The West Virginia First Foundation wants people to know that applications are opening for the $19.2 million Momentum Initiative Grant.
The West Virginia First Foundation is nonprofit board with millions of dollars in opioid settlement money available to put toward relief for state residents.
The funding opportunity is meant to curtail the opioid crisis in West Virginia by supporting prevention, recovery and life-saving initiatives across the state.
The funding is allocated across five distinct target areas, including:
● Foster Care & Non-Parental Caregivers ($3.9M): Programs with statewide reach serving foster youth and kinship caregivers.
● Youth Prevention ($4.0M): Secondary prevention for at-risk youth, including those with high ACE scores, incarcerated parents, exposure to abuse or foster care placement.
● Recovery Housing ($3.8M): Expansion of certified recovery residences to strengthen long-term recovery housing capacity across West Virginia.
● Behavioral Health & Workforce Development ($3.75M): Building long-term behavioral health capacity through workforce development initiatives.
● Day Report Centers & Reentry Programs ($3.75M): Strengthening services for court-ordered and post-incarceration populations to improve reentry success and reduce recidivism.
Potential applicants must submit their applications by noon Oct. 10, 2025.
All necessary materials, including a request for applications and grant portal, are available via the West Virginia First Foundation website.
The foundation, a nonprofit, was established under the West Virginia First Memorandum of Understanding to distribute opioid settlement funds strategically to improve public health and address the crisis’s lasting effects.
Jon Dower, chairman of the grants committee, spoke at the most recent meeting of the foundation’s board about the grant period’s start.
“I’m pretty excited about it,” Dower said.
“I’m excited that we’re able to meet a need as we see it, and I hope that we get a lot of applications and that the state is able to take advantage of the offerings that this great committee brought forward,” Dower said.