Wyoming nonprofit receives $3.4 M of Nebraska’s opioid settlement funds to build Nebraska clinic
The Central Wyoming Counseling Center, a nonprofit based in Casper, Wyoming, received a $3.4 million award from Nebraska’s Opioid Treatment Infrastructure Cash Fund to construct a crisis‑stabilization center in Kimball County, Nebraska. The grant was part of the state’s first round of infrastructure awards totaling roughly $10.5 million, which also includes a $4.4 million award to Heartland Counseling Services near South Sioux City and a $2 million award to Centerpointe in Lincoln and Omaha.
Jeff Powell, a spokesperson for Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services, said the funding “would mean Western Nebraskans in crisis and in need of immediate services to begin stabilization would need to be hospitalized or travel hundreds of miles to receive those services” if the project were not chosen. He added that law‑enforcement officers “potentially have to transport that person hundreds of miles or spend hours finding an alternative.” Powell also emphasized that former acting CEO of the counseling center, Steve Corsi, now DHHS chief executive, “had no involvement in the grant review or selection process” and “has had no involvement with the Counseling Center since leaving the organization in 2023.”
The grant was selected from 23 applicants, of which only two were out‑of‑state. The Central Wyoming Counseling Center’s proposal was the sole out‑of‑state project in the Nebraska Panhandle. According to DHHS, all applications were scored on objective criteria, and reviewers had no vested interests in the agencies submitting proposals.
Nebraska’s Opioid Recovery Fund, managed by DHHS’s Division of Behavioral Health, currently holds $32.6 million and is slated to receive more than $150 million over the next decade, with the bulk of the money disbursed between 2021 and 2028. The fund supports both direct behavioral‑health services and infrastructure projects such as the new crisis‑stabilization center.
Experts warned that transparency is essential. Robert Pack, director of East Tennessee State University’s Addiction Science Center, called the settlement money “blood money” and urged full public disclosure of how the resources are spent. Jeremy Kourvelas, a substance‑use program coordinator at the University of Tennessee’s Institute for Public Service, said, “If you don’t have integration with long‑term care, you’re not going to see long‑term reductions in overdose rates, presentations in the ER, crime, so on and so forth related to drugs.” He added that crisis‑stabilization centers are “step one” but must be linked to longer‑term treatment options to achieve lasting impact.
The new facility aims to provide short‑term stabilization and then route patients to community‑based services throughout the Nebraska Panhandle. Law‑enforcement officials, hospitals, and community partners have welcomed the addition, citing the acute need for nearby crisis resources in a region where such services are scarce.