BOSTON PUBLIC HEALTH COMMISSION ANNOUNCES $700,000 IN OVERDOSE RESPONSE GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

BOSTON PUBLIC HEALTH COMMISSION ANNOUNCES $700,000 IN OVERDOSE RESPONSE GRANTS FOR COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Boston Public Health Commission is also announcing expansion of care coordination and street outreach initiatives.

BOSTON – Tuesday, September 29, 2026 –Mayor Michelle Wu and Boston Public Health Commission (BPHC) are announcing the official launch of a new $700,000 round of Community Overdose Response Grant funding. This funding will allow local organizations to establish community-informed overdose prevention and response programs. BPHC is also announcing the expansion of the PAATHS (Providing Access to Addictions Treatment, Hope and Support) program, which supports substance use care and treatment coordination, and additional street outreach capacity. Together, these initiatives offer Boston residents a holistic continuum of care throughout their recovery journey. These programs and investments have contributed to a 29% drop in deadly overdoses in 2025 compared to the previous year. 2025 also saw the fewest deadly overdoses in Boston in a decade.

“Everyone on the path to recovery should be able to easily access the resources, guidance and support they need to build a healthy life,” said Mayor Michelle Wu. “This expansion will improve access to the Boston Public Health Commission’s existing recovery services while creating a more coordinated system of support to connect residents with care that meets their individual needs.”

“Because recovery looks different for every person, support should be flexible enough to meet people wherever they are,” said Dr. Bisola Ojikutu, Commissioner of Public Health for the City of Boston. “By continuing to invest in our community organizations, we are strengthening our neighborhood networks of care, building a more collaborative response to the substance use crisis and ultimately saving lives”.

Following reviews by a community committee, the city, and BPHC, the new round of Community Overdose Response Grants will support overdose prevention programming at six community organizations through mid-2028. This funding is the result of major litigation that resulted in pharmaceutical companies paying settlements for their involvement in fueling the opioid epidemic that killed nearly 3,000 people in Boston from 2015 to 2024. The grant recipients are:

• Boston HEAT

• Bowdoin Street Health Center

• Casa Esperanza

• Community Caring Clinic

• North Suffolk Community Services

• Upham’s Community Care

The new grants build on the impact of BPHC’s previous community overdose prevention investments. In 2024, BPHC awarded grants to five community organizations that successfully connected nearly 2,000 people to substance use treatment and other services, trained 760 people in overdose prevention, and distributed 5,100 doses of the overdose-reversing medication naloxone.

“We are thankful to the Boston Public Health Commission for their support to expand access to treatment,” said Samantha Taylor, MHA, Executive Director, Bowdoin Street Health Center. “Effectively addressing substance use requires community-based solutions, and this funding will help connect more people we serve to care when they need it most.” 

“Upham's Community Care is grateful for these funds to continue to close the health equity gap our communities are facing, while bringing awareness to our neighbors on how we can all play a part in aiding those struggling with the disease of addiction,” said Andrew Pinto, Communications and Community Engagement Coordinator of Upham’s Community Care.

Building on a six-month pilot, BPHC’s PAATHS program is launching PAATHS Care Coordination (PCC), which will provide more ongoing support to people after they are referred to treatment. PCC staff will stay connected with clients as they move between providers and levels of care, helping them work through barriers that can make it harder to stay engaged in treatment, including transportation, language access, and housing instability. PAATHS provides assessments, treatment referrals, and care navigation and connects people to services including withdrawal management (detox), Clinical Stabilization Services, Transitional Support Services, and medication for opioid use disorder and outpatient treatment.

Beyond individual care coordination, BPHC is also strengthening provider and agency collaboration across Boston. The Mass and Cass Table is a case conferencing initiative co-chaired by the BPHC Recovery Services Bureau and Boston Police Department Citywide Hub program. For the past year, more than twenty agencies from across Boston have gathered weekly to support individuals with high behavioral health and housing needs. Coordinating continuously, the agencies have linked clients to a range of services, addressing multiple needs simultaneously and facilitating 90 connections to care.

BPHC has also expanded the service hours of the Recovery Services Bureau (RSB) Street Outreach team. Known as the “Red Shirts” because of their bright uniforms, the team is responsible for engaging individuals, connecting them and transporting them to care, and syringe collection. The team conducts proactive sweeps of parks and schools every morning and afternoon to clear syringe litter. Earlier this year, the team expanded service hours and now operates from 5:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. on weeknights and 6:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. on weekends.

BPHC offers many additional programs and services for people in recovery and is one of the largest providers of Transitional Support Services for people living with substance use disorder in the region. BPHC’s Mattapan Recovery Campus offers inpatient treatment and services to 850 people per year. The short-term treatment programming at the Recovery Campus focuses on relapse prevention and behavior modification. Clients are offered access to additional mental health care through a partnership with The Joseph Nee Collaborative Center. In partnership with Boston Health Care for the Homeless, BPHC also operates medical clinics on the Mattapan Recovery Campus, and in the Finland Building, that help meet the basic medical needs of clients. 

Beyond the Mattapan Recovery Campus, BPHC also provides walk-in treatment referrals through the PAATHS and AHOPE programs. AHOPE offers lifesaving harm reduction services, including syringe exchange, drug checking to identify the presence of fentanyl and xylazine, naloxone distribution, and screening for HIV, hepatitis, and other bloodborne illnesses that can be spread through intravenous drug use. Individuals can visit both programs at 774 Albany Street during business hours and walk-ins are welcome. For support with substance use disorders, contact the PAATHS program at 1-855-494-4057 or 3-1-1. For more information, visit boston.gov/recovery.