By BOB SHRALUKA
WZBD.com
Project Connect, a countywide organization dedicated to helping people who leave incarceration, recently received a surprise contribution from the City of Decatur.
At its latest meeting, city council decided to turn this year’s opioid settlement funds – $852.97 – over to the Decatur-based Project Connect.
In past years, the funds were given to Crossroads Community, another Adams County organization dedicated to assisting people, this one based in Berne.
As council was discussing the monies, Councilman Matt Dyer supported sending this year’s funds to Project Connect, which, ultimately, was done via a unanimous vote.
Actually, there is no great difference in the two organizations.
Councilwoman Abby Wilder, a member of the Community Crossroads board, said the two non-profits are “very similar.”
They work “hand in hand,” she said. “These are two phenomenal organizations in our community.”
Project Connect has opened offices in the former Rice Hotel, 103 N. Third St. in Decatur.
Rob Parker is executive director of both organizations.
In meeting with the council in May of last year, Parker said Crossroad Community – which is located at 426 Wind Ridge Trail in Berne – is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing a supportive environment for individuals in recovery from addiction.
Project Connect, meanwhile, “bridges the gap between men and women coming out of jail, prison,” Parker explained. “We help people struggling, people leaving jail who are in need of help navigating getting jobs, housing, things like that.”
SETTLED: Opioid settlement funds refer to approximately $50 billion from legal settlements and bankruptcies against major pharmaceutical manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacy chains for their role in the opioid epidemic.
These funds are distributed to states and local governments to combat the crisis over an 18-year period.
Settlement dollars are heavily restricted, and 85% of the money must go directly toward “abatement strategies” that mitigate the effects of the opioid epidemic.
Indiana is to receive more than $1 billion over that time period. Adams County government receives an annual distribution.
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