The Opioid Settlement Funds Annual Convening brings together medical providers, community organizations, and system partners for a day of learning, connection, and collaboration. No single organization can address opioid use disorder alone.

The convening will be held on Tuesday, July 29, 2026, from 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM at the Allen County Public Library in downtown Fort Wayne. Light breakfast and lunch will be provided at no cost to attendees.

By creating space for education and authentic connection, we aim to reduce silos, highlight effective practices, and build shared understanding that saves lives and restores families.

Medical & clinical providers Behavioral health professionals Nonprofits & community-based organizations Recovery & harm reduction organizations

Youth-serving & prevention partners Faith-based & grassroots partners Public health & government stakeholders Justice-connected organizations & reentry programs Peer support leaders & individuals with lived experience

Indiana’s 2024 Woman of the Year (USA Today) | White House Champion of Change | Forbes 50 over 50

Justin Phillips is the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Overdose Lifeline, Inc. (ODL), a statewide Indiana nonprofit dedicated to reducing the stigma of substance use disorder and preventing deaths from opioid overdose. After losing her son Aaron to a preventable overdose in 2013, Justin channeled her grief and public health expertise into action — including leading the passage of Aaron’s Law in 2015, which enabled over-the-counter access to naloxone (Narcan) across Indiana.

A nationally recognized speaker and advocate, Justin has testified before the President’s Commission on Combating Drug Addiction, addressed the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime on two occasions, and received some of Indiana’s highest honors — including the Sagamore of the Wabash, awarded by Governor Holcomb. She holds master’s degrees in Clinical Addiction Counseling from Indiana Wesleyan University and in Philanthropic Studies and Nonprofit Management from Indiana University.

Watch Justin's TED Talk: ted.com/talks/justin_phillips_i_am_a_phoenix

Indiana University School of Public Health, Director, Advancing Substance Use and Addiction Research Group (ASA) | Former President, American Academy of Health Behavior

Dr. Dong-Chul Seo is a leading epidemiologist and behavioral health interventionist at the Indiana University School of Public Health in Bloomington, IN. As Principal Investigator of multiple opioid overdose prevention projects — including MACRO-B, PCOOD, and HOPE-B — his research focuses on evidence-based interventions to reduce opioid overdose deaths and address substance use disparities among vulnerable populations. His work has been supported by more than two dozen grants from NIH, NSF, and other major funders, and he has received the Indiana University Trustees Teaching Award six times.

During the luncheon, Dr. Seo will present original research focused specifically on the needs of the Fort Wayne community, including historical data and implications for local strategies going forward. This is a rare opportunity to hear cutting-edge, locally relevant findings from one of Indiana’s foremost addiction researchers.

Led by local experts, breakout sessions are designed for your role. Two tracks run concurrently — choose the one that fits your work.

MEDICAL PROVIDER TRACK MAT in Real Life: Access, Barriers & Solutions An honest look at what limits access to medication-assisted treatment locally — including stigma, transportation, staffing shortages, and insurance barriers — and the creative models that are working to overcome them. Led by physicians, nurse practitioners, MAT program leads, and clinic administrators. Bridging the Gap: Continuity of Care After Discharge Focused on preventing people from falling through the cracks after leaving the ER, detox, or inpatient stays or leaving situations of incareration. This session will explore warm handoff models, barriers to follow-up care, and how local teams are building better bridges between hospital systems and community providers.

COMMUNITY PROVIDER TRACK Peer Support & Recovery Housing: Models, Infrastructure & Gaps An exploration of peer support as essential infrastructure, not an add-on, alongside an examination of what quality recovery housing looks like in Fort Wayne, where gaps exist, and what makes the difference between housing that sustains recovery and housing that doesn’t. Engaging the Hard-to-Reach: Outreach That Works Street outreach, trust-building, and the art of meeting people where they are without conditions. Local outreach teams, harm reduction organizations, and faith-based partners will share what consistency and relationship look like in practice, and why they matter more than compliance.

Cross-Track Integration Session

For the people we serve, there are no lanes, there is just life, and the systems they are trying to navigate. This session brings medical and community providers together to examine what happens between systems, and what it takes to build real continuity of care across Allen County.

The session opens with a presentation from Tanya and Jan of the Allen County Department of Health's Overdose Fatality Review (OFR) Team — a multidisciplinary process that examines overdose deaths to identify where the system fell short and where lives might have been saved. Many attendees will be hearing about this team and process for the first time. Their findings offer a powerful, data-grounded look at where transitions break down and where our collective response must improve.

Following the OFR presentation, participants move into a facilitated table dialogue — seated intentionally across sectors, mixing clinicians with community providers, peer specialists with hospital staff. Guided by shared prompts, tables explore where handoffs most often fail, where coordination has worked and why, and what single change would most improve continuity between medical and community care.

This is not a lecture. This is collective sense-making — honest, practical, and focused on what comes next.

The City of Fort Wayne Opioid Settlement Committee oversees the strategic investment of opioid settlement funds across Fort Wayne, directing resources toward prevention, treatment, harm reduction, and recovery. Guided by community input and a commitment to evidence-based practice, the Committee works to ensure that settlement dollars create lasting, meaningful impact for individuals and families affected by opioid use disorder. This annual convening is part of that commitment — bringing together the providers, organizations, and community members whose collective work is at the heart of the City of Fort Wayne's response to the opioid crisis.