TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Krishna Namburi, City Manager
FROM: Courtney Knox Busch, Assistant City Manager/Director for Strategy and Engagement
SUBJECT:
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Status report on Engagement and Outreach for Drug Prevention, Treatment, and Enforcement in Salem
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
Result Area(s): Good Governance; Natural Environment Stewardship; Safe and Healthy Community; Safe, Reliable and Efficient Infrastructure; Strong and Diverse Economy; Welcoming and Livable Community.
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SUMMARY:
summary
Substance use remains a significant challenge impacting the health, safety, and livability of the Salem community, and is a high priority for residents. In response, in late March 2026, the City initiated a comprehensive Prevent, Treat, and Enforce strategy to better understand and strengthen the system of services addressing substance use.
Through ongoing engagement with community partners, the City continues mapping existing resources, identifying service gaps, and clarifying roles across prevention, treatment, and enforcement efforts. Early findings highlighted gaps in enforcement capacity and confirmed that treatment services are largely outside the City’s core responsibilities, emphasizing the importance of partnerships.
The City developed initial assessment and engagement tool to guide this work and is leveraging existing collaborations, including Marion County and regional partners. This effort aims to align resources, enhance coordination, avoid duplication and identify opportunities for both immediate and long-term action.
Through summer 2026, staff will continue engagement efforts and return to Council with findings and recommendations to inform a coordinated strategy and next steps.
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ISSUE:
Information only.
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Information only.
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FACTS AND FINDINGS:
Substance use continues to impact the health, safety, and livability of the Salem community while placing increasing demands on City services. In FY 2024-25, the City of Salem began work in the Opioid prevention arena following receipt of funds from national Opioid manufacturer settlements.
Recent community survey results identified addressing drug-related issues as the second-highest priority for residents. During Council discussions on this issue, the City Manager emphasized the need to address substance use through a comprehensive Prevent, Treat, and Enforce approach. As part of this effort, in late March 2026, the City launched an engagement strategy to better understand and strengthen the system of drug prevention, treatment, and enforcement across the Salem community.
The goal of this work is to develop a comprehensive understanding of existing resources and services across Prevent, Treat, and Enforce efforts, identify the agencies providing them, and assess how these efforts individually and collectively contribute to reducing substance use and improving health outcomes. This work also identifies service gaps, particularly within the City’s role, and seeks to strategically align resources to address those gaps, improve coordination, and avoid duplication of services.
Through conversations and direct engagement, the City has been building a shared understanding of existing resources and a network of potential partners supporting the Prevent, Treat, and Enforce framework (Attachment 1). As part of this engagement, staff are documenting the work being performed by service providers and identifying gaps within the system.
Progress to Date
As a City, we are already working collaboratively through established partnerships and ongoing communication with Marion County Health and Human Services and the Marion County Sheriff’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion (LEAD) program. Through an initial soft launch with these key partners, early mapping and engagement efforts indicate that treatment services, beyond initial emergency response, are not traditionally within the City’s core responsibilities.
Role of Community Health Improvement Plan. Many mental health and substance use prevention activities are guided by the Community Health Improvement Plan (CHIP), a community-driven plan designed to improve overall health outcomes by aligning partners and community organizations, including Marion and Polk Counties. The CHIP is informed by the Community Health Assessment, which uses data and community input to identify priority health needs of our community. Current priorities for 2026-2030 include Access to Healthcare, Housing Stability, and Mental Health and Substance Use resources.
Engagements to-date. Staff are actively engaging organizations and community members. Each engagement expands awareness of key stakeholders and strengthen coordination across prevention, treatment, and enforcement efforts.
• Neighborhood Association Chairs’ meeting
• Salem Keizer School District
• Marion County Health and Human Services’ Substance Use Prevention
• Polk County Family and Community Outreach - Prevention Programs
• Keizer Police Department
• Salem Leadership Foundation Neighborhood Partnership Teams
• Equity Partnership Roundtable
• Community Violence Reduction Initiative prevention workgroup
• Fentanyl Free Oregon organization
• InSight Onsite segment through CC: Media
• Fentanyl Awareness and Education: City Council proclamation, Youth and Young Adult opioid prevention and awareness landing page; e-newsletter and social media; Salem Keizer SD “Know the Signs” Community Event; and employee engagement through Wellness Webinar.
Identified Gaps to-date. As a starting point, the City identified agencies with which it already partners and collaborates. Some identified gaps present opportunities for new collaborations that can begin in the coming months.
For example, initial conversations identified an opportunity that led the City to convene two-county regional recipients of opioid settlement funds to network, share information, align messaging, promote best practices, coordinate efforts where possible, and provide ongoing support across Marion and Polk Counties.
City staff have also identified gaps within the City’s current role, including limited dedicated drug enforcement capacity and the absence of a coordinated prevention education strategy.
Early engagement with potential partners also suggests gaps in data-sharing systems across organizations and coordination of youth engagement activities.
Next Steps. Staff are broadening engagement efforts with community-based organizations, the business sector, healthcare providers, direct treatment providers, and law enforcement through summer 2026. Information gathered through this process will be brought back to Council to support discussion on where the City is best positioned to act and where partnerships can be leveraged to expand resources and better serve the community. Staff will return to Council in September with findings from this engagement and recommended next steps.
BACKGROUND:
Staff have initiated broader conversations and engagement efforts to identify key actors and opportunities across drug prevention, treatment, and enforcement in Salem. Through the Prevent, Treat, and Enforce strategy, the City will develop a more comprehensive understanding of available resources to reduce substance use and improve health outcomes.
This engagement strategy will also provide a broader and deeper insight into existing gaps and opportunities, enabling the City to strategically reposition resources, where appropriate, to address those gaps.
Courtney Knox Busch
Assistant City Manager/Director for Strategy and Engagement
Attachments:
1. Prevent, Treat and Enforce strategy, with guide to engagement tool