Rice County Receives $1 Million in Federal Anti-Drug Money

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A statement issued said the US Department of Justice has awarded a $1 million grant to Rice County.

The grant will help launch two programs designed to aid residents who are using or are addicted to drugs before they become involved in the criminal justice system. Specifically, the money, which the county will receive over three years, will help to fund the Police-Assisted Recovery and Deflection Program and the Pre-Charge Adult Diversion Program.

The grant is the result of a collaboration between several county and local services including the Rice County Sheriff’s Department, the Faribault Police Department, the Northfield Police Department, the Rice County Attorney’s Office, the Rice County Behavioral Health Unit, HCI’s Health Projects program, and the Rice County Opioid Response program.

In a statement issued by Rice County, Dante Hummel-Langerfeld, the Behavioral Health Unit supervisor, said the funding will address a significant gap in the services necessary to fight drug addiction and to get people who are addicted the appropriate help.

The statement said, according to information provided by Healthy Community Initiative, there were 28 known drug overdoses, four fatal, in Rice County in 2021, and almost 20% took place in the rural areas. Law enforcement expects there are many other non-fatal ODs, which due to the availability of anti-opioids, were never reported. Those numbers show the problem of drug abuse is no longer confined to the more urban areas of Rice County but has now spread out across the entire area.

The grant will fund coordinators hired by HealthFinders Collaborative who will work with people that need help in the Latinx and Somali communities. It will also help to fund housing provided by the Beyond the Brink program in Owatonna and the Community Action Center, which can be very important for those going through treatment. Northfield Chief of Police Mark Elliott said that sort of support “can be crucial in achieving success.”

Hummel-Langerfeld said with the programs that already were in place, Rice County was positioned to have an excellent chance in receiving what is noted to be a highly competitive grant, and this money will enhance ideas that were already moving forward.