A statement issued yesterday said the US Department of Justice has awarded a $1 million grant to Rice County. 
The grant will help launch two programs designed to aid residents who are using or are addicted to drugs before they become involved in the criminal justice system. Specifically, the money, which the county will receive over three years, will help to fund the Police-Assisted Recovery and Deflection Program and the Pre-Charge Adult Diversion Program.
The grant is the result of a collaboration between several county and local services including the Rice County Sheriff’s Department, the Faribault Police Department, the Northfield Police Department, the Rice County Attorney’s Office, the Rice County Behavioral Health Unit, HCI’s Health Projects program, and the Rice County Opioid Response program.
In a statement issued by Rice County, Dante Hummel-Langerfeld, the Behavioral Health Unit supervisor, said the funding will address a significant gap in the services necessary to fight drug addiction and to get people who are addicted the appropriate help.
The statement said, according to information provided by Healthy Community Initiative, there were 28 known drug overdoses, four fatal, in Rice County in 2021, and almost 20% took place in the rural areas. Law enforcement expects there are many other non-fatal ODs, which due to the availability of anti-opioids, were never reported. Those numbers show the problem of drug abuse is no longer confined to the more urban areas of Rice County but has now spread out across the entire area.
The grant will fund coordinators hired by HealthFinders Collaborative who will work with people that need help in the Latinx and Somali communities. It will also help to fund housing provided by the Beyond the Brink program in Owatonna and the Community Action Center, which can be very important for those going through treatment. Northfield Chief of Police Mark Elliott said that sort of support “can be crucial in achieving success.”
Hummel-Langerfeld said with the programs that already were in place, Rice County was positioned to have an excellent chance in receiving what is noted to be a highly competitive grant, and this money will enhance ideas that were already moving forward.
District enrollment numbers slightly higher than expected
The Northfield School District has made its first enrollment report of the year. While the number is slightly higher than 
expected, it does reflect further declining enrollment in the school district. It also could show the shifting demographics and population disbursement around the city.
As of October 3rd, the number of students enrolled in the K-12 classes of the Northfield School District was 3,754. Superintendent of Northfield Public Schools, Dr. Matt Hillmann said the final number of students in the district at the end of the 2021-’22 school year was 3,781. The difference of 27 students this year, which equates to about one full classroom, is actually 27 more students than anticipated, meaning the district had expected to be down about 54 students.
The numbers are significant, of course, because the amount of funding the school district receives from the state is based on enrollment. Hillmann also pointed out that there tends to be some attrition through the year, so the final number might not be as high.
There are 238 kindergarten students this year, which Hillmann said is a very small class. However, an interesting note is the distribution of the students. Greenvale Elementary School has the highest number of kindergartners, and in fact, has one of the largest kindergarten classes in memory. Meanwhile, Bridgewater Elementary School has one of the smallest classes in memory. Hillmann said Bridgewater has long had the highest enrollment among the elementary schools, and that remains the case. However, Greenvale has now surpassed Spring Creek Elementary School in terms of enrollment.
The overall decline is not a surprise to the district, which has been anticipating this for quite some time. In fact, the recent budget cuts that were announced for this school year and the next are a direct result of that anticipation. Hillmann said they will continue to monitor the situation in order to keep the drop from causing a traumatic shift in the services they provide.
“That’s where we’re at today. We are working very hard [to create] what I would call a ‘soft landing’ on our enrollment to be able to moderate and modulate our expenditures at a rate that are commensurate, and not one big swoop. We need to be able to moderate or reduce our expenditures over a period of time to get to that point where we have the new cruising altitude when the enrollment stabilizes.”
The district’s next enrollment report is due in early 2023.
Library book returns overcome ‘significant barriers’
As it strives to make its services even more accessible and equitable, the Northfield Public Library has announced two new book 
returns. The off-site locations will remove more obstacles, making the library even easier to use.
One of the returns is located at the Northfield Community Education Center, which is the former Greenvale Park Elementary School, on Lincoln Parkway. The other is located at the Northfield Community Resource Center, where the library will soon open its satellite “Oasis” location.
“Equitable service delivery is a top priority for the library,” said Director of Library Services Natalie Draper, “and we know that lack of transportation and time can pose significant barriers to accessing the library.”
A statement issued by the city noted that the book returns have been made possible by the efforts of the Friends of the Northfield Public Library.
To learn more about the project and how you can support the work of the Friends and Foundation of the Library, visit: mynpl.org/oasis
Rich Larson is the KYMN News Director. Contact him at rich@kymnradio.net
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