HOLLIDAYSBURG — Blair County is advertising for the submission of written proposals on how to spend the county’s allocation of funds from the National Opioid Settlement dollars.

After taking action in December to designate more than a half million dollars in opioid settlement funds to three organizations, as recommended by an advisory committee named last year, commissioners voted this month to advertise for proposals that are to be submitted to Tricia Johnson, director of the county’s social services department who chairs the advisory committee.

The application for proposals is available on the county’s website at www.blairco.org, with submissions due by 4 p.m. March 20.

Based on Tuesday’s advertisement and website posting, applications can be submitted by: private individuals or organizations, public or governmental agencies, community-based organizations, nonprofits, tribes/tribal organizations and schools and school districts interested in providing products or services that comply with rules as reviewed by the Opioid Settlement Trust Fund.

Applicants will need to describe their proposed use of the money, population served, whether the proposal addresses a one-time use or an ongoing project, the timeframe for spending and how outcomes will be measured.

When commissioners voted in December to assign $537,560 to three organizations, they did so with no discussion and referenced an acceptance of the advisory committee’s recommendations. However, Commissioner Laura Burke abstained from voting to assign $524,560 to Blair Health Choices of Hollidaysburg because she’s the county’s representative on that organization’s board and Commissioner Amy Webster abstained from assigning $8,000 to Blair County Drug & Alcohol, where she’s the county’s representative on that board.

Commissioner Dave Kessling, meanwhile, offered no abstentions and voted to make those allocations and to allocate $5,000 in settlement funds as reimbursement to the county’s social services department for 2024 expenses associated with a Student Assistance Program networking day for about 100 people.

As appointed in August by the commissioners, the Opioid Settlement Advisory Committee members are: Johnson, Joe Cox, chief juvenile probation officer; Drew Yingling, chair of the Altoona Area School District counseling department; Amy Marten-Shanafelt, executive director of Blair Health Choices; Coleen Heim, former director of Healthy Blair County Coalition; and Judy Rosser, director of Blair County Drug & Alcohol Partnerships.

Pennsylvania counties were notified in 2022 about forthcoming periodic payments from the National Opioid Settlement, subject to review by a state trust, that would continue for almost two decades.

Mirror Staff Writer Kay Stephens is at 814-946-7456.