City, county to invest $4 million in smaller substance-abuse service providers

Some of the money from a massive opioid settlement should soon begin flowing to nonprofits that provide services to people with substance use disorders.

The city of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County plan to award $4 million in grants to build capacity in local behavioral health providers, officials said Wednesday.

The initiative marks the first time the two local governments have pooled funds accumulated from the opioid settlement to pay for a joint project.

Each chipped in $2 million to pay for the grant program for behavioral health providers.

“The purpose of this money is really to help the smaller nonprofits to be better positioned to be sustainable,” said Dr. Wayne Lindstrom, Bernalillo County deputy manager for behavioral health.

New Mexico brought lawsuits against opioid manufacturers and retailers and reached settlements in 2022 and 2023 that were expected to bring up to $1 billion to the state to repair damage caused by the opioid crisis.

Albuquerque and Bernalillo County are expected to receive more than $150 million as their portions of the settlements.

The city so far has received about $30 million and county about $24 million, with incremental annual funding expected to continue through 2038, officials estimated Wednesday.

So far, the two governments have spent a portion of the funding.

In April, Albuquerque allocated $4.5 million to three Gateway Center projects — intended to alleviate drug use and homelessness. Bernalillo County has allocated about $1.2 million for a public awareness and education initiative called Keep New Mexico Alive.

The joint request for proposals marks the first substantive appropriation for the county and the first joint initiative with the city of Albuquerque.

The city and county last week issued a joint request for proposals inviting small-and mid-size nonprofits with an annual operating budgets of $2 million or less to submit proposals.

The intent of the initiative is to “grow, train and sustain services here locally to alleviate the impact of the opioid epidemic,” said Ellen Braden, Albuquerque’s deputy director of special projects and innovations. “The City Council and the County Commission were real clear in their legislation that this pot of money is really intended for capacity building.”

Nonprofits have until Aug. 7 to submit their proposals. The process of scoring the proposals and selecting the winners could take up to 90 days, Lindstrom said.

“We would hope that, by the fourth quarter of the calendar (year), this money will be out the door,” Lindstrom said. The money could be used for training staff, building capacity or other uses, he said.

For example, nonprofits that serve Medicaid patients but aren’t set up to receive reimbursements could use the money to pursue the complex process of becoming Medicaid providers, Lindstrom said.

The city has spent substantially more of the settlement money than the county.

In May, Mayor Tim Keller signed legislation that allocated $4.5 million from opioid settlement money to fund three Gateway Center projects intended to alleviate drug use and homelessness in Albuquerque.

The largest allocation, $2.25 million, was designated for a Medical Sobering Center to provide detoxification services for up to 50 people. That facility is expected to open later this summer.

Another $1.4 million was allocated to the First Responder Receiving Area, a facility where police and other first responders can transport individuals in need of drug and mental health services outside regular hours.

Another $950,000 was allocated to Gateway Recovery, a city-owned community of 46 tiny homes where individuals recovering from addiction can reside and receive treatment for a year.