Suffolk tries new approach in doling out opioid settlement grants, hearing directly from nonprofits

As Suffolk County officials begin weighing millions of dollars in requests for opioid settlement grants, Carol Trottere reflected on her son Alex Sutton, who died in 2018 of fentanyl poisoning. 

Trottere, who founded the Purple Rock Project to honor victims of the opioid epidemic, reminded a committee tasked with distributing money that families have been left grieving.

"It’s our blood money from our children and our loved ones," she said.

Trottere was among three dozen speakers at a first-ever forum held by the five-member committee that up until now did not publicly interact with nonprofits when deciding where to allocate money to combat opioid abuse. They heard from nonprofit leaders who pitched proposals that included treatment, recovery and prevention efforts in Suffolk County, where the number of overdose deaths has steadily declined years after being the center of the state's drug epidemic.

In September, the committee will announce the recipients of the third round of opioid funds as they say an overhauled framework will help address previous concerns of transparency, delays and a faulty selection process. The county’s first application portal opened in July 2022. A second round of applications was done in August 2023.  

This is the first allotment of opioid funds under County Executive Edward P. Romaine, who had pledged to increase transparency in the process and fix issues raised in a critical report by Comptroller John Kennedy last year. Officials say increased staffing will help streamline a reimbursement process that some nonprofit leaders said became overly burdensome, particularly for smaller organizations without dedicated staff to handle the vast troves of financial documents required to substantiate their claims.

It’s our blood money from our children and our loved ones. 

— Carol Trottere, founder of Purple Rock Project

The comptroller report analyzed the first three years of the fund primarily under the Steve Bellone administration and found issues with the selection process, lack of public participation and poor documentation.

Bellone declined to comment on the report's findings, but Health Commissioner Dr. Gregson Pigott responded to the comptroller in a letter last year saying the department "is open to suggestions that improve our process."

Kennedy, a Republican who unsuccessfully ran against Bellone for county executive in 2019, also noted in the report that Bellone and his former chief of staff, Ryan Attard, were both hired at firms that received more than $6 million in settlement funds. Attard, who chaired the opioid settlement fund committee, agreed to pay a $2,000 fine for ethics violations, Newsday previously reported.

Kennedy recommended the legislature strengthen the ethics rule by imposing a two-year ban on county executive appointees taking jobs with firms involved in county business they helped oversee. The legislature has not yet proposed a bill to do that. Mike Martino, spokesman for Romaine, did not have any information on changing the ethics rule. 

It’s unclear how much the committee can allocate in this round, but officials expect it to be in line with previous rounds.

Receiving funds

At the July 30 public hearing, speakers shared a mix of personal stories and reflections of how programs funded through settlement money impacted their lives. Many addiction experts urged the committee to address the continuum of care.

"People in this county have paid a price that no settlement can fully repay," said Lori-Ann Novello, executive director of the Lindenhurst Community Cares Coalition, a nonprofit that works to prevent substance abuse in youth. Novello encouraged the committee to fund prevention, treatment and recovery efforts. 

"At a minimum, we owe the families that were affected by this a strategy that prevents future families from bearing the same burden," she said.

Several speakers urged increased funding for recovery housing and reentry programs.

Together, they agreed the funding is ultimately about saving lives.

At a minimum, we owe the families that were affected by this a strategy that prevents future families from bearing the same burden.

— Lori-Ann Novello, executive director of Lindenhurst Community Cares Coalition

Danielle Bruschi, chief executive and co-founder of New Hope Rising, based in Westhampton Beach, said in an interview her organization, which provides recovery housing, behavioral health and therapy services, received $725,000 over three years in the first round. The money was used mostly to cover expenses for inpatient residents.

She said reimbursement delays, however, jeopardized the nonprofit’s ability to provide services. Bruschi said she understands it was a new process for the county, but the impact on small organizations like hers was "devastating."

