Promise Zone projects try to help ease drug scourge in Eastern Kentucky

Largely due to a surge in overdose deaths since the pandemic started, the United States set a record for drug overdose deaths from May 2019 to May 2020, according to the CDC.

Kentucky, and especially Eastern Kentucky, is not immune to this troubling trend.

Partners in the Kentucky Promise Zone, a 10-year initiative that provides a competitive advantage in applying for federal funds and assistance, have attracted hundreds of millions of dollars in investments for Bell, Harlan, Letcher, Perry, Leslie, Clay, Knox and part of Whitley counties.

Projects throughout those years have resulted in critical developments in economic development, education and health care. In 2020, Promise Zone partners launched two key projects and announced an upcoming initiative focused on treatment and recovery for the drug epidemic:

▪ Volunteers of America Freedom House in Manchester: VOA received a $2.6 million federal grant, one of three in the nation, for treatment and recovery services for pregnant and postpartum women and their children in Southeastern Kentucky. Along with the University of Kentucky‘s Human Development Institute, VOA will use the money to serve an estimated 1,250 individuals and their families over a five-year period.

It will be invested in Freedom House, which provides a residential treatment program to treat the women’s drug or alcohol dependency, break the cycle of addiction in families, reunite families broken apart by addiction, and to promote the birth of healthy, drug-free babies. Freedom House, which is located in the Promise Zone, opened in 2019 with the help of several private grants.

▪ Transitional Housing: Mountain Comprehensive Health Corporation (MCHC) was awarded $1.5 million through an Appalachian Regional Commission grant for 22 transitional housing units in Whitesburg for men who are in recovery from substance use disorders. It is often impossible for people who have completed treatment to find safe, sober housing or the services that would help them return to the community. The project will renovate a former high school to create efficiency apartments. MCHC staff will work with community partners to coordinate health care, education and other social support services for residents of the new facility.

Residents also will receive job-skills training through collaboration with local program partners, including Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College and the Eastern Kentucky Concentrated Employment Program (EKCEP). The facility can serve 44 residents each year. Approximately 28 are expected to reach at least two key milestones such as maintaining sobriety, finding a job or furthering education. Seven jobs will be created for new staff members.

The project is located in the Promise Zone. MCHC, Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College and EKCEP are all partners in the PZ.

▪ Future recovery centers: The Promise Zone is working on future recovery centers, include working with Southeast Community and Technical College to obtain a USDA Community Facilities Technical Assistance and Training grant to acquire engineering and environmental studies on the vacant Cumberland High School for leasing to a substance abuse treatment center.

It also is working with Whitley County Fiscal Court, the University of the Cumberlands and the Cumberland Valley ADD to issue an RFP for a feasibility study on a substance abuse treatment center in Williamsburg. Whitley County received a $50,000 technical assistance grant from ARC to pursue a feasibility study on an inpatient residential treatment center on reclaimed strip mine property owned by the University of the Cumberlands. The University would use the center to provide health-care students with practical experience in substance abuse and treatment.

By working together on issues that will improve health, economic development and education, we are building a brighter future for families and the region.

Jerry Rickett is president & CEO of Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, which is coordinating and managing the federal Promise Zone. For more information, visit http://www.khic.org.