FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 18, 2025
CONTACT:
Molly McKinney, Ball Consulting Group, LLC
Phone: 617-243-9950; Email: molly@ballcg.com
RIZE Massachusetts Foundation Announces Grant Opportunity for Municipalities to Apply for Opioid Settlement Funds
$1.25M Made Available Through Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership
BOSTON (Sept. 18, 2025) – RIZE Massachusetts Foundation (RIZE), a nonprofit foundation solely dedicated to funding and collaborating on solutions to end the opioid overdose crisis in Massachusetts, announced today it will award $1.25 million in one-year matching grants to municipalities across the Commonwealth through Mosaic Opioid Recovery Partnership (Mosaic).
Mosaic is funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, and powered by RIZE. The funding comes from the Opioid Recovery and Remediation Fund (ORRF), which resulted from the historic legal effort to hold private companies accountable for the devastation caused by the opioid overdose crisis. Mosaic is part of a network of programs and initiatives funded by ORRF to address the impact of the crisis in Massachusetts.
“Mosaic is a grant program like no other, which can save lives, end stigma, and support communities that have been harmed by the opioid overdose crisis,” said Julie Burns, president and CEO of RIZE. “We envision a Massachusetts with zero stigma and zero deaths, and the Municipal Matching Grant Program is a key component in this effort. It serves to establish or expand community-informed, data-driven strategies to collaboratively utilize opioid settlement funds and effectively respond to the crisis.”
The Municipal Matching Grant Program seeks to match directly distributed municipal opioid settlement funds, enabling cities and towns to use best practices to end the overdose crisis, conduct community outreach and needs assessments, and collaborate with others.
Grantees will also have access to comprehensive support from RIZE through Mosaic’s Municipal Training and Technical Assistance (TTA) Program, ensuring municipalities have a trusted partner to develop and implement strategies and solutions rooted in their communities.
In August 2024, Mosaic announced its first grant program, Community-based Opioid Response Efforts (CORE), which is providing $3.75 million over three years to 18 community-based organizations.
Mosaic’s municipally-focused second program has provided nearly $1.5 million in matching grants to 75 cities and towns and their nonprofit partners since its launch in September of last year. Another $1.25 million will be distributed to municipalities in 2027.
In April of this year, RIZE announced a third Mosaic grant program of $7.5 million over three years, focused on family resilience, to community-based organizations. Awardees for that program are expected to be announced later this fall.
Mosaic is designed to fund initiatives that address the opioid overdose crisis in communities and populations that have been historically underserved and have experienced a high rate of opioid-related overdose deaths. This model will ensure that ORRF settlement dollars are invested and remain in the communities most deeply impacted by the crisis while also fueling transformative change through grassroots efforts.
Mosaic represents Massachusetts residents’ deep commitment to ending the opioid overdose crisis and improving the quality of life for people living with substance use disorder.
The Municipal Matching Grant Program application is available on Mosaic’s website: mosaic.rizema.org. Applications are due Nov. 7, 2025, and the grant period will begin in March 2026.
About RIZE Massachusetts
RIZE Massachusetts Foundation (RIZE) is solely dedicated to funding and collaborating on solutions to end the overdose crisis. Guided by those with lived and living experience and unafraid of new ideas, RIZE is building networks, creating programming, and investing in community partners using novel approaches to preventing overdose and increasing access to treatment and recovery supports. RIZE makes health equity a programmatic priority by addressing root causes such as racism, systemic barriers to care, and power imbalances. Learn more at rizema.org.
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