She recalled her organization decided not to seek additional funds in the second round. And they began a proposal for the current round but ultimately opted against submitting it based on their prior experience. 

New Hope Rising is currently in an extension period for its initial funding, which runs through Dec. 31. Bruschi said the organization was advised to still plan for reimbursement delays.

She said they have had to limit scholarship awards due to uncertainty of when the funds will be awarded.

 Tina Wolf, executive director and co-founder of Community Action for Social Justice, based in Hauppauge, said in an interview her organ ization that provides overdose prevention services and syringe exchange programs received $1.5 million over three years and has spent about $800,000. She said the funding allowed the organization to grow its harm-reduction services and start a crisis mobilization team that can be dispatched to areas where fatal overdoses are occurring.  The nonprofit is seeking the same funding in this round.

The reimbursements were a challenge at first, she said.

"They do their due diligence as with any government grants," she said, adding that she was required to submit thousands of pages of documentation monthly.

She said while her organization had the infrastructure to handle the work, other smaller groups may not, which can be "problematic."

She said some type of collaboration between larger entities assisting smaller organizations with fiscal reporting could be a potential solution.

Evaluating programs

The number of overdose deaths in Suffolk has declined in recent years, according to data from the county Medical Examiner’s Office. Experts, however, caution that overdoses are an ever-evolving crisis that requires constant attention.

The settlement money comes from lawsuits filed against pharmaceutical distributors and drug manufacturers for their role in the opioid epidemic. The county has received $118 million in funds and could get as much as $264 million over the next two decades, Newsday previously reported. To date, the county has earmarked about $57.7 million to 76 programs. About 39% of that money has been disbursed, according to an online dashboard that tracks the funds.

The funds paid have increased each year, starting with $1.9 million in 2023. In 2024, the amount increased to $3.4 million and last year it was $9.1 million. This year's total is on pace to surpass that with $7.8 million paid to date, according to the county dashboard implemented under Romaine to increase transparency.

In 2023, there were 463 total overdose deaths. That figure dropped to 321 in 2024 and 243 in 2025. 

Newsday reported earlier this year how experts cited a number of factors for the decline, such as stricter opioid prescription controls, additional education and prevention efforts and more addiction treatment options.

Sylvia Diaz, chairperson of the county committee that decides who gets opioid settlement grants and deputy county executive for health, human services and education, said data collected from the first two rounds will allow for a more "targeted" approach to allocating funds and pinpointing communities that have the highest number of overdoses.

Romaine said in an interview that artificial intelligence will be one tool used to examine data and the effectiveness of programs.

"We’re going to be driven by data and the effectiveness of the various programs," he said.

He added that he believes county agencies like the health department and medical examiner’s office should be considered for funding. 

The committee includes Diaz, Pigott, Presiding Officer Anthony Piccirillo (R-Holtsville), Legis. Jason Richberg (D-West Babylon) and victim advocate Sharon Richmond.

Awarded contracts take effect Jan. 1, 2027.

Richberg said the first round of funding focused more on larger agencies while the second round shifted to more local organizations.

"Because of the work that was done in the first and second rounds, we’re able to see what programs have been effective, where we need to increase funding, where we need to scale funding," he said.

Guiding principles

At the July public hearing, John Paladino, director of behavioral health services for NYU Langone Hospital-Suffolk, encouraged the committee to prioritize funding based on "two guiding principles."

The first, he said, is to direct resources to communities with the greatest need. The second is to support programs that address opioid use disorder across the continuum of care.

"Addiction is a complex disease that requires intervention at multiple points," he said. "The margin for error is virtually nonexistent."

Vanessa Faith Probst, a rising senior at Lindenhurst High School who this fall will serve as president of the board of directors for the Lindenhurst Community Cares/Babylon Cares Youth Coalition, urged the committee to fund prevention efforts.

"My generation is the one these funds are supposed to protect, so I ask that you please fund the work that reaches us first," she said.