The background
At Highland Village City Council’s Dec. 12 meeting, council approved a grant agreement with the nonprofit organization Winning the Fight for drug education programming related to the use of opioids, a Dec. 13 city news release states.
The city joined as a claimant in three opioid lawsuits, the release states, and the lawsuits settled, providing funding to states, according to the allocation agreement reached among the attorneys general of states who filed the original lawsuits. More information on the lawsuits can be found here.
The details
The funding must be used to support any of a large number of strategies to fight the opioid crisis. The city has been allocated $50,315 through one settlement, but it is still unknown what the allocation will be for the other two lawsuits, the release states.
So far, the city has received $15,794. Winning the Fight will provide programs and education for the Lewisville ISD schools in Highland Village as well as Marcus High School. The programs and training comply with the attorney general's list of uses for these funds. Some of the programs include:
- Training on using naloxone, a medicine that rapidly reverses an opioid overdose
- Drug education at Briarhill Middle School
- Financial assistance for the Revitalization Retreat for parents who have lost a child or are experiencing post traumatic stress because of a loved one’s substance abuse
- Hiring a part-time program assistant to focus on Highland Village programs
“When we became aware of the opioid settlement funds, we knew as a city we were not equipped to do a lot of the qualifying educational programs, and a nonprofit like Winning The Fight is a perfect fit,” City Manager Paul Stevens said in email. “Kathey O’Keefe with [Winning The Fight] plans to focus on Highland Village schools for these programs. The educational programming she and her team are creating is an excellent way to use these funds and will greatly benefit the Highland Village community.”
