County action plans · resident-level · load-to-effort ranked

What your county can actually do

For each county in the comparison set, this page identifies the highest-leverage actions a resident, family member, employer, local-government staffer, or nonprofit can take to move the curves on this dashboard. Ranked by load-to-effort ratio — biggest expected effect for the smallest realistic intervention. Each block ends with a 5-year prediction conditional on the actions being taken.

Anchor countyPop ~46,500OD ~35/100kRegion: South Central

Jackson County (Seymour)

Anchor county for this dashboard. Mid-size facility footprint, mid-range OD rate, mature reentry-program coverage relative to surrounding rural counties.

Resident

Stock naloxone & learn to use it

Free at Jackson County Health Dept and most pharmacies under standing-order. The single highest-leverage 5-minute action a resident can take.

Family of returning citizen

Solve the mailing-address question first

Stable address — family home, transitional housing, or PO box — unlocks ID, SSN replacement, benefit applications, and parole reporting. Cheapest, highest-leverage gift.

Employer

Register as a HIRE partner

Pre-screened, often-subsidized hires with 14% recidivism among completers. Indiana DWD onboards new partners in days.

Local gov

Stand up a Free Ride pilot

Use opioid-settlement dollars to fund transit to court, treatment, and work. Closes the Goodwill New Beginnings “reliable transportation” gate. ~$50–100k/yr scope.

Nonprofit / faith

Add 5–10 sober-living beds

Slot-limited supply is the binding constraint on Goodwill / IRACS placements. Even church-anchored 5-bed houses move the needle locally.

Resident

Submit a tip on a documented contractor pattern

The IBE companion archive at ibetcg.netlify.app publishes documented patterns. Patterns shift the local-business market faster than individual reviews.

5-year prediction (conditional on actions)

If Jackson County implements transit + adds 10 sober-living beds + onboards 30 new HIRE-partner businesses by 2027, the dashboard projects: OD rate 30/100k by 2030 (vs. 38 do-nothing baseline), recidivism among supervised population <20%, post-intake jail-OD events near zero. If nothing changes, OD plateaus at ~35/100k with continuing fentanyl-share rise.

Hot-spotPop ~24,200OD ~55/100kIRACS active

Scott County (Scottsburg)

Highest premature-death rate in IN (2015 baseline). IRACS pilot active at the jail since ~2022 — documented intervention against the documented problem.

Resident

Use the IRACS reentry-navigator line

Call the Scott County Sheriff’s Office and ask for the IRACS reentry navigator if you or a family member is in the jail or recently released. Voluntary; navigator continues post-release.

Family

Pre-release intake

If a family member is incarcerated, request the IRACS intake meeting on day one. Earlier enrollment = better post-release continuity.

Local gov

Implement the 2022 jail-study recommendations

Embedded social worker, no-juvenile-booking policy, 8-hr shift staffing model. Each is independently actionable and the study explicitly costs them.

Employer

Register as a HIRE partner

Scott County’s post-release population is concentrated; HIRE matches them with employers who get pre-screened, often-subsidized hires.

Nonprofit / faith

Add fentanyl-test-strip distribution

Free + legal under Indiana harm-reduction law. Reduces fatal-OD risk especially in the post-intake / post-release windows.

Resident

Track the OD-dashboard quarterly

Indiana Drug Overdose Dashboard exposes county-level metrics. Quarterly review keeps the conversation grounded in data, not anecdote.

5-year prediction (conditional on actions)

If the 2022 jail-study recommendations are fully implemented + fentanyl-test-strip distribution scales + HIRE coverage doubles, the dashboard projects: OD rate ~44/100k by 2030 (vs. ~50 do-nothing), in-jail suicide attempts cut significantly, IRACS post-release navigator continuity covering 80%+ of releases. If nothing scales, Scott remains the corridor’s OD hot-spot through 2030.

Hot-spotPop ~27,800OD ~50/100kLimited transit

Jennings County (North Vernon, Vernon)

Persistent overdose hot-spot. Limited transit gates access to MAT clinics and Goodwill New Beginnings placements. Smaller treatment footprint than Scott.

