Funding for Recovery Engagement and Expansion (FREE)

The third round of Funding for Recovery Engagement and Expansion (FREE III) aims to reduce overdose deaths and increase the overall well-being of Kentuckians by expanding outreach and engagement activities in communities significantly impacted by the overdose epidemic. FREE’s mission is to connect individuals to substance use treatment services and recovery supports and/or to reduce the stigma around accessing life-saving interventions.

This program is a partnership with the Department for Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities at the Cabinet for Health and Family Services.

The FREE III grantees are:

AppalReD Legal Aid

HOTEL INC

Louisville Pride Foundation

North Central District Health Department

Project Ricochet

Pushing Forward, Inc

Somali Community of Louisville

The Support Agency

Thrive Community Coalition

Turning Insecurities to Opportunities (TITO), Inc

This collaboration will only fund projects that:

  • Utilize a trauma-informed and resilience-oriented care approach to reduce premature death of Kentuckians at high-risk for overdose.

  • Provide evidence-based prevention, treatment, and recovery support services to Kentuckians at high-risk for overdose.

  • Strengthen treatment and prevention infrastructure through collaborative projects centering communities significantly impacted by the overdose epidemic.

Eligible activities under this grant include, but are not limited to:

  • Conducting outreach and relationship building

  • Reducing stigma through marketing, storytelling, or community events

  • Building coalitions among service providers

  • Increasing public knowledge of and reducing stigma toward:

    • Overdose prevention and life-saving interventions (e.g., naloxone and drug test strip distribution)

    • Evidence-based treatment and recovery supports, including FDA-approved medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD)

    • Multiple paths to recovery.

    • Grass-roots organizations providing services in communities disproportionally impacted by the overdose epidemic will be prioritized.

    • At least 10 grants will be awarded, each in the amount of $50,000.

    • All funded activities must take place within the grant period, from January 1, 2026, to December 31, 2026.

    • Funding Source: Contract is contingent upon the availability of funding.

    • Awardees must submit monthly progress reports that capture data related to performance measures identified in their contracts and financial reports detailing project expenditures.

    • Technical assistance will be provided to all grantees to help build their capacity for managing future foundation, state, and federal grants.

    • Foundation staff may conduct a site visit of the program within the grant period.

    • Grantees will meet monthly with Foundation staff to review financial records and monitor program goals.

    • Grantees will also be required to participate in monthly collaborative workshops with Foundation staff and other grant recipients. 

    • Projects that include services that are not evidence-based, evidence-informed, or community-defined

    • Meals: Funds can be used for food as a necessary expense totaling no more than $10.00 per program participant and must not exceed 10% of the total budget.

    • Out-of-state travel

    • Pay for promotional or incentive items including, but not limited to, clothing and commemorative items such as pens, mugs/cups, folders/folios, lanyards, and conference bags

    • Pay for the purchase or construction of any building or structure to house any part of the program

    • Make direct payments to individuals to enter treatment or continue to participate in prevention or treatment services

    • Cannot supplant current funding of existing activities. “Supplant” is defined as replacing funding of a recipient’s existing program with funds from a federal grant.

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