Overdose Prevention & Community Healing Fund Awards $3.1 Million in Grants from National Opioid Settlement Funds

City Officials congratulate local nonprofits & community members who help to select the grantees working to reduce & prevent overdoses in their neighborhoods

PHILADELPHIA — Today, the City of Philadelphia announced that it has awarded $3.1 million to 43 nonprofit organizations through the Overdose Prevention and Community Healing Fund (“Prevention Fund”) at Mercy Neighborhood Ministries during an awards ceremony. The Prevention Fund, a grantmaking program managed by the Scattergood Foundation, invests funds from the national opioid settlements to repair the harms inflicted on communities across Philadelphia as a result of the opioid epidemic and overdose crisis.

The fund was launched in December 2022; the first round of grants ($1.9 million) was awarded in June 2023. The second round was announced today. The grant selection process involved three Community Granting Groups made of Philadelphia residents who reviewed and selected applications from eligible organizations serving impacted areas in Kensington, North Philadelphia, and Citywide.

“The funds from the national opioid settlement cases coming to Philadelphia must be put to work in the most strategic way since every single penny should be used to address the effects of thousands of lives that have been lost or damaged because innocent people became addicted to opioids handed out in such a reckless way,” said Adam Geer, Chief Public Safety Director. “The grants distributed today through the second round of the Overdose Prevention Fund and Community Healing Fund do exactly that at a very grassroots level and we’re excited to learn how their work is impacting our communities.”

A total of 14 Organizational Support Grants ($20,000) and 29 Program Grants ($100,000) were awarded to local, nonprofits that engage communities through programs focused on overdose prevention, community and family healing, and substance use prevention.

“This timely funding partnership with the Prevention Fund will allow the North Philly Project to support the continuation of our harm reduction work with those that have fallen through the gaps of recovery, wellness, and community healing,” said Aaron Wells, Executive Director of the North Philly Project, a program grantee receiving $100,000 this round. “The funding will provide resources that will help to add peer support, healing arts, information blitz, and desperately needed trauma-informed grief counseling and therapeutic supports for families that have lost loved ones due to overdose and substance use.”

The Scattergood Foundation will provide ongoing technical assistance for grantees related to grant award management and monitoring. Recipients of Organizational Support Grants will receive their awards in full upon signing the grant agreement, while Program Grant recipients will receive quarterly installments.

“We are proud to partner with the City to develop this community-driven grantmaking process. We have a commitment to approach our work with humility and strive to share power with those most impacted to advance equity for all,” said Joe Pyle, President of the Scattergood Foundation. “This fund aligns with that commitment by building a platform for change from the ground up – providing small organizations access to crucial resources and the opportunity to collaborate with each other to support impacted communities.”

Two Categories of Awardees

Organizational Support Grants ($20,000) support organizations that are working to advance overdose prevention, community and family healing, and substance use prevention. Funding can be used to support a wide range of operating and program costs.

Kensington

• Angels in Motion
• Klean Kensington
• Operation Save Our City
• St. Mark’s Church, Frankford
• Socks for the Streets

North Philadelphia

• Northwest Community Court Program
• Team, Inc.
• UR the Key

Citywide

• The Everywhere Project
• Mad Beatz Philly
• Show Me the Way Foundation
• Connectedly
• Philadelphia Community Land Trust
• Women in Dialogue

Program Grants ($100,000) support specific programs and projects that directly advance overdose prevention, community and family healing, and substance use prevention. Funding can be used to support staff time and specific program-related costs.

Kensington

• Safe-Hub Philadelphia for Safe-Hub Collective Impact Expansion & Evaluation
• Faith, Health and Healing for By Faith, Health and Healing Community Programs
• Courage Medicine Health Center Inc. for Courage 2 Heal
• Fab Youth Philly for Play Captains Initiative
• Hope, Inc for HOPE
• Mother Mercy House for Mother of Mercy Kensington Resilience Program
• Philly Bridge & Jawn for Philly Bridge & Jawn
• The Lighthouse for Recreation Over Violence and Substance Abuse Program

North Philadelphia

• Black Muslim Men United: Black Muslim Men United for A Better Philadelphia
• Homeless Advocacy Project: HAP Legal Clinic at the Mike Hinson Resource Center
• Mercy Neighborhood Ministries: A Path to Prosperity.
• The National African American Male Wellness Agency: It’s Our Problem, Too.
• North Philly Project: North Philly Project’s Social Justice Initiative.
• NewView Institute: Healing Hearts: PSA – Preventing Substance Abuse
• Hunting Park Green: Hunting Park Powerful.
• Musicopia: Futures and Healing through Music and Dance.
• Ordinarie Heroes: Prevention and Healing through Mentorship, Photography, and Gardening.
• RAH Civic Association: Life Saving Information Everyone Needs to Know.
• The Reawakening Agency: Re-Entry Initiation Phases 1-3.
• The Educational Advocates Reaching Today’s Hardworking Students, Inc. (EARTHS): PARENT POWER (What Will You Do With Yours?)
• Young Lady Butterflies (fiscally sponsored by Care Nest Homes): Overdose Prevention and Community Healing

Citywide

• Broad Street Love for Behavioral Health Initiative 2024.
• CADEKids for CADEkids Out of School Prevention.
• Face to Face for Hospitality. Mutuality. Transformation.
• Interim House for IHI’s Citywide Initiative for Overdose Prevention and Community Healing.
• Philly House for HOPE LIVES HERE!
• South Philly Punks with Lunch for Harm Reduction Outreach.
• Unity Recovery for Bringing Peer Re-entry Support and Overdose Prevention Services to Scale in Philadelphia.
• Uplift Center for Grieving Children for Grief groups and community outreach and partnership development.

About the Overdose Prevention and Community Healing Fund 
The Overdose Prevention and Community Healing Fund uses national opioid settlement dollars to repair the harms inflicted on communities across Philadelphia as a result of the opioid epidemic and overdose crisis.

The Fund draws on lived experience and community participation to direct resources to organizations doing work in the following three areas: overdose prevention, community and family healing, and/or substance use prevention.

The Prevention Fund employs a place-based grantmaking approach, focusing on neighborhoods that the overdose crisis has disproportionately impacted.

• Kensington (defined as 19124, 19133 and 19134).
• North Philadelphia (defined as 19132 and 19140).
• Citywide (defined as all other Philadelphia County ZIP codes).

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