Joyce wins another term on West Virginia First Foundation

PARKERSBURG - Parkersburg Mayor Tom Joyce will serve another three years on the West Virginia First Foundation as the representative for Region 3.

A meeting was held Thursday at the Wood County Resiliency Center to elect the region's representative to a three-year term to serve on the foundation's board, which approves and allocates opioid settlement funds across the state.

"The cities and counties, our lawsuits that were negotiated their way through ended up generating a big settlement," Wood County Commission President Blair Couch said. "(The Foundation is) doing good work."

Joyce's initial term ended in November, but he continued to serve until the vote could be done on Thursday.

The West Virginia First Foundation is a nonprofit foundation tasked with distributing three-quarters of the state’s more than $1 billion in opioid settlement funds.

The meeting Thursday had around a dozen people attending in person while many others attended remotely with enough to form a quorum to conduct business, according to officials present. They represented towns and counties across Region 3, including Wood, Tyler, Pleasants, Ritchie, Wirt, Calhoun, Roane and Jackson counties.

Joyce was first elected to the board in July 2023.

No other nominations were made on Thursday, allowing Joyce to be approved for another term.

"I have worked hard to be a voice for common sense and funding for common sense programming," Joyce said. "I have always been advocating during my time on this board for youth prevention and diversion in the opportunities for funding.

"I will continue to do that moving forward, because I believe with all my heart that the way you whip this opioid epidemic is you raise a generation of young people who look at illicit drug use and substance abuse the same way most people look at clubbing baby seals or here in Parkersburg, how you treat the baby ducks in the City Park Pond."

Joyce named Hope House Ministries, the Jackson County Health Department, Mid-Ohio Valley Health Department, the Mid-Ohio Valley Fellowship Home, Roane-Ritchie Primary Care Association, the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley, Westbrook Health Services, West Virginia University at Parkersburg, the North Star Child Advocacy Center and many other organizations across the region who have received funding from the Foundation.

Joyce reiterated his support for including child advocacy centers as organizations who could receive funding through the Foundation.

"Those are groups that work to serve children impacted by abuse and neglect," he said. "(North Star's) application showed that over 80% of those children came from a drug-impacted home. It was substantial."

Many programs like 4-H that are helping kids stay away from drugs are always in need of funds while treatment facilities are getting millions of dollars, Joyce said. He said there is $18 spent for every one person in recovery to $1 spent on prevention programs.

Joyce said he wants to work to streamline how funding is distributed to counties, cities and villages so it can be done more directly.

"This foundation and that bucket of money (that) exists is a direct result of litigation action brought on by counties, cities and villages across the state of West Virginia," he said. "(Emergency medical service) is a big ticket item. There should be money set aside for things that are inherently our responsibility as local government."

Officials talked about the funding needs of day report centers.

West Virginia First Executive Director Jonathan Board said in the 25 months the foundation has been operational they have made awards of over $40 million to 173 organizations across the state.

"Tom has always brought a community-first mindset to our board and has been a passionate voice for finding long-term solutions that make a difference," he said. "We’re grateful for his continued service and look forward to working alongside him as we continue investing in stronger, healthier communities across West Virginia.

"I can tell you that some of the work happening right here in your backyard is nothing short of extraordinary in covering the entire continuum of care from prevention to treatment to recovery. The mayor is always looking upstream because that is how you change the trajectory of the state."

Board talked about how day report centers were a priority in the next round of grant awards to help restore people to their families and communities. The next grant round will include multi-year grants with outcome goals.

Board said how one in 10 children across the state will experience the loss of a parent or sibling due to drug addiction. There is a high number of children statewide being raise by grandparents or great-grandparents due to drug addiction of the parents, but hey are seeing some trends begin to change.

"We are seeing amazing work," Board said. "We have to honor every dollar we have.

"Too often, money is dispersed and forgotten. We want you to know what the investment of those health dollars are yielding."

Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.com.