CHARLESTON — The private non-profit foundation created by the state and local governments to distribute opioid settlement dollars in West Virginia received an update Monday on its funding and grant programs.

The West Virginia First Foundation held its second quarter meeting Monday at Tamarack in Beckley ahead of the close of the 2025 fiscal year.

According to a financial report provided to the foundation, the market value of investments was more than $302 million, with $555,167 in available cash-on-hand. For the month of May, investment income was more than $7 million.

The West Virginia First Foundation announced in May the grantees for the foundation’s first program, which awarded $17 million for 94 projects across West Virginia. According to Chief Financial Officer Anthony Woods, the disbursement of the first and second tranches of those funds have been complete, with supplemental disbursements expected to go out by the end of summer.

“All told, we’re going to have $8.5 million that’s already out the door with our initial opportunity grant, and then in July when we make that second disbursement to our supplemental round, that will be another additional $1.2 million,” Woods said. “We’re very excited to continue to get funding out to these communities and these grantees.”

Funding approved through the Initial Opportunity Grant program will be used in four areas dealing with the state’s substance use disorder crisis: 32.4% of funding is going to drug diversion programs and interdiction programs, 23.5% is going towards youth drug prevention and workforce development, 21.8% is going towards child advocacy centers and pregnant/parenting women neonatal abstinence syndrome programs; and 22.3% is going toward transitional and/or recovery housing expansion.

Eligibility for the Initial Opportunity Grant program was limited to non-profit organizations with a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status and other kinds of nonprofits and organizations that fulfill a charitable or public purpose. The foundation approved the creation of the Initial Opportunity Grant program last September, receiving more than 174 applications by the close of the Oct. 5, 2024, deadline. The awardees were notified by the end of last year.

Representatives of the cities and counties involved in opioid litigation, as well as the Attorney General’s Office, agreed to a memorandum of understanding in 2023 to create the West Virginia First Foundation. The agreement included all 55 counties and more than 220 cities.

Johnson and Johnson, Teva, Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, Walmart, Allergan and Rite Aid agreed to a $940 million settlement with the state and local governments for their part in manufacturing and distributing prescription opioids in West Virginia, feeding a substance use crisis. So far, the state has received $290 million through the settlement.

Those funds are being distributed as such: 24.5% going to cities and counties, 3% going to the Attorney General’s Office and 72.5% going to the West Virginia First Foundation. Local governments are required to submit qualified settlement fund reports to the West Virginia First Foundation. So far, 202 of the 243 reports have been submitted as of Monday, or 84%.

“We are working on compiling those by July 15,” Woods said. “We’ll make that available to everyone and on our website. So, we’re working with some of those folks who have not submitted yet and making sure they know it’s paramount to get us this information, and we’re going to have a comprehensive report here in the next couple of weeks.”

“The West Virginia First Foundation does not oversee how local governments spend their percentage of the settlement dollars,” added Executive Director Jonathan Board. “However, we are responsible for collecting and reporting to the public those local expenditures. The data is really paramount for us moving forward on another funding cycle or what have you.”