Two Guilford programs get nearly $800,000 each from state to fight opioid abuse

Jun. 15—GREENSBORO — Two Guilford County-based programs are getting nearly $800,000 each from the state to help fight opioid abuse and help those addicted to the drug.

The North Carolina Survivors Union and Caring Services will receive the grants as part of North Carolina's share of a multi-state settlement with McKinsey & Co., a high-powered consultant, over its role in advising companies on how to promote the drugs and profit from the opioid epidemic, state health officials said.

According a news release from the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services, grants totaling nearly $16 million will go to 20 agencies statewide. Oxford House, a worldwide organization which lists 36 locations in Guilford County, also received an $800,000 grant.

Money for the nonprofit North Carolina Survivors Union will be used to expand access to treatment and support for opioid-use disorder.

Caring Services in High Point offers transitional housing and outpatient treatment for men and women in recovery, including homeless veterans and women who are pregnant or have children, according to its website.

Oxford House is an umbrella organization that serves more than 3,000 individual houses where people in recovery can live and support each other while working outside jobs to pay the home's bills. The nonprofit will use the money to expand its NC Reentry Program, which assists people being released from incarceration into an Oxford House.

Accidental drug overdose is the number one cause of accidental deaths in North Carolina and nationwide, state health officials said. In North Carolina from 2000 to 2020, more than 28,000 people lost their lives to drug overdoses.

Contact Kenwyn Caranna at 336-373-7082 and follow @kcaranna on Twitter.

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