The Cabinet secretary made the announcement in Clinton Township, Michigan, where he met with leaders at the area’s Easterseals behavioral health clinic.
At a press conference, Kennedy revealed the new funding is part of the Great American Recovery Initiative that President Donald Trump created through an executive order in January. The $700 million investment adds to the initial funds to combat opioid addiction.
“Through more than $700 million in new investments, we are advancing President Trump’s Great American Recovery Initiative and addressing the addiction and serious mental illness that fuel homelessness across America,” Kennedy said. “These investments will help move people from the streets into treatment and recovery, strengthen families, save lives, and make communities safer.”
Kennedy said $96 million will go toward the Safety Through Recovery, Engagement, and Evidence-based Treatment and Support Program, otherwise known as the STREETS initiative, that will award eight communities up to $3 million over the next four years. The money will be used to “develop multisector, state-of-the-art care systems for people who are homeless and have substance use disorders, serious mental illness, or co-occurring disorders,” according to an HHS press release.
The remaining $612 million will be allocated to other behavioral health programs that address suicide, substance abuse, and mental health.
Although Wednesday’s announcement was made in Michigan, the latest investment is for community-based behavioral healthcare nationwide.
Kennedy spoke of the important role that spirituality plays in alcohol rehabilitation, explaining how the 12-step Alcoholics Anonymous program can “induce a spiritual awakening” as its founders intended.
“The 12-step programs are devoid of religion, but they are spiritual programs nonetheless,” the HHS chief said.
The Great American Recovery Initiative is led by Kennedy and Kathryn Burgum, the White House senior adviser for addiction recovery and the wife of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum.
Kathryn Burgum spoke of her personal experience with religion at the press conference. She recounted her 24-year journey in recovering from alcohol addiction, saying she wanted to die by suicide before “God intervened in my life.”
“I’m standing here today because of that, and so I am spending all my time on looking at opportunities to help people,” she said, adding that the Great American Recovery Initiative treats “addiction like the chronic disease it is.”
HHS Center for Faith Director Monty Burks later took the podium to talk about how faith-based organizations can assist in providing addiction recovery support services to those in need.
“In previous years, the faith community was systematically removed from the healing process in their own communities,” Burks said. “Government is built by transactions, not relationships.”
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His comment appeared to be referencing the Biden administration, which Kennedy said “actively discouraged funding to faith-based organizations for recovery” and favored a harm-reduction approach. The Trump administration began restoring funding to such organizations last year through federal grants.
Kennedy said faith-based organizations “are once again encouraged and eligible” to receive funds for addiction recovery, while emphasizing that secular organizations, such as Easterseals, will also receive funding through the federal health initiative.