Shasta College reports early success with use of county opioid settlement funds

Seven months after the Shasta County Board of Supervisors approved about $889,000 in opioid settlement funding for two educational programs, Shasta College officials say the investment is paying off. 

During today’s meeting, administrators from the college shared the first progress report on the use of opioid settlement funds for two programs, one that supports formerly incarcerated individuals and another that helps prepare students for careers in addiction response. The data-rich report is the first of five biannual updates required under the county’s agreement with the college, which runs through the end of 2028.

To date, Shasta County has received about $10.5 million of an anticipated $40 million from opioid litigation settlements. The funding is intended to support prevention, treatment and recovery efforts, addressing harms caused by pharmaceutical companies. 

In late 2025, the board approved the use of settlement funds to expand the Shasta College STEP-UP program. The abbreviation stands for Shasta Technical Education Program-Unified Partnership, and provides financial and logistical assistance to formerly incarcerated students, particularly those affected by substance use disorder.

The ultimate goal of the program is to reduce recidivism rates. Students also receive the opportunity to apply their instruction in real-world situations through internships managed by the college’s Alcohol and Drug Studies program. 

Dean of Student Services Sandra Hamilton told the Shasta County board today that 15 STEP-UP students — out of about 100 enrolled in the program — received a combined total of more than $12,000 in direct assistance for books, laptops and other educational expenses.

The funds, which averaged to about $800 per student, allowed them to take fuller courseloads and improve their academic performance, Hamilton said. Nearly all of the students qualified as low-income under federal financial aid guidelines, she added, noting that 60% still had more than $10,000 in unmet financial need, even after receiving aid. 

Opioid settlement funds also supported students in the college’s Alcohol and Drug Studies program by providing stipends for students completing required internships in behavioral health settings. This spring marked the first cohort’s completion of practicum placements in community settings such as Empire Recovery, the Good News Rescue Mission and Visions of the Cross.

According to Career Services Director Jenny Beckman, a total of $38,000 in stipends helped reduce financial barriers for about a dozen students who are completing those unpaid internship requirements. The stipends can be used by students to address their most commonly cited financial challenges, including transportation, fuel and housing costs.

Several students participating in the internship program told the college the stipends allowed them to leave second jobs so they could focus on completing their education. The internships also appear to be translating into employment — 45% of participating students received job offers from their internship sites, Beckman said. 

So far, the college has spent about $50,000 of the allocated $889,000 in opioid funding. The slow start was due to the funds arriving in late spring, only shortly before the end of the semester, college staff said.  

The board’s decision to allocate opioid funding to Shasta College’s two programs was approved by the board last year, 4-1. The dissenting vote, Supervisor Matt Plummer, said at the time that he’d like the board to be more selective about the use of opioid money. Plummer asked several clarifying questions during the college’s presentation today, adding that it was “encouraging to see these early results.”

Decisions about how Shasta’s nearly $40 million in opioid settlement funds should be allocated has been the subject of ongoing debate over the past year. In addition to the Shasta College funding, the board has allocated $4 million toward youth organizations focused on substance use prevention, while another $2.2 million has gone to the Good News Rescue Mission’s drug treatment program.

That leaves nearly a third of what the county has received so far unspent, something former Supervisor Mary Rickert addressed in a fiery comment to the board today, asking them to take their responsibility to the public seriously.

“We worked really hard to get those millions and millions of dollars, and I really am troubled at not seeing after a year and a half how that money has been spent,” Rickert said, adding that the board will be “rendering an account to our Lord.”

Maya Nelson is a student at Brown University. She’s reporting for Shasta Scout as a 2026 summer intern with support from the Nonprofit Newsroom Internship Program — created by The Scripps Howard Fund and the Institute for Nonprofit News.

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