17 Rural Counties and Native Nations Have Received Funding to Strengthen and Increase Access to Overdose Prevention Services 

To Address the Gap in Critical Resources in Rural Wisconsin Counties and Native Nations, Vital Strategies has Funded These Innovative Programs
 
Sept. 11, 2025 (Wisconsin)—In 2024, the U.S. notably saw an almost 27% reduction in overdose deaths, and early data indicates Wisconsin experienced a similar decline in overdose deaths. This is a hopeful sign that efforts to address the crisis are starting to take effect, and underscores the need to continue investment in evidence-based overdose prevention strategies in communities most at risk for overdose. Hopeful improvements are not reaching all communities. However, rates of fatal overdose remain high among Indigenous populations, in Wisconsin and in the US overall, and resources are difficult to access in rural areas of the state.   
 
To address the gap in critical resources to address overdose risk, public health organization Vital Strategies has awarded $1.3 million in targeted grants across the state. The grants have been awarded to local governments and local health departments in rural areas, and to Tribal governments and other Tribally designated entities. The grantees have committed to match the awards through investments from their own local or Tribal opioid settlement funds, which will be allocated towards establishing or expanding evidence-based and health-oriented overdose prevention interventions, such as medications for opioid use disorder and safer use supplies programs.  
 
 “Community-based public health interventions such as increasing access to agonist medications for opioid use disorder and distributing overdose prevention supplies are lifesaving strategies proven to reduce overdose deaths. However, most settlement funds in Wisconsin are not being directed towards expanding these services,” said Giavana Margo, Program Manager with Vital Strategies’ Overdose Prevention Program. “This match will allow rural Wisconsin counties and Native Nations to maximize settlement dollars and put resources in the hands of communities who need them most. This influx of funds will increase the capacity to maximize overdose prevention strategies in underserved areas of the state.”  
 
Through an application process, 17 grantees were selected to receive up to $100,000 each in funding to implement community-based solutions to overdose, including culture-based Indigenous harm reduction initiatives. Grant funding will support work from August 2025, to September 2026. The grants will be administered by the Wisconsin Association of Local Health Departments and Boards (WALHDAB). 
 
Grantees will utilize funding to increase resources in underserved parts of the state, enabling rural counties and Native nations to direct settlement funds towards evidence-based overdose prevention efforts that can be sustained beyond the life of the project.  
 
This initiative aims to drive investment in evidence-based strategies such as expanding access to medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) in jails, launching stigma-reduction and harm reduction campaigns, and increasing the distribution of harm reduction supplies through community outreach, the establishment of syringe services programs (SSPs), and vending machines. It will also provide supportive services for families at risk of child removal due to substance use and promote culturally-based harm reduction programming in Indigenous communities. 
 
Black and Indigenous communities in Wisconsin are disproportionately impacted by the overdose crisis, experiencing the highest rates of fatal overdose when compared with other racial groups in the state, despite the fact that all groups use drugs at similar rates. Moreover, some of Wisconsin’s rural counties face the highest overdose death rates in the state. 
 
 “Native people have been disproportionately impacted by the overdose crisis, and many Native communities have responded to this crisis by implementing programs and services that draw on the strength of our cultures to provide healing for our communities. However, funding for overdose prevention and harm reduction work in Native communities, particularly for culture-based interventions, is limited and often unavailable,” said Skye Hart, Technical Advisor with Vital Strategies’ Overdose Prevention Program.
 
“Through this low-barrier opportunity, we will be able to bolster funding not only for harm reduction work more generally, but also for lifesaving interventions rooted in Indigenous cultures.”  
 
Grants have been awarded to the following local governments, local health departments, Tribal governments, and other Tribally designated entities: 
 
Dunn County will expand the county’s Overdose Fatality Review Team to include those with lived and living experience of drug use,  install a 24/7 dispensing machine for health and overdose prevention supplies, increase peer support navigation services (including in the First Episode Psychosis Program), and offer same-day intake at Arbor Place for people seeking evidence-based treatment. 
 
