Opioid Settlement Funds

Aging & Disabilities Services Opioid Prevention Project (DHHS)

The proposed project addresses and further identifies the unique needs of older adults at risk related to preventing and responding to opioid misuse, including trainings and outreach to stakeholders to promote prevention and assessment.

Coordination of Opioid Prevention Services Project (DHHS)

This project focuses on regranting opioid prevention and response funds to community-based organizations and increasing prevention capacity and coordination through a prevention manager role. This builds on DHHS’ track record of participatory and collaborative regranting processes. 

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Harm Reduction Kits (Office of Emergency Management)

The purpose of this project is to get Harm Reduction Kits in the hands of emergency responders for better application of counter-opioid tactics. Kits will have items like personal protective equipment, fentanyl test strips, and naloxone medication.

Harm Reduction Supplies (DHHS)

This project will increase access to harm reduction supplies using evidence-based harm reduction strategies, with outreach methods incorporating both a webpage and strategically located vending machines.

Homeless Outreach Project (DHHS)

Two treatment and resource navigators aim to expand Milwaukee County Housing Services' Homeless Outreach Team to provide additional services to those experiencing unsheltered homelessness and dealing with substance use disorders.

Staffing Needs (Medical Examiner)

All of the areas associated with death investigations are processes that are done by individuals. The additional positions will allow the office to perform these death investigations and provide the data associated with them to partners in a timely fashion.

Medication Assisted Treatment – Behind the Walls (DHHS)

This project will continue the successful program which reduces risk of overdose deaths for incarcerated individuals by offering the evidence-based practice of Medication-Assisted Treatment, which is known to be a best practice for individuals who are living with an opioid use disorder.

Patrol Division Narcan Deployment and Education (Sheriff's Office)

This project will provide line staff with training on the use of Narcan. It will also provide each Deputy Sheriff assigned to the Patrol Division nasal Narcan to carry during their tours of duty.

EMS Opioid Educator (Office of Emergency Management)

This project establishes an opioid-specific first responder and public education program to increase the level of training to those called to respond to overdose cases. The project will also increase the general knowledge of the public and families affected by opioid use, raising understanding to a level similar to the awareness of CPR.

Opioid Treatment in the Prehospital Environment (EMS-MAT) (OEM) 

With the recently-approved pilot use of Buprenorphine in certain programs, this project aims to establish a trial buprenorphine program to begin field inductions of this opioid antagonist to reduce the number of secondary overdoses, and to buy time for the patient to seek medical and substance abuse treatment.

Residential Substance Abuse Treatment Capacity (DHHS)

This project will offer start-up funding to support agencies who can develop new residential substance abuse treatment facilities, aiming to reduce the wait list of individuals in need of treatment for opioid use disorder.

Substance Use Education and Treatment for Justice Involved Youth (DHHS)

This project will provide evidence-based and evidence-informed opiate abuse prevention and intervention services for youth in detention and those returning to the community following detention.
 

Harm Reduction Data Analytics (OEM)

Develop and maintain an overdose surveillance dashboard that provides a deeper level of detail and visibility to EMS calls for suspected overdoses than is currently available in public facing dashboards.

Portable Body Cooler (Medical Examiner)

The replacement of the portable body cooler will provide an increased capacity for respectful body storage in a unit that is not operated by diesel fuel.

Autopsy Carts (Medical Examiner) 

Five autopsy carts will be purchased, which are necessary for investigations.

Filling in Gaps in Community Paramedic Coverage

This project will regionalize and expand Mobile-Integrated Health (MIH) care in the community to enhance equity in the provision of services. OEM will work closely with local fire departments to ensure seamless care transitions. This program seeks to employ a county-wide resource for MIH operations.

Grief  Outreach and Grief-Informed Care

This project, which will be a collaboration between Milwaukee County’s Department of Health and Human Services Behavioral Health Services (BHS) area, the Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office (MCMEO), and the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) plans to address the areas of overdose-related grief and the reduction of future overdoses by providing grief outreach to families of victims of overdose.

Overdose Prediction Model

This project seeks to identify individuals at risk for overdose when they present at specific Milwaukee County service lines via a predictive model pilot project that would be expanded in the future. 

PATH: Pre/Post Incarceration Access to Treatment and Healing

The PATH project aims to target pre-and-post incarcerated individuals who are engaged in the criminal justice system. The project with use a Mobile-Integrated Health (MIH) model to provide upstream and downstream OUD resources to pre- and post-incarcerated populations.

Prevalence of Adulterants and Opioid Overdoses in Black and Brown Communities

This project will address the prevalence of adulterants and opioid overdoses in Black and Brown Communities. BHS seeks to support opioid abatement research in data collection by empowering individuals with lived and living experience and their families to share information on drug use trends and more effective prevention and harm reduction strategies, which would meet their actual conditions of use.

Respite Build-out - Dedicated Harm Reduction Beds

Milwaukee County Housing Services purchased the Hillview Building (1615 S. 22nd Street) in August 2023. The 3rd floor of Hillview building will be renovated to expand capacity and create dedicated harm reduction beds for people experiencing homelessness who are in active opioid addiction.

Substance Use Disorder System Enhancement

This proposal seeks to add funding to the system that can flexibly meet the needs of all people with addiction and most notably those who are historically marginalized by enhancing the provider network, increasing capacity, and making treatment services available to everyone who is in need regardless of their specific substance use diagnosis or ability to pay.

Aging and Disabilities Services Opioid Prevention Project

This project provides outreach to older adults in Milwaukee County at risk for opioid misuse and overdosing by using data and GIS mapping to conduct door-to-door canvassing, distribute harm reduction supplies, and engage with senior living facilities.

Community Regranting

The project provides grants to community-based organizations and collaboratives. Selected applicants will partner with the DHHS Behavioral Health Services—Community Access to Recovery Services (CARS) program to implement projects that align with approved prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction services/activities.

Prevention Integration

DHHS Prevention Integration encompasses several key components: building the capacity of prevention-related employees and advancing progress across DHHS, supporting the implementation of DHHS’s OSF-funded projects, and coordinating community-level education and communication regarding harm reduction and prevention strategies.

Harm Reduction Supplies

The Harm Reduction Supplies project was first funded in 2023, Cohort 1 of the Opioid Settlement Funds.Two major project activities from 2023 to the current year of 2025 included establishing the Harm Reduction Vending Machines (HRVM) in the community and launching the Online Depot.

Medical Examiner Staffing Needs

The Office of the Medical Examiner will fund three positions through OSF: forensic pathologist (FY26-FY28), medicolegal death investigator (FY26), and forensic chemist (FY26-FY27). These positions support the scope of work of the medical examiner's office and the investigation into drug-related deaths.

Substance Use Disorder Room and Board

Building upon the opioid settlement project in Cohort 1 to increase SUD Residential Treatment capacity, this proposal focuses on establishing funding for the room and board (food, utilities) portion of the treatment episode for that capacity, which has been and is being built 87 additional beds.

Harm Reduction Data Analytics

The Harm Reduction Data Analytics team will continue to provide specific analysis on Opioid Use Disorder (OUD), with a broader focus on co-factors of OUD that require additional analysis. Hospitals integrating data with EMS will enhance the overall possibilities in this space.