The Oregon Health Authority & Oversight & Accountability Council prioritized current providers, desperately needed culturally and linguistically specific services, and rural counties keeping existing networks whole across the state at a time when services are most needed.
PORTLAND, Ore. — At a time when the Federal Government is cutting essential services and proposing cuts to Medicaid, Oregon continues to make historic investments in lifesaving addiction and recovery services.
The Oregon Health Authority and Oversight & Accountability Council has awarded funds to more than 220 organizations across the state to fuel lifesaving addiction recovery services. Providers received intent-to-award letters from OHA, and are expected to begin contract negotiations soon in order to safeguard against service disruptions.
Grant awards will fund lifesaving services like overdose prevention, detox, treatment, recovery housing, and other essential supports across the continuum of addiction care. This funding comes at a time when Oregon is losing about four people each day to preventable drug overdoses. Thanks to BHRN funding, data shows that nearly 300,000 service encounters have taken place to connect individuals to care — care that would not have been available prior to BHRN funding.
“This was a difficult process. Stable funding is critical in order for us to address Oregon’s addiction crisis. Last year alone we reunited 112 children with their parents in recovery, and housed over 783 people in our recovery housing in multiple counties. All of our houses have waitlists. This funding will ensure we can continue our work at a time when more people than ever need recovery support,” said Meli Rose of Iron Tribe Network, BHRN Provider in multiple counties.
Many BHRN providers specialize in serving historically underserved populations, including communities of color, tribal nations, LGBTQIA+ individuals, and those in rural areas where specialized care is already difficult to find. 2025-2029 grant funding may become available to providers as early as July, ensuring continuity of services and preventing providers from having to lay off staff or shutter programs due to a gap in funding between grant cycles. Prior to launching the most recent RFGA process, OHA and the OAC worked strategically to revise the funding formula allocation, strengthen the program’s public health focus, and establish a more sufficient funding floor for rural counties.
“The intent of creating statewide Behavioral Health Resource Networks was to cement them as a critical feature of Oregon’s behavioral health system. Providers have demonstrated just how critical the services are that they provide,” said Tera Hurst, Executive Director of the Health Justice Recovery Alliance. “Frontline providers stood up robust programs in 2022, and have worked amid ongoing funding shortfalls to maintain services — all while the demand for services continues to increase. BHRNs provide core services in all of our communities and they need this stable source of funding.”
According to the OHSU Substance Use Disorder Services Inventory and Gap Analysis, there is a 49 percent gap in substance use disorder services needed by Oregonians.
The Oregon Health Authority received $1.1 billion in funding requests, and had just over $400 million in available funding to award. OHA and the OAC voted to prioritize current BHRN partners and culturally-specific providers. A list of current providers, most of whom have been awarded funding for the next grant cycle, can be found here.
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What Providers are Saying: Examples of BHRN Funding in Action
“We’ve been able to stabilize and reunite families. One such instance involved us working to house a couple who had both been chronically homeless, living in a tent, and struggling with severe mental health issues. They were housed together and remain stable and in recovery housing today.” – Lincoln County BHRN Provider to OHA
“Recovery Works NW utilized BHRN funding to open a medical detox facility that expanded the metro area’s capacity for medical withdrawal management by nearly 20%. In its first 18 months of operations, our NW Foster Road Medical Detox Facility has provided nearly 1,500 treatment episodes, the vast majority representing interruption of deadly fentanyl and methamphetamine dependencies.” – Joe Bazeghi, Recovery Works NW, BHRN Provider in Yamhill, Multnomah and Clackamas Counties
“The Family Nurturing Center received BHRN funding to increase addiction recovery supports for parents in early recovery. FNC hired more parent mentors and increased respite childcare hours, making it easier for parents to attend therapy, treatment or court appointments. FNC also expanded its permanent housing program.” – Family Nurturing Center, Jackson County provider“Community Outreach for Radical Empowerment (CORE) provides harm reduction and recovery services to young people ages 16-29. BHRN funding enabled CORE to take an additional 200 young people onto our caseloads, providing them with vital supports like transportation assistance, peer support, and rental stabilization that has prevented clients from losing their housing.” – Brittiny Raine, CORE, Lane County BHRN Provider
“BHRN Partners are working together to expand outreach efforts to Powers, Myrtle Point, Coquille, Lakeside, and Bandon. BHRN partners are seeing good results with an increased ability to engage people within our community. Program expansions and coordinated efforts have been vital to expanding our community’s capacity to address the substance use issues in Coos County, and to ensure clients have quicker access to care.” – BHRN Report to Coos County Alcohol and Drug Planning Committee
“BHRN funding helped us increase services, reduce wait times, and be able to serve more community members who are uninsured. We have expanded outreach, and been able to partner with other community entities, like the HIV Alliance, to more effectively meet the needs of our community.” – Adapt, Curry County BHRN Provider
“Since the implementation of BHRNs, referrals to our intensive outpatient services in Deschutes County have doubled. Over the same period, referrals to our medication-assisted treatment services for people with opiate addiction have tripled.” – Rick Treleaven, BestCare Treatment, BHRN Provider in multiple counties
About the Law and BHRN Funding Formula
Ballot Measure 110 created the current cannabis tax revenue formula in 2020, capping quarterly distributions to Measure 91 recipients at $90 million per biennium. Any excess revenue above this $90 million per biennium is directed to the Drug Treatment and Recovery Services Fund to fund BHRNs, an entity or group of entities working together to provide comprehensive, community-based services and supports to people with substance use disorders or harmful substance use. Each Oregon county or tribal area has at least one BHRN. BHRN services include but are not limited to:
- Screening for health and social service needs,
- Behavioral health screening and referral for substance use disorder,
- Individualized intervention planning,
- Low-barrier substance use disorder treatment,
- Harm reduction services,
- Peer support services,
- Employment supports,
- Housing supports, and
- Referral to appropriate outside services.
Additional Resources
- Oregon Health Authority: Measure 110 services data, including NEW data on individual clients served in Q7.
- View the Request for Grant Applications on Oregon Buys
- View the full list of applicants