Opioid Abatement Funds

Apply for a Opioid Abatement Funds project grant

In May 2025, Maynard's Select Board voted to make 25% of the Town's Opioid Abatement Settlement Funds available to Maynard residents and civic and nongovernmental entities based in Maynard in the form of project grants. Guidelines for the types of acceptable projects can be found in the document titled "Massachusetts Abatement Funds (3.8.22)," which is linked below. Funding is available on a first come, first served basis. 

The button below accesses the Town's Opioid Funds Grant Application Form. Applicants should fill out this PDF and send the completed form to Steve Silverstein, Executive Director of Municipal Services at ssilverstein@townofmaynard.net. Applications will be screened internally first; if selected, the applicant will appear before the Select Board to explain their idea and seek final approval from that body. 

Click here for the Opioid Funds Grant Application Form

Background

Massachusetts participated in nationwide financial settlements with several corporations to abate harms caused by the opioid epidemic. Combined, these settlements will bring over $900 million into Massachusetts for substance use prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery support. For information about the Commonwealth's fight against the opioid crisis, visit the state's dedicated webpage:  https://www.mass.gov/fighting-the-opioid-crisis.

Maynard’s portion of the settlement is $382,615.98, which is being disbursed over 15 years starting in FY2023 and ending in FY2038. 

As per the Massachusetts State-Subdivision Agreement for Statewide Opioid Settlements, abatement funds are to be used solely to supplement and strengthen, rather than supplant, resources for prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery. This means that abatement funds cannot be used in lieu of funding that has already been obtained and that is aimed at substance abuse prevention and related issues.

Abatement funds are to be used to implement the following strategies, specifically: 

1. Opioid Use Disorder Treatment
2. Address Needs of Criminal Justice-Involved Persons
3. Support People in Treatment and Recovery
4. Support Pregnant/Parenting Women & Families, Including Babies with Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome
5. Connections to Care
6. Prevent Misuse of Opioids; Implement Prevention Education
7. Harm Reduction.