PIKETON, Ohio — Local lawmakers and business owners of Ohio Valley Veneer in Piketon welcomed U.S. Secretary of Labor Eugene Scalia to town Wednesday to announce $20 million in federal funding to help our state battle the ongoing opioid crisis.
Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Kim Hall says the funds will provide anything from employment and unemployment services, cash, and food assistance.
She admits the pandemic has only made matters worse.
“By bringing isolation and stress, disrupting in-person mental health services, and eliminating jobs,” said Hall.
“These funds are being made available under the Support Act, which President Trump signed in October 2018 to give additional resources to communities most in need in contending with opioids,” said Scalia.
The grant is to set to help those in Adams, Scioto, Pike, and Brown Counties, which are Ohio’s Appalachian counties suffering the worst.
Pike County, for example, only has only a population of about 28,000, but it ranks among the worst in the nation in drug overdoses — a rate of nearly 71 per 100,000.
Statewide, half of all children placed in county children services custody are there because of their parents’ drug use.
“It’s not just to try and sustain people, but to turn lives around, whether its training, apprenticeships, etc. One of the reasons we’re here at this facility is because this employer is already doing that,” said Rep. Brad Wenstrup.
Brad Wenstrup (R) represents Ohio’s 2nd Congressional District, which runs from Cincinnati to Portsmouth. The Army Reserve officer and doctor says the grant is designed to help southern Ohio turn things around and give those who are struggling that second chance.
“Recovery, reentry from prison, etc., and getting to an opportunity to have employment and a sense of security and a sense of being essential,” said Wenstrup.
