Oregon Health News Blog – Funding from Measure 110 has allowed Bay Area First Step, Inc., an organization offering substance use disorder (SUD) treatment services, to expand and improve how it works with clients. Located in Coos County, Bay Area First Step (BAFS) is entirely peer-run, providing person-centered outpatient treatment programs, recovery housing and recovery support services. With the added funding from Measure 110, the organization has increased staff, expanded recovery infrastructure, and better coordinated with surrounding SUD organizations in Coos County. Measure 110, passed by Oregon voters in 2020, focuses on connecting people who use drugs with recovery and treatment resources, including housing assistance, as opposed to jail time. While a component of Measure 110 decriminalizes certain drugs, the measure has also made critical expansions in substance use recovery possible for organizations like BAFS. “People don’t realize how much good is coming from Measure 110, and the amount of funding that is going to treatment and recovery services,” said Steve Sanden, executive director of BAFS. Sanden said BAFS is using the money to increase what makes the organization unique and effective – its employees. With the additional funds, BAFS has grown from 16-17 people to 30. From the board level down, BAFS operates on a peer-run model, where all staff members and the majority of the board have personal lived experience with SUDs and/or mental health conditions – fostering empathy and understanding in every aspect of their work. Sanden emphasized the importance of the team members’ lived experiences in engaging with clients. “Being able to relate to the people we are supporting through treatment and recovery is a critical component of giving our clients hope,” Sanden said. When clients see and talk with peers who have experienced similar situations, it amplifies the value and benefit of services. And the path to recovery feels reachable when working with someone who has walked in their shoes. With the additional staff, BAFS has expanded treatment and recovery support services, housing assistance, direct outreach, and the ability to provide a peer mentor to every client throughout their journey with the organization. This peer-run model is foundational to BAFS’s work and has proven to be effective, not just in Oregon but across the country. Additionally, the Measure 110 funding has allowed BAFS to enhance its infrastructure. The organization set up a long-term lease and accelerated the renovation of a 40-unit motel run by peer mentors. Among other services, the building has two spaces available for clients to stabilize (previously not available in the Coos County area), which provide a safe space for emergency housing where someone can access basic needs such as food, clothing, a shower and a bed. Set up for temporary use, clients can use this space for a few hours up to a couple of days. Cari Randolph, finance director at BAFS, said she arrived at the new space in the early hours of a rainy morning to find a man outside waiting for his peer mentor without anywhere else to go after wandering all night trying to stay sober. She was able to set him up in one of the new stabilization units with dry clothes, food and a warm bed. Now, months later, the man has signed up for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—or food stamps—got a cellphone, ID and birth certificate; began therapy and medication-assisted recovery; and started a new job, all while staying compliant with his probation terms, maintaining sobriety, and working with his BAFS peer mentor. The funding also enabled BAFS to purchase two buildings for transitional housing. One is a 16-bed facility that BAFS renovated, which is expected to open soon. The other is a building (plus surrounding property) that BAFS had been previously renting for an existing 24-bed transitional housing program. Beyond BAFS’s staff and services, Measure 110 has also led to increased coordination with SUD and mental health-focused organizations in the coastal community. Historically, Sanden said, similar organizations often competed for every grant possible. Now, he said, Measure 110’s creation of local Behavioral Health Resource Networks (BHRNs) has shifted how the local SUD community treatment providers collaborate to coordinate the best care for clients. BAFS provides hope to people, and overall, Measure 110 has allowed them to “provide more hope to folks who were hopeless,” Sanden said.
