MetaStar has a grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration, or HRSA, to work with a coalition in Sauk County to reduce opioid overdoses. As part of MetaStar’s grant funding, the team worked with a local agency to create a position for a jail re-entry coordinator. This position was created because for people with substance use disorder, one of the times that is considered high risk for overdose is immediately after leaving jail. The re-entry coordinator meets with people while they are in jail and connects them to treatment and other supportive services, to help reduce the risk of overdose after release.
One re-entry coordinator shared this story:
Frank, a program participant, was interested in support for the sobriety he found while in jail. He also needed housing. The re-entry coordinator connected him with The Harbor Recovery Center in Portage for peer and group support.
Frank and the re-entry coordinator worked together to complete a prescreen for a housing program. He was given his former employer’s contact information and wrote them a letter inquiring about employment after release. He was also given information on how to renew his certifications for work and how to activate his FoodShare card.
Before his release, Frank spoke about how he felt like everything was coming together for him to be successful. On his first day out of jail, Frank went to the housing program office to meet the staff, moved into his temporary living placement, got his FoodShare activated, and started working with his previous employer that same afternoon.
After being released for less than three weeks, Frank was accepted into the housing program, which can provide up to 12 months of rental assistance and/or security deposit assistance. He continues working and receiving services to support his recovery from substance use disorder through The Harbor Recovery Center.
As of October 2023, the jail re-entry coordinator has served 128 individuals like Frank.
Grant # GA1RH42910
Program #: HRSA-21-088; CFDA 93.912
Award: $1,000,000 (over three years) 9/1/21 through 8/31/24
Project: HRSA Rural Communities Opioid Response Program (RCORP) Implementation Grant
Grantee/Applicant: MetaStar, Inc.
Supporting: Sauk County Continuum of Care Consortium (S4C)
Focus County: Sauk
Period of Performance: 9/1/2021 through 8/31/2024 (36 mos.)