SACRAMENTO — October 30, 2026. California is directing more than $21 million to 112 community organizations to expand education about opioid and stimulant use, overdose prevention and connections to treatment, according to a news release sent to California58 by the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday.

The initiative is administered by the California Department of Health Care Services (DHCS) through its Opioid and Stimulant Use Disorder Prevention and Education Program. Funded through the federal State Opioid Response IV grant, the organizations are scheduled to carry out activities from September 1, 2026, to August 31, 2027.

What the funding is intended to provide

According to the Governor’s Office, participating groups will conduct community outreach, offer overdose-prevention workshops and training, distribute naloxone where appropriate, connect residents with peer navigators and help people find addiction treatment and recovery support. Partners may include health care providers, schools, tribal communities, faith groups and local behavioral health organizations.

Naloxone is a medicine that can reverse an opioid overdose; it does not reverse a stimulant overdose. In a suspected overdose, call 911 immediately and follow emergency-dispatch instructions. The state’s announcement does not identify individual participating organizations by county, their award amounts or specific local distribution dates. Residents should not assume that a particular Monterey County, Los Angeles County or other local agency received funding without a published awardee list.

What the state says previous programs achieved

The Governor’s Office also reported figures for the September 2024–September 2025 reporting period: 28,109 patients received opioid-use-disorder treatment services, 6,713 received stimulant-use-disorder treatment, 24,274 received recovery support services and 14,090 new patients began medication treatment for opioid use disorder. The state estimated 164,349 people, including 11,029 school-aged young people, received prevention education.

These are historical program-output figures reported by the state, not measured outcomes of the newly announced 112 awards. The announcement does not establish how many lives the new funding will save or provide a county-by-county breakdown of overdose deaths.

How Californians can get help now

California’s CA Bridge Connect service offers confidential assistance with treatment referrals. Call 1-800-944-1807 or text 1-833-308-0461, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. DHCS independently published those contact details in its August 2026 announcement: CA Bridge Connect information. For additional resources see Opioids.CA.gov or DHCS Opioid Response.

Questions for local communities

California58 will seek the list of 112 recipients, grant amounts and service areas before publishing county-specific claims. The practical questions are which organizations will serve rural areas, what languages services will be offered in, where residents can obtain naloxone and whether transportation or telehealth support will be available.

Source and transparency: This report is based on an October 30, 2026 press release supplied directly to California58 by the Office of Governor Gavin Newsom. The statewide award total and service descriptions are attributed to that announcement; the separate DHCS links above corroborate the broader opioid response program and treatment helpline. California58 has not independently obtained a complete list of 112 awardees or verified their local service locations.

Corrections and local information: California58 Newsroom.

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