North Carolina Region A Opioid Abatement Needs Assessment and Strategic Planning

Project Description

Omni partnered with the seven-county Region A in western North Carolina to support a comprehensive opioid abatement planning effort. The project included both a regional needs assessment and the creation of a strategic plan for Region A as a whole, alongside tailored county-level plans to guide the use of opioid settlement funds. To build a strong foundation for decision-making, Omni prepared detailed regional data snapshots that synthesized opioid-related secondary data, highlighted social determinants of health indicators, and incorporated rich insights gathered directly from the community through a survey, focus groups, and key informant interviews. These data-driven resources equipped regional leaders with a nuanced understanding of the crisis and its impacts across the diverse communities of Region A.

The planning process produced both a unified regional strategy and county-level plans, ensuring that every community in Region A has clear goals, strategies, and milestones for using opioid settlement funds effectively.

The Southwestern Commission, which serves as the regional council of government for Region A, convened multiple strategic planning meetings where the community and partners came together to review the data, analyze findings, and establish shared priorities for opioid abatement funding at the regional level. At the same time, county leaders engaged in parallel planning processes to ensure that local needs and perspectives were captured. Each county developed its own plan that articulated clear goals, actionable strategies, concrete implementation steps, and key milestones designed to guide the effective deployment of funds. Through this collaborative process, the region now has a unified strategic framework for addressing the opioid crisis, anchored in local voices, robust data, and coordinated planning across all seven counties.