The Washburn County Board of Supervisors says applications for the 2025 Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse/Use mini-grants are now being accepted.

The County has offered funding for healthy substance-free opportunities since 1987. According to a press release, the Washburn County Community Alliance for Prevention received $10,000 for those efforts this year. Healthy WashCo will review the applications and distribute the funding to community organizations that seek to promote family strength and stability to develop healthy communities.

Applicants must submit their bids for the grant funding by March 17. Each organization can request a maximum of $1,000 of the funding for their programs. The County will announce the winners of the funding awards in early April. Previous projects received funding for programs that provide activities for local residents, educational materials, prevention training, and printed material like posters and shirts.

Local organizations can find the application materials on the Healthy WashCo website.

Addressing alcohol and drug abuse issues has become a troublesome issue across Wisconsin. Municipalities across the state are struggling with increased opioid use and binge drinking. Many turned to harm reduction efforts like public health vending machines to successfully reduce the rates of overdose deaths.

Settlement awards from national litigation against drug manufacturers provided much of the funding for those efforts. As a result, the state decreased its opioid overdose death rate in 2024 to the lowest level since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Additionally, health officials expect Wisconsin will receive a total of over $780 million of the settlement funding through 2038. So far, the state has only received around $123 million.

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