We had the pleasure of interviewing Greg from Missouri’s NARR Affiliate. We are excited to feature the wonderful work all of the NARR affiliates all over the US on the One Step blog!
1.Name Gregory D. Smith, JD,CRADC, CPS, MARS, Executive Director
2.State Missouri Coalition of Recovery Support Providers (Missouri)
3.Role at NARR Serve as Executive Director of NARR’s Missouri state affiliate, MCRSP. Involved on the NARR Advocacy Committee calls.
4.What initiatives are you working on in 2021? Every year we work on our state budget. In 2018, we obtained a line item in our state’s Department of Mental Health (DMH) budget for recovery support services, which includes housing. For FY2019, we started with $2.625 million. In FY20, we obtained an increase to $3.67 million, where it remains today. We have also worked with our state DMH to obtain other funds for recovery housing. Under the STR and SOR grants, the state DMH has set aside $1 million annually for recovery housing and another $1 million for recovery community centers. This year, they set aside $2 million for housing out of SOR funds.
In addition, we have negotiated with the state DMH to use funds from the federal COVID “stimulus” bills for recovery housing. The December COVID “stimulus” bill gave our state an additional $24.9 million in substance use block grant funds. THe state has agreed to spend 20% of that new block grant money on recovery support services (including housing), in addition to $2 million for recovery community centers. This will bring our annual RSS budget to $6.1 million annually for at least the next two years.
We are promoting legislation this year, HB1174, that would give people and businesses that make private donations to recovery organizations eligible for a tax credit for their donations. This bill passed out of committee unanimously “do pass” and is awaiting action in the House Rules Committee before it goes to the House floor for consideration. We only have four weeks left in our legislative session, but are hopeful to get the bill passed before the end of the session. If not, we will be back next year with the same legislation.
5.What is your state’s stance on certification of sober livings? Are there any plans in place to require certification?
Our state has been very supportive of recovery housing. Our state recognizes the NARR accreditation process through MCRSP. In order for a housing provider to receive state funding, it must be accredited through MCRSP. We do not expect any other accreditation or certification requirements at this time. There have not been any discussions about additional requirements. This could change though, especially if the federal government develops model legislation concerning this topic.
6.How many members do you have? We have 126 members, which includes housing providers, recovery community centers and recovery support service providers. We currently have 139 accredited homes, with 126 that are currently active (13 are inactive). We have about 45 organizations that operate these 126 active homes.
Thank you Greg!