Local gov

Apply for opioid-settlement transit funding

Jennings is a textbook target for a Free Ride pilot. Funding exists at the state-distribution level; need a local applicant with a plan.

Nonprofit / faith

Stand up an MAT-friendly sober-living slot

Stigma against medication-assisted treatment in some sober houses excludes the people most at risk. MAT-friendly housing fills the highest-need bracket.

Resident

Carry naloxone, know post-OD protocol

911 first, then naloxone (multiple doses if fentanyl-suspected), then turn person on side, stay until EMS arrives. Indiana Good Samaritan law protects the caller from low-level drug charges.

Family

Coordinate cross-county with HIRE / IRACS

Some family members may want services in Scott or Jefferson. HIRE and IRACS work cross-county; ask a Scott IRACS navigator if Jennings has no local equivalent yet.

Employer

Hire one HIRE-eligible candidate this year

One placement gives a real test of the model; most partner employers continue after the first hire because the screening reduces turnover.

5-year prediction (conditional on actions)

If Jennings stands up a transit pilot + adds 5 MAT-friendly sober-living beds + 5+ businesses register with HIRE, the dashboard projects: OD rate ~42/100k by 2030 (vs. ~48 do-nothing), substantial recidivism reduction among the program-engaged subset. If the transit gate stays closed, Jennings underperforms even neighboring Scott on program effectiveness regardless of what else exists.

Small-NPop ~15,200OD ~25/100kSmallest in set

Brown County (Nashville)

Smallest population in the comparison. Year-to-year OD-rate volatility is high because of small absolute counts. Use 3-year moving averages for any trend reading.

Resident

Naloxone + crisis-line awareness

Smaller-county = thinner EMS coverage. Personal naloxone availability matters more here than in metro.

Local gov

Cross-county MOU with Bartholomew/Monroe

MAT clinic and reentry-program coverage is realistically a regional service. MOUs with Bartholomew (Columbus) or Monroe (Bloomington) extend access without standing up local capacity.

Nonprofit / faith

Volunteer-driver network

Even an informal volunteer-driver network for treatment / probation appointments measurably reduces missed-appointment rates.

5-year prediction (conditional on actions)

If Brown extends regional MOUs and stands up a 10–20 driver volunteer network, the dashboard projects: OD rate stable at ~22/100k, missed-appointment-driven probation violations reduced by ~30%. Small-county arithmetic limits absolute-count interventions, but per-capita programs scale fine.

MidPop ~45,300OD ~30/100kBedford metro

Lawrence County (Bedford, Mitchell)

Mid-size facility footprint with active treatment-provider presence. Below-state OD rate; programs working but coverage incomplete.

Employer

Onboard 5+ HIRE-partner businesses

Bedford’s industrial-employer base is well-suited to HIRE pre-screened candidates in trades.

Local gov

Add probation-officer caseload relief

Probation overload is a documented driver of supervision failures. Caseload reduction = better outcomes.

Nonprofit / faith

MAT clinic outreach

Underserved pockets in rural southern Lawrence County could benefit from mobile-MAT outreach.

5-year prediction (conditional on actions)

Lawrence is on a moderately positive trend already. With targeted employer engagement + caseload relief: OD rate trends to ~25/100k by 2030 (vs. ~28 do-nothing); recidivism reductions concentrate in the HIRE-touched subset.

Best-positionedPop ~140,300OD ~18/100kBloomington / IU

Monroe County (Bloomington / IU)

Best-positioned county in the comparison set. University effect, large pop denominator, mature treatment ecosystem (IU Health, Centerstone). OD rate well below state.

Local gov

Be the regional hub

Monroe’s capacity can support cross-county MOUs with Brown, Lawrence, Owen. Hub-and-spoke MAT + reentry coverage is the mature model for southern Indiana.

Employer

Anchor employer partnerships at scale

Major Bloomington employers are ideal HIRE / Goodwill anchor partners; one strong anchor unlocks dozens of cross-county placements.

Nonprofit / faith

Trauma-informed reentry coordination

IU faculty + Centerstone resources position Monroe as the trauma-informed-reentry training hub for southern IN.

