Dakota County’s Opioid Response Advisory Committee (ORAC) met for its February meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 4 to discuss its strategic plan for the next two years.
ORAC is an advisory committee to the Dakota County Board of Commissioners that was created from settlements from opioid manufacturers and distributors. Using funds from that settlement, the members of the committee which include county officials, community partners, community members with lived experience and health care representatives, can make recommendations to the county board on how best to respond to the effects of opioids in Dakota County.
Since December, the committee has been working to develop a strategic goal for 2025-2026 that encompasses actions with long-term impacts that don’t replace or overlap with efforts already in place from the county. In addition, committee goals must also adhere to the Johns Hopkins Principles for the use of funds, a widespread standard for using opioid settlement funds whose goals include using money to save lives and using evidence to guide spending.
To develop these goals Dakota County Communications Coordinator Matt Giljahn and Communities for a Lifetime Initiative Supervisor Jess Luce have been working through the Top Facilitation Method.
At the December meeting members wrote down individual ideas they had for the committee ranging from creating YouTube ads to naloxone training for bartenders to decriminalizing drug offenses. These far-reaching ideas were then grouped into categories at the January meeting. The group ended with eight categories for the ideas created in December:
1. Create and promote culturally appropriate and stigma-reducing opioid messaging
2. Distribute naloxone throughout Dakota County and educate community on how it works
3. Engage organizations and schools to address adolescent opioid prevention.
4. Adult services including treatment and third spaces
5. Adolescent services including treatment
6. Recommending success/share best practices
7. Creating connections/Reducing stigma
8. Legislative/Lobbying
The goal of the February meeting was prioritizing what the group wanted to focus on from this list of goals. “We need to narrow the scope,” said Giljahn.
Much of the discussion of selecting goals from this list was on creating a lasting impact beyond the two-year scope of the committee. To the point, picking attainable goals and then being able to complete them was a key factor when considering largescale legislative goals like decriminalizing drug offenses or broad, ambiguous goals like building human connections to addicts.
“Ultimately what we are trying to do is reduce the actions we’re committed to in these two years,” said Dakota County Public Health Deputy Director Erin Carter.
In the end, the group decided to move forward with four of the original eight categories: Create and promote culturally appropriate and stigma-reducing opioid messaging, distribute naloxone throughout Dakota County and educate community on how it works, engage organizations and schools to address adolescent opioid prevention, and creating and expanding adult and adolescent recovery services.
From these four groups, committee members were tasked with developing two action steps to move forward with, each including funding requirements and the first steps toward that action.
Actions within these categories include creating a substance use disorder community guide, a paid communications campaign, naloxone availability and training in high-impact public areas, creating a free near-expiration naloxone usage plan, creating evidence-based youth prevention programs, and expanding peer recovery services.
These cohesive goals are the product of the individual ideas provided by committee members in December.
“I didn’t expect it to come together,” said Community Parter Hanna Kazempour.
The committee will now move forward finalizing its strategic plan along with taking the first steps laid out with these goals which range from requesting a budget from the Board of Commissioners to researching best practices for naloxone distribution.
While ORAC itself is an advisory committee, meaning it has no control over funds, only the ability to make recommendations, it can request funds from the settlement in order to move forward with its goals.
The first effects of ORAC’s recommendations are soon to be felt within the community. The committee’s December recommendations to distribute $390,000 to five organizations were approved at the Jan. 21 Board of Commissioners meeting. According to Carter, contracts are currently being drawn up between the county and these organizations which will then be set to receive and begin using those funds.
The organizations are Lionheart Wellness & Recovery, Gateway Recovery Center, Wayside Recovery Center, Thrive! Family Recovery Services and MN Recovery Connection.
For more information on ORAC and Dakota County’s opioid crisis response, visit https://www.co.dakota.mn.us/Government/CAC/Opioid