Maximizing the Impact of Opioid Settlement Funding: The North Carolina Model

Settlement funds from national opioid lawsuits provide funding for programs that can save lives and help individuals and communities recover and thrive. But how can we ensure that settlement funds are invested in programs that address the varied and diverse needs of local counties and cities? North Carolina (NC) developed a unique model that maximizes local community involvement in investing settlement funds, while maintaining fidelity to evidence-proven strategies. The NC model has four tenets:
(1) Place local governments (counties and cities) in charge of the majority (85%) of settlement funds,
(2) Incentivize local governments to select high-impact, evidence-based strategies,
(3) Provide local governments with high-quality data, tools, and technical assistance to encourage collaborative planning and strategic investment, and
(4) Mandate unequalled levels of transparency and accountability in settlement spending.

In NC, this model has won broad support from foundations, state agencies, harm reduction advocates, universities, and key local government officials. NC has launched the Community Opioid Resources Engine for North Carolina (CORE-NC) to provide data and resources to assist local governments in planning their settlement spending. CORE-NC’s interactive data dashboards (ncopioidsettlement.org) provide a place-based snapshot of the impact of drug overdose in each community. CORE-NC is currently developing dashboards that will document each community’s spending plans, actual spending, and the local impacts of settlement funds. The NC model empowers local communities by combining place-based opioid data dashboards with technical assistance on evidence-based programs. Transparency of settlement spending is central to the NC model.