Christian County Fiscal Court approved two memorandums of understanding at Tuesday’s meeting, granting Opioid Settlement Funds to two organizations working to provide resources to prevent the abuse of opioids and other narcotics.
Local and state governments across the country have received Opioid Settlement Funds, which are set to be used to support narcotic addiction prevention and recovery efforts. At the meeting, fiscal court members approved granting nearly $100,000 in settlement funds.
Around $19,000 was granted to Forcht Broadcasting to create an online addiction prevention campaign to connect people to recovery resources and information concerning the risks of opioid use. Forcht Broadcasting is a parent company that owns 26 radio stations across Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. Including WHOP in Hopkinsville.
WHOP General Sales Manager Traci Mason Perry says the campaign will include a landing page that will spotlight addiction resources in Christian County, along with other information that fiscal court magistrates want to include.
Mason Perry also says the online campaign will have keywords, so people searching for narcotic addiction recovery and prevention resources online can likely come across the campaign.
Then, around $80,000 was granted to the Hopkinsville nonprofit Courage House. Melinda Woodard from Courage House says the nonprofit started in May 2025 and is a twelve-bed home that supports men who were recently released from jail or are recovering from addiction.
Woodard told fiscal court magistrates that the funding will be used to provide necessities for the men living in the home. She says oftentimes, men come to the nonprofit with no change of clothes or hygiene items, and the funding will allow them to get items for themselves.
Woodard says the funds will also be used to support the transportation needs of their residents.
To conclude the meeting, Judge Executive Jerry Gilliam says they are working on creating an application process for local organizations to apply for Opioid Settlement Funds.