WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senators Susan Collins and Angus King announced today that four Maine Native communities will receive a total of $440,011 in funding from the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to respond to substance abuse and jumpstart community health projects. These four grants will primarily address the impact of the opioid epidemic on Maine’s Native communities.  

“No community is immune from this heartbreaking epidemic that has taken its toll on too many of our peers, friends and neighbors” said Senators Collins and King in a joint statement. “This funding will give Maine’s tribes additional resources to combat the opioid crisis and protect the health of their community members.”

The funding will be allocated as follows

• Passamaquoddy Indian Township Tribal Government will receive $141,456 to fund the “Passamaquoddy Tribal Opioid Response Initiative.”
• Aroostook Micmac Council will receive $64,142 to fund the “Micmac Community Health and Wellness Project.”
• Penobscot Indian Nation will receive $93,887 to fund “Penobscot Nation Health Department Tribal Opioid Response Grant-Aftercare Services.”
• Wabanaki Health and Wellness will receive $140,l526 to “increase the capacity of both the Houlton Band of Maliseet Indians and Wabanaki Health and Wellness to provide medication-assisted treatment (MAT) and develop additional substance abuse prevention initiatives.”