West Virginia First Foundation

How much money could your local government receive from opioid settlement funds this year?

BY: - November 8, 2023

At its inaugural meeting on Monday, leadership with the West Virginia First Foundation announced that a portion of the settlement funds from opioid litigation is expected to be distributed to localities across the state by the end of this year. Using percentages listed for each municipality and county in the foundation’s memorandum of understanding, West […]

WV First Foundation holds inaugural meeting; executive director not yet named

BY: - November 6, 2023

The West Virginia First Foundation, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization founded earlier this year to distribute money from the state’s ongoing opioid litigation, is officially up and running after members convened for the first time on Monday. The organization is still without an executive director, but Attorney General Patrick Morrisey — who will eventually select the […]

Patrick Morrisey stands at a podium with a microphone

Despite no public or official announcement, the WV First Foundation is reportedly meeting next week

BY: - November 3, 2023

The West Virginia First Foundation — a nonprofit organization started earlier this year to distribute an expected $1 billion in opioid settlement funds — is reportedly holding its first meeting on Monday. No details, however, have been officially released concerning the meeting, where it will be or what it will entail. According to reporting in […]

Service providers have ideas on how WV’s $1 billion in opioid settlement money should be spent

BY: - October 6, 2023

Over the next few years West Virginia is set to receive a record $1 billion in opioid settlement funds that are meant to help quell the ongoing drug and overdose epidemic, but for those who work with people who use drugs and those in recovery, questions remain on the best use of that money. The […]

COMMENTARY

WV First Foundation would better serve state if it represented those affected by opioid epidemic

BY: - September 5, 2023

Last week, Gov. Jim Justice finally announced his appointments to the West Virginia First Foundation Board, a group that will decide how the state’s opioid settlement money will be spent. He was only six weeks late in his appointments. Listen, the man loves being fashionably late. That’s not the only glaring issue. The foundation is […]

A large older man in a suit sits in a blue patterned chair in front of the American and West Virginia flags. Paper and glasses sit on the desk in front of him between one raised hand that's pointing and a hand flat on the desk.

Justice appoints final members to West Virginia First Foundation Board

BY: - August 28, 2023

Exactly six weeks after the deadline, Gov. Jim Justice announced his five appointments to the West Virginia First Foundation board during his Monday news briefing. The appointments by Justice complete the First Foundation’s 11-member board. The board — made up of six regionally elected members in addition to the five appointed by Justice —  will […]

A man stands at a podium while those seated on both sides of him watch him speak.

Lack of diversity, views on opioid board a concern for some 

BY: - July 18, 2023

West Virginia’s local governments have chosen who will represent them on a board overseeing the majority of the state’s opioid litigation funds, but the directors’ lack of diversity is cause for concern from some people watching the process unfold.  The six people elected to represent the state’s cities and counties include three physicians — Dr. […]

As Monday deadline approaches, Justice has yet to appoint members to First Foundation board

BY: - July 14, 2023

Monday is the deadline for the West Virginia First Foundation — which will distribute funds from opioid litigation — to complete its board of directors, but Gov. Jim Justice has yet to appoint a single one of the five members he is responsible for to the board. That deadline comes from the foundation’s articles of incorporation […]

A man in a police officer uniform pats the shoulder of a man wearing a suit to congratulate him.

State health officer elected to West Virginia First Foundation board 

BY: - July 12, 2023

West Virginia’s top health official will be part of an 11-member board that will oversee the majority of the state’s opioid litigation funds. Local governments in region 5 — Boone, Cabell, Clay, Kanawha, Lincoln, Logan, Mason, Mingo, Putnam and Wayne counties — met Wednesday morning at the Kanawha County Courthouse and elected Dr. Matthew Christiansen […]