5-year prediction (conditional on actions)

If Monroe leans into a regional-hub role, the dashboard projects: Monroe OD rate trends to ~14/100k by 2030; the regional spillover from Monroe’s capacity reduces Brown / Owen / SW-Lawrence rates by 5–10% beyond their own efforts.

MidPop ~83,000OD ~30/100kColumbus regional hub

Bartholomew County (Columbus)

Cummins-anchored regional employer hub. Strong corporate community-investment posture; underused for reentry employer engagement.

Employer

Onboard Cummins suppliers as HIRE partners

Cummins itself + its supplier network = potentially hundreds of HIRE-friendly placements. Mid-skilled trades match HIRE candidate profile cleanly.

Local gov

Coordinate with Jackson + Jennings

Bartholomew is the natural employer-side anchor for Jackson and Jennings residents. Cross-county transit pilots make this viable.

Nonprofit / faith

Childcare-while-working pilot

Childcare access is a quiet binding constraint on returning-citizen employment. A small Bartholomew pilot can validate the model.

5-year prediction (conditional on actions)

If the Cummins-supplier HIRE-onboarding scales + childcare pilot launches, the dashboard projects: Regional employment rate among returning citizens up 15+ pp; Bartholomew + Jackson + Jennings recidivism convergence to a single tighter band.

Rural clusterEach pop <30kOD ~25-30/100kSalem / Greensburg / Paoli

Washington / Decatur / Orange Counties (rural cluster)

Three small rural counties with similar pattern: tight programs, limited transit, faith-based sober-living + small treatment footprint. Treat as a cluster for actions.

Local gov (any)

Pursue a tri-county transit MOU

Combining demand across three counties makes a transit pilot more fundable than any one alone. The opioid-settlement money requires plausible demand.

Nonprofit / faith

Cluster sober-living-bed availability

Cross-county referral agreements between the existing church-anchored sober houses give residents more options when local capacity is full.

Family

Use Indiana 211

Indiana 211 indexes treatment + housing capacity statewide. When the local Yellow-Pages list runs dry, 211 has the cross-county fallback.

5-year prediction (conditional on actions)

Tri-county cluster action: combined OD rate trends to ~22/100k by 2030; cross-county referral fills 70%+ of capacity gaps that single-county scarcity can’t solve.

MetroCombined pop ~205kOD ~30-32/100kLouisville cross-river

Clark + Floyd Counties (Jeffersonville / New Albany)

Louisville-cross-river dynamics, large bookings volume, deep regional hospital and treatment ecosystem. Underused HIRE / Goodwill engagement given size.

Employer

Anchor Louisville-corridor HIRE

Combined Clark+Floyd labor market overlaps with Louisville. Louisville-based employers + Clark/Floyd HIRE candidates = pipeline.

Local gov

Coordinate with KY counterparts

Cross-state reentry coordination (Indiana DWD + KY equivalents) catches releasees who relocate at the river.

Nonprofit / faith

Drop-in centers near transit hubs

Drop-in centers near transit hubs (Bridge, IDOT-managed bus stops) reach the population most exposed to OD risk.

5-year prediction (conditional on actions)

If the Louisville-corridor cross-state coordination matures, the dashboard projects: Clark+Floyd combined OD rate trends to ~26/100k by 2030; HIRE/Goodwill placements increase ~50%.

The composite citizen action list

If you only do one thing per week for a quarter, this list (in priority order) moves the needle most:

Stock naloxone & learn to use it. Free, 5-minute training, immediate effect. Start here.
If you employ anyone, register as a HIRE partner. Indiana DWD onboards in days. 14% recidivism among completers.
If you have a returning citizen in your family, solve the address question first. Stable mailing address unlocks ID, SSN, benefits, parole compliance.
Submit one documented tip to IBE. Patterns shift the local-business market faster than individual reviews.
Track the Indiana Drug Overdose Dashboard quarterly. Keep the conversation grounded in data, not anecdote.
Show up at one county-commission or city-council meeting per quarter. Public-comment is where the political-pressure loop closes.
Vote in your county elections. Sheriff, prosecutor, and county-commission races set the operating policy of every system on this dashboard.

See the data correlations → 2026–2030 projections