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Date: 6/6/2023
HOLYOKE — The city is looking to utilize a recently approved sum of $100,000 from Cannabis Impact Fees to address substance abuse prevention programs and took time on May 30 for brief but productive opening discussions on how to best apply the funding.
The roundtable discussion featured Director of Planning and Economic Development Aaron Vega, Tapestry Assistant Director for Urban Drug Use Pedro Alvarez, and Executive Director at Providence Ministries Jennie Adamczyk. The three discussed ongoing programs in the city and how this funding could best be spent in helping those programs.
With support from the Citizens Cannabis Review Committee, the Holyoke City Council and Mayor Joshua Garcia, the Office of Planning and Economic Development team was charged with hosting the community round table. Vega began conversations by saying the hope is to submit a request for proposal within the 10 days following the discussion and the idea was supporting programs already in place.
“Obviously $100,000 is not a lot of money but a significant amount of money. We felt – being myself and members of the CCRC and others – we’d rather put out an informed request for proposal, request for grants,” Vega said.
The Citizens Cannabis Review Committee, along with the Board of Health and OPED staff will review submitted request for proposals and will award funding to the most impactful projects.
Vega added the city wanted to spread the funding over about four different programs and there would mostly be a cap of $20,000 for each program on the receiving end out of the $100,000 available in funding. He did note there was an opportunity for potentially going over the cap for a program if what was presented was worth the extra cash.
“We thought maybe four grants makes the most sense to support four different initiatives in the city, but again, depending on what we get that may fluctuate,” Vega said.
When opened to other members in the discussion, Alvarez on behalf of Tapestry talked about his work out of the organizations Harm Reduction Program. Alvarez noted through his work he deals with those struggling with addiction and is an advocate for those he works with for Narcan education, regular screenings and counseling, and overall connecting people struggling with addiction to the resources available in the community.
“A lot of it is a lot of relationship building with individuals that are actively using drugs or substances and are struggling with addiction. So it’s just navigating some of the stuff that they have going on and empowering them to make safer practices through the education that we provide,” Alvarez said.
Alvarez added he wanted in on the discussion to see what was already going on in Holyoke as he felt while the money was going to impact existing programs, he noted it wasn’t nearly enough to potentially add a new one. He added that recently Mira Vista had to shut down their acute detox services, which is a loss to the community’s support toward substance abuse, and that while this money can’t bring something like this back, this program was a key resource the city had and lost.
Alvarez added he was speaking on behalf of the overall state of the city’s substance abuse initiatives and that there was great work ongoing in the community and throughout Western Massachusetts. He described some of the work done including what he had already explained, as well as the work done by Hope for Holyoke, Providence Ministries, the newly opened OTP methadone clinic on Maple Street, the local Police Department’s drop off center on Race Street, and a few other organizations in Holyoke.
Personally, Alvarez said he and Tapestry would like to see better access to naloxone, or Narcan, around the city.
“We, in the past, we’ve tried to put up some of the naloxboxes throughout the city, but it’s a tough sell. We do have to reach out to the property owner to get permission to kind of put the naloxbox on their property,” Alvarez said. “We want to be able to have Narcan accessible 24 hours a day for individuals so we’ve identified some areas of the city where we would like to put up some naloxboxes but they cost money and it’s a problem of getting them hung up on the property as well.”
Alvarez noted that also with concerns around the city regarding discarded syringes not being properly disposed of, Tapestry has been proactive in the community to try and combat the issue. He noted they have a clean up the second Saturday of every month to make an effort in combating it and that there is a designated hotline people can call to properly discard of syringes.
Alvarez also suggested additional drop off boxes for used syringes and that even though they can not be visually pleasing, their impact is felt in cleaning up this issue.
“I know it’s an eyesore and nobody really wants to see that, but when I thought about this opportunity, maybe there’s a possibility where we can create art projects with that or creating where you get PVC piping and create little statutes or figures and then just having slots in there where people can dispose pf syringes instead of just discarding.”