Eau Claire County will support the development of a Community Outreach Team to provide low-barrier, person-centered care and connect individuals at risk of overdose to harm reduction services, along with establishing a Community Stabilization Fund to offer flexible, short-term financial support. 
 
Iron County  will increase community engagement and establish an advisory committee inclusive of people with living experience, launch a stigma reduction and harm reduction campaign, increase access to naloxone, fentanyl test strips, xylazine test strips, wound care kits and hygiene supplies and provide safer use and harm reduction education as well as harm reduction counseling in the community, and work towards improving treatment access in the county. 
 
Juneau County will expand community-based expand access to harm reduction supplies and information in an underserved part of the county which currently has the highest rates of fatal and non-fatal overdose by providing harm reduction supplies, including naloxone, fentanyl test strips, xylazine test strips, wound care and hygiene kits at an outdoor vending machine open 24/7. 
 
Kenosha County will hire a system navigator to reduce barriers in accessing harm reduction, health and social services for people who have recently experienced an overdose. The project will also include a stigma reduction and awareness raising campaign.  
 
Lincoln County will launch a stigma reduction campaign, expand naloxone distribution in partnership with community organizations, develop a comprehensive harm reduction plan, conduct targeted outreach to people who use drugs (PWUD) and unhoused populations, and create an interagency strategy to reduce family separation related to substance use. 
 
The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin will establish a syringe service program within the community, offering a range of harm reduction supplies and services. In addition, it will expand access to evidence-based treatment and support for pregnant women with substance use disorders, and provide harm reduction training and education for the broader community. 
 
Oneida County will expand the telehealth capabilities of the Human Service Department’s Outpatient Clinic to increase access to treatment, including buprenorphine, and will also expand systems navigation support (i.e. housing, employment community resources, behavioral health, etc) provided by peer support navigators.  
 
Outagamie County will expand the placement of peer specialists within community best settings for harm reduction supplies and systems navigation, increase buprenorphine access within the jail, and strengthen re-entry support services through by conducting a feasibility study that will include stakeholder meetings, planning sessions, consultation with experts and the creation report with actionable recommendations. 
 
Sawyer County will establish a jail-based buprenorphine program supported by peer navigators who will continue to assist individuals through their community re-entry process. 
 
The Sokaogon Chippewa Community will implement culturally based programming focused on harm reduction and anti-stigma education, provide family support for those at risk of child removal, offer peer support for clients on probation to reduce crimeless revocations, and conduct a talking circle–based needs assessment to guide future cultural and family services. 
 
St Croix County will expand services by hiring a full-time case manager to support families impacted by substance use, with a focus on reducing child removals and promoting reunification, along with an integrated evaluation component. 
 
Washington County will fund a staff position to deliver wraparound services to families at risk of child welfare involvement due to substance use, with the goal of preventing family separation and reducing associated risk factors. 
 
Waukesha County will support a multidisciplinary team—including a clinical therapist, social worker, and peer specialist—to provide post-overdose outreach, community and jail-based education, naloxone distribution, coordinated care for women who use drugs, and an anti-stigma public awareness campaign. 
 
Winnebago County will support the expansion of the Ebb and Flow Connection Cooperative’s community living room, creating a welcoming space for individuals at risk of overdose and their support systems. 
 
Wood County will fund a community health worker to  maintain and expand peer-led services at LifePoint – a harm reduction based syringe access program, providing safer use supplies, naloxone, fentanyl test strips and harm reduction counseling and education – distribute naloxone and harm reduction supplies throughout the county, hold monthly overdose prevention trainings and organize monthly community events around harm reduction.  
 
About Vital Strategies        
 
Vital Strategies is a global health organization that believes every person should be protected by a strong public health system. Our overdose prevention program works to strengthen and scale evidence-based, data-driven policies and interventions to create equitable and sustainable reductions in overdose deaths in several U.S. states and local jurisdictions.       
 
Learn more at www.vitalstrategies.org/programs/overdose-prevention/