Summit County leaders plan to create a $45 million fund, using money from the opioid litigation settlement, to build a foundation that will pay for innovative solutions to addiction and other health challenges in the county in perpetuity.The Summit Health and Safety Innovation Fund, announced Wednesday by Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro at her State of the County address, will be administered by the Akron Community Foundation. Once the proposal is approved by members of Summit County Council — a vote that could come as soon as Monday — the fund will need to receive nonprofit status from the Internal Revenue Service. A 13-member board will be appointed to oversee the money, said Greta Johnson, Shapiro’s director of communications and assistant chief of staff.Shapiro said the fund would have a “generational impact.” Summit County Executive Ilene Shapiro.“We understand that addiction is an evolving challenge, which is why this funding will prioritize innovative solutions to enhance public health and safety,” she said in the State of the County speech.With a 5% annual rate of return, the fund would be able to give grants of $1 million or $2 million annually without touching the initial $45 million investment, said John T. Petures Jr., the president and CEO of the Akron Community Foundation. Petures said he expects other donations will come into the fund, increasing its reach.Grant money in perpetuity“What a historical moment for the county,” he said. “Honestly, I hope it will be a spark. This isn’t one and done. This is an opportunity to build and create.”Nearly 90 years after the founding of Alcoholics Anonymous in Akron, Petures said it’s possible that imaginative solutions to addiction issues not yet understood or identified could come out of the grant.“Let’s dream that the next AA can be incubated and supported and advanced as a result of this funding,” he said. “This is a wonderful, historic, I think monumental collaboration, using the people’s money for the overall health and well-being” of the community.Money to respond to whatever comes nextSummit County received about $110 million from a settlement with companies that made and marketed prescription opioids, Johnson said. Some of the money went to attorneys’ fees and other expenses, while about $15 million has already been invested. Even after the $45 million fund is created, she said, the county will still have about $30 million remaining.Johnson said in creating the innovation fund, county leaders are trying to take lessons from the tobacco litigation settlement. Those funds were all spent, she said, leaving no capacity to fight the current vaping epidemic, for example.“We want the county to have this resource to be able to combat whatever comes next,” she said. As the opioid crisis moved from the pharmaceutical industry’s pills to heroin, then fentanyl, then beyond, Johnson said creating an innovation fund would allow leaders to continue to pivot to new solutions as the face of addiction continued to change. Over the last decade, she said, there have been “dramatic strides” with medication-assisted treatment; Johnson said the proposal would give the new foundation leeway to direct money toward other unknown solutions that could make a real difference in people’s lives.Creating a legacy in Summit CountyCounty Council has held two readings of the proposed legislation but has tabled it to ask more questions, Johnson said. Petures said that, in addition to people who have experience with addiction and recovery, he expects board members to have expertise in areas such as business management, law and finance.The board, and the fund, will be separate from either county government or the Akron Community Foundation, he said. The county will appoint six members and the community foundation will appoint seven. The group will look toward data-driven solutions, he said, to find effective ways to address addiction and mental health issues.Petures praised Shapiro’s vision in directing the money for the long-term health of the community. Johnson called the foundation a legacy Shapiro would be leaving to the community.“I don’t think the impact of a fund like this can be overstated,” she said. “It is the executive’s desire to help people she will never meet. This money should last long past her time in office.”Following her speech, Shapiro said she hoped the access to money would be a catalyst for new ideas in the community, including ways to reduce the stress points in people’s lives that sometimes lead them toward addiction. Akron and Summit County’s AA heritage, she said, created “a generational affinity to want to help people.” “It’s a legacy that has created possibilities,” she said.The post Summit County leaders intend to create $45 million foundation for addiction recovery appeared first on Signal Akron.First published by Signal Akron.