Promoting Comprehensive Partnerships in Behavioral Health
Opioid Steering Committee
CHARTER 
Drafted October 2023
Reviewed and Revised November 2023

Purpose: To establish a workgroup of Region V Systems’ Stakeholders, with one mission: ensure that the resources from Region V Systems’ opioid settlement funds are allocated effectively and efficiently within Region V Systems’ service area.  

Scope: The Opioid Steering Committee is a subcommittee of Region V Systems. It is charged with reviewing available data to provide leadership, strategic planning, and recommendations regarding allocation of opioid settlement funds into priority areas. The Opioid Steering Committee will make recommendations, which will move forward by majority vote of members in attendance.  Recommendations will then be forwarded to the Behavioral Health Advisory Committee (BHAC) which will submit final recommendations to the Regional Governing Board (RGB) for final approval. Recommendations of this committee are intended to abate and remediate the opioid epidemic for individuals and caregivers to treat, prevent, educate, and support recovery to reduce opioid use disorder and the misuse of opioids. The committee will complete these efforts through financial support from the Nebraska Opioid Recovery Fund disbursements to Region V Systems over an 18-year period.

Allocation of these funds must align with Exhibit E and the Principles for the Use of Funds from the Opioid Litigation: 
1)	Spend money to save lives. 
2)	Use evidence to guide spending. 
3)	Invest in youth prevention. 
4)	Focus on racial equity.
5)	Develop a fair and transparent process for deciding where to spend the funding.

Funds may be dispersed by one of the following methods: investments for obvious expenditures, grant applications, or request for proposals.  Once funds are dispersed the Opioid Steering Committee will review outcomes and progress of approved expenditures to ensure continued alignment with overall objectives.

Membership: Efforts will be made to include representation from the following eight areas: Treatment and Recovery, Prevention, Law Enforcement, Harm Reduction, Lived Experience, Community/Faith Based, BHAC, and RGB. The Opioid Steering Committee membership will be no less than 20 and no more than 60 and include a minimum of 30% rural representation. Region V Systems will provide employees for leadership and coordination.   

Frequency of Meetings: Monthly

Attendance: Subcommittee members are encouraged to participate in at least 75% (cumulative average) of all Opioid Steering Committee meetings each calendar year.

Resources: Opioid Response Network (ORN), Nebraska Opioid Settlement Remediation Advisory Committee (NOSRAC), SAMHSA, Opioid Steering Committee, Region V Systems Opioid Settlement Flowchart, NOSRAC National Settlements General Payment Structure Chart, and various data sources.

Desired Outcomes:
•	Ensure decisions are made with the primary goal of SAVING LIVES. 
•	Reduce stigma through community and systemwide culture change.  
•	Increase community awareness, education, and access to resources.
•	Decrease the barriers that minority groups face in accessing high-quality treatment and recovery support services.
•	Decrease barriers individuals face, including but not limited to low socio-economic status, residence in non-urban areas, or being under-insured, in accessing treatment and recovery support services.
•	Utilize evidence-based strategies, promising practices, and data to drive decisions regarding substance use prevention, reduction, treatment, or mitigation strategies.

Objectives:  
•	Review and become familiar with NOSRAC’S needs assessment and Region V Systems Opioid Crisis Response Blueprint to guide decision making.
•	Identify priority categories for project funding, and percentage of funds allocated. 
•	Review and update available Opioid funding sources within Region V Systems catchment area. 
•	Identify gaps in services to guide and prioritize suggested areas of need.  
•	Encourage decision-making to supplement rather than supplant funding to ensure that dollars are additive to existing efforts.  
•	Review and disseminate outcomes from funded activities.
•	Identify health equity and relevant disparities among racial and ethnic populations, geographic regions, and special populations. 
•	Charter will be reviewed, and if needed, revised annually by the Opioid Steering Committee.