ESCANABA — Organizations that aim to fight the ongoing opioid epidemic in Delta County may soon have a new way to seek support — mini grants.

The mini grants, which will be further discussed at the next regular meeting of the Delta County Board of Commissioners, would be provided by the county using opioid settlement funds. The grants would be provided in addition to an existing grant program currently being run by the county for large-scale projects that also aim to fight opioid addiction or mitigate community harm caused by drug abuse.

Both grants would be funded using money collected by the state from national and state-level settlements with pharmaceutical companies and chain pharmacies. The settlements are expected to bring nearly $1.6 billion to Michigan by 2040, with 50% of the money being redistributed to counties, cities, and townships and the rest being placed in the Michigan Opioid Healing and Recovery Fund.

The idea of the mini grants came after the county’s opioid task force received feedback from organizations that applied during the last grant cycle.

“It basically was feedback from the folks who were applying, like, ‘This was too big. We don’t need this big of a process. We have a really simple ask; we just need $1,000 to do something,’ and there’s no way for us to accommodate that. So (with) this mini grant we would be able to accommodate those kinds of needs,” Commissioner Christine Williams said during Tuesday’s county board meeting.

Those smaller asks were frequently for things like community events and one-off projects, not a large or recurring purchase.

“The application would be a much simpler application than the much larger (requests for proposals) that we put out for the opioid task force and it’s meant for more event-type expenditures versus major projects,” said Commissioner Kelli van Ginhoven.

If the county moves forward with opening up mini grants — a decision that will likely be made at the Aug. 5 meeting — each grant would be for up to $3,000, with the opioid task force allocating up to $15,000 for the small grants annually. Applications would be accepted throughout the year, but each group could only apply for a mini grant once per year.

“I think it’s a nice way to add versatility to what you already have,” said Commissioner Matt Jensen.

The cycle is now open for the larger grants, with the request for proposal application paperwork now on the county’s website. A separate website is currently in the works that would host the application materials for both types of opioid settlement grants.