The drop off boxes would be emptied by Tapestry or other organizations depending on whose project it was. In closing, Alvarez said he would use the week to further brainstorm ideas and priorities that would benefit the city the most if rewarded some of the Cannabis Impact Fee funds available.
“There’s a lot of great work happening in Holyoke, it’s just unfortunate, you know, the situation with everything,” Alvarez said. “It’s unfortunate the times we’re living in and we just try to be proactive and help individuals out, so I appreciate being invited to this conversation and see what we can do from here.”
Adamczyk said things have been great at Providence Ministries and described the work they also have going on. She noted they still offer their three sober living homes for men in recovery and having the opportunity to serve as a homeless shelter in the winter had really opened the doors for the organization to talk to more community members and find out their needs.
“The issue is when you’re talking about homelessness and drug addiction, a lot of them are ready and would go to detox, but they have nowhere to go when they get out of detox, and they don’t have any money so they’d rather stay on the street and use drugs. They’re going to spend all this time getting clean and then they’re just going to end back up on the street” Adamczyk said.
With that being said, Adamczyk feels that Providence Ministries has a great opportunity in the fact that they have rooms people can use to get back on their feet.
“I would love to be able to take homeless people that have gone through detox, and you know, it would be wonderful to be able to use some of that money to provide a room for them to pay that housing fee, while we’re working with them, to get a job and to get things they need until they can start paying on their own. A lot of people just need a little bit of a hand,” Adamczyk said.
Adamczyk added Providence Ministries currently has four couples rooming with them who were homeless and drug addicted, and that they are not receiving any money for letting them stay. While housing is their biggest resource for revenue, Adamczyk believes if it leads to these couples overcoming their situation and getting back on their feet it was all worth it.
“It’s worth it to me if these people can start feeling valuable and dignified and right now we’ve got three out of the four couples working and one of them is going through our food works culinary program right now and another one just got a job at Crave,” Adamczyk said.
Adamczyk made note that it was not a roof over their heads to allow them to continue using, but instead to help them get back on their feet. She also added that while housing access is important, if it wasn’t in a clean environment, it creates another obstacle in overcoming addiction.
“I think being able to provide some funding to house people on a temporary basis — even if it’s little grants, or we’ll provide three months of housing for a person out of detox to keep them clean and help them get a job, I think that is where a huge gap is for people,” Adamczyk said. “I think there’s a lot of people who want to stop doing drugs, but it’s that middle step that’s hard.”
Vega was appreciative for both Alvarez and Adamczyk’s thoughts and brainstorming during the conversation. He added he believed projects for their programs centered on more naloxboxes and potential creative work done on them was something the city should support and that he thought the proposed idea on temporary housing for people fresh out of detox was interesting.
Other ideas such a hygiene kits and similar partnerships like the YMCA’s with the city in the past where they allowed for homeless single women with no kids to shower on location were also floated out during the discussion. Vega noted he would be reaching out to other organizations for feedback and to see if they would potentially be involved in trying to secure a part of this funding for similar projects.
“This is the first bite of the apple. After the fiscal year we’ll probably put another request in for additional funds from impact fee money once we figure some other stuff out so hopefully this is the first pass to kind of figure it out,” Vega said.
A release from the mayor’s office described the city’s intentions and thought process in finding out the best way to utilize the funds.
“While the legal cannabis industry is in no way responsible for the substance abuse crisis, the city wants to promote safety and education surrounding the use of any substance. Cannabis is now more accessible and readily available, assisting those who struggle with addiction is top priority. The public deserves quality and accessible substance abuse education for the betterment and safety of our community,” it said. “With the lack of updated drug education programs and afterschool programs for youth, it is important to educate the public on the risks of any drug, alcohol or tobacco use.”
The release also notes that since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, the rates of underage drug and alcohol abuse has skyrocketed due to being outside the classroom for almost two full years and lack of mental health and substance abuse support.
“The community of Holyoke, like many other communities, faces unmet challenges of homelessness, mental health issues and substance abuse issues. This funding will help support the work of many community agencies engaged in supporting and helping individuals facing these crises,” the release said.
Organizations potentially interested in presenting a program for funding can reach out to the Office of Planning and Economic Development.