.

“We’ve given agency to the community,” said Joe Pyle, president of the Scattergood Foundation. The foundation, a longtime advocate for participatory grantmaking, manages the Overdose Prevention and Community Healing Fund.

“It was awesome to have more community input. Everyone’s opinion was heard,” said Jennifer Somerville, director of development for Timoteo, a youth development sports program, and one of the participants in the three-month-long grantmaking process. Somerville, who was raised in Kensington, said she witnessed how the opioid epidemic devastated her community.

To read the full story by Lynette Hazelton, click here.