UCHRA Hopes to Address Opiate Crisis Through Grant Funding

The Upper Cumberland Human Resource Agency looks to address the region’s opiate crisis through additional grant funding.

Executive Director Mark Farley says the grant funding would help create a drug treatment program and provide additional services to all 14 counties.

“We have submitted an application… to try and get some funds to provide a regional coordinator in our region,” Farley says. “That person’s job would be to make sure we’re all working in the same direction so we’re all on the same page, but also to make sure all 14 of the Upper Cumberland counties are being equally financed the way they should.”

Farley estimates the grant funding will be approximately $50,000 to help cover the salary of the coordinator.

“In the world of grants and in our operation, it’s not a huge amount of money,” Farley says, “but it’s basically just having that salaried person whose job will be to coordinate all our efforts across the region.”

Farley says having a regional coordinator will help the agency address the opiate crisis in a more efficient manner.

“One of the things we deal with here in the Upper Cumberland is we have a shortfall on resources, compared to more of the urban areas like Nashville, Knoxville, or Chattanooga,” Farley says. “We need somebody identifying what those voids in our system are, and try to go after funds and try and make sure our citizens have some of the same services as somebody living in Nashville or Knoxville.”

The UCHRA Executive Board unanimously approved the grant application during Wednesday’s meeting.