BOSTON, MA January 10, 2024 – The Police Assisted Addiction and Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is excited to share that PAARI law enforcement partner, Jeffersontown Police Department, has been awarded $26,811 from the Kentucky Opioid Abatement Advisory Commission to help fight the opioid crisis.
Last year, Jeffersontown PD received a letter from PAARI in support of their deflection program, Respond, Evaluate, Advocate, Connect, and Heal (REACH). REACH, which began with the launch of the department’s Angel Program in 2016, is a collaborative effort between officers and social workers to provide services for a wide variety of people in need.
The funding for the allowance stems from a settlement reached with pharmaceutical giants Cardinal, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Johnson & Johnson. The agreement granted Kentucky an impressive $842M in funding to be allocated toward opioid response efforts.
“We are thankful for PAARI for their role in helping our department receive these necessary funds, enabling the expansion of our REACH program,” said Richard W. Sanders, Chief of Police at Jeffersontown Police Department. “It is our honor to facilitate our community members into treatment and are looking forward to the growth of our initiative in the upcoming year.”
In March of last year, PAARI released its Opioid Settlement Funds: A State-by-State Guide. This guide was developed to educate organizations applying to receive funds and assist them in creating and expanding deflection programs. Since PAARI has been explicitly listed as an approved use of funds in the opioid settlement fund agreements, PAARI partners and other like-minded organizations can apply for these funds to support their programs.
Today, PAARI hosts monthly Opioid Settlement Fund Office Hours on the first Friday of every month at 1:00 p.m. EST. Since the inception of these meetings, PAARI has provided technical assistance to over 900 individuals and written several letters of support for PAARI partners.
“We are proud to have collaborated with Jeffersontown PD to secure these funds for their work,” said Zoe Grover-Scicchitano, Executive Director of PAARI. “We urge all departments seeking opioid settlement funding to leverage our resources by attending our office hours and referring to the comprehensive guide on our website. We are always ready to offer support, including crafting letters of support to shed light on your deflection initiatives.”
To learn more about opioid settlement funds and how your department can request a PAARI letter of support, please visit PAARI’s dedicated page to the subject HERE.
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ABOUT PAARI: The Police Assisted Addiction & Recovery Initiative (PAARI) is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help law enforcement agencies nationwide create non-arrest pathways to treatment and recovery. Founded alongside the groundbreaking Gloucester, Mass., Police Department Angel Initiative in June 2015, PAARI has been a driving force behind this rapidly expanding community policing movement. We provide technical assistance, strategic guidance, connection to training resources, and other capacity-building resources to more than 700 police departments in 44 states.
PAARI works with more than 130 law enforcement agencies in Massachusetts alone. PAARI and our law enforcement partners are working towards a collective vision where non-arrest diversion programs become a standard policing practice across the country, thereby reducing overdose deaths, expanding access to treatment, improving public safety, reducing crime, diverting people away from the criminal justice system, and increasing trust between law enforcement and their communities. Our programs and partners have saved tens of thousands of lives, changed police culture, and reshaped the national conversation about the opioid epidemic since its founding in June 2015. Learn more at paariusa.org.
