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ON-AIR SEGMENT: Director of Lewis County Community Services Anna Platz joins North Country News to discuss second round of funding for Future Stories Fund

Published on August 27, 2025

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LOWVILLE- On Wednesday, August 27, 2025, Director of Lewis County Community Services, Anna Platz, joined North Country News and discussed the open application process for the second round of funding from the Future Stories Fund.

Applications will be accepted through September 5, as the goal of this initiative is to help mitigate the opioid epidemic.   

For context, Lewis County, New York filed a lawsuit in 2018 against pharmaceutical companies and drug distributors over claims of aggressive and fraudulent marketing of prescription opioid painkillers that fueled a drug overdose epidemic in the county and throughout the nation.

As a result, Lewis County received approximately $300,000 in “accelerated” payments from both Federal lawsuits and State Abatement (OASAS) funds, with an anticipated annual allocation of $55,000 for approximately 16 years.

Lewis County Community Services will work with OASAS, the federal government and pharmaceutical companies to (as it stands) provide $55,000 worth of grants on an annual basis and thus, the Future Stories Fund was born.

You may remember how the following organizations were awarded Future Stories Funds last-year to support upstream strategies that strengthen community institutions and address the mental health needs of young people:

  1. Lewis County Youth Bureau was awarded $10,000 for implementation of The Screenagers Project, which will provide Lewis County schools with access to films, curriculums and lesson plans that are designed to help youth safely navigate the digital world.
  2. Lowville Academy and Central School was awarded $11,135 to purchase a universal screener for social-emotional wellness that will proactively identify and provide immediate and actional support for at-risk students.
  3. Copenhagen Central School was awarded $20,000 to help families cover the costs of school-based mental health services and train staff in trauma-informed practices.

For more information, be sure to visit the Future Stories Fund page and listen to our latest on-air segment with Anna Platz:

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