DeWine Approves $4M Grant for NEOMED

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Gov. Mike DeWine announced Wednesday a $4 million grant for Northeast Ohio Medical University to provide training and technical assistance for communities adopting pre-arrest diversion programs to help those with substance use disorder.

The initiative will support communities that have experienced an increase in violent crime. The program would be administered through a new Substance Use Deflection Center of Excellence within NEOMED’s existing Criminal Justice Coordinating Center of Excellence. The center will also conduct research on enhancing the effectiveness of deflection and diversion programs.

“The technical assistance resulting from this project will be an invaluable resource to Quick Response Teams around the state,” DeWine said. “Ultimately, we hope that by expanding access to resources, more Ohioans will get the help and treatment they need.”

The grant is administered through the Office of Criminal Justice Services and is funded through Ohio’s portion of American Rescue Plan Act funds.

Partners in the initiative include RecoveryOhio, the University of Cincinnati, QRT National/Operation to Save Lives, Ohio QRT Association and Cordata Healthcare Innovations.

Immediately after taking office in 2019, DeWine signed an executive order creating the RecoveryOhio initiative to support aggressive measures to combat the opiate epidemic by investing in the health and well-being of Ohio citizens.

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.