Norton Select Board awards $26,500 in opioid grants to three recovery organizations

Select Board · Meeting of July 14, 2026

Norton Select Board unanimously awards $26,500 in opioid settlement grants to three community organizations. The funds, recommended by the Norton Opioid Prevention and Education Collaborative and signed off at the July 14 meeting, go to St. Vincent de Paul Attleboro District Council ($15,000), Sun Will Rise Foundation ($6,500), and Grit and Grace ($5,000).

Police Chief Brian Clark, who coordinated the grant process, told the board the awards will "probably reach at least 50 residents this year." Representatives of all three groups addressed the board; Robin Houston of Sun Will Rise said she founded the organization after the death of her 20-year-old son to provide peer grief support to families bereaved by substance use. The board also approved $131,800 in routine end-of-year budget transfers with roughly $1 million in projected turnbacks on an $80 million budget, reported $138,994 in health insurance savings from an opt-out and high-deductible enrollment initiative, and voted unanimously to send a letter to state Senator Paul Feeney urging him to advance House Bill 5561 — a decade-in-the-making measure to transfer idle MassDOT land near Interstate 495 for commercial-industrial development that passed the House on July 6.

In the full story:

• Health Insurance Savings
• MassDOT Land Transfer Legislation (House Bill 5561)
• Who Was There
• Organizations And Documents Referenced
• The complete report — 3,221 words

Source: the Select Board meeting of July 14, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.