New York will send more than $10 million in federal funding to aid health care programs for marginalized communities in the state, including money to bolster mobile medication units and street outreach providers. 

The programs are meant to aid people who have difficulty accessing health care and combat overdoses, which have spike during the COVID-19 pandemic.  

"My administration will continue using every tool at our disposal to help individuals impacted by addiction and address the heart-wrenching toll overdoses have taken on communities across our state," Hochul said. "The $10.25 million announced today will help fund these critical services and help connect New Yorkers to the support and resources they need to break the vicious cycle of addiction."

Taken together, the efforts are meant to expand the state's push to combat opioid addiction and overdoses amid a wave of deaths over the last two years in New York. The state Department of Health recently recquired pharmacies to carry naloxone, which can counter the effects of an overdose. 

The money includes $5.75 million for the mobile medication units and $4.5 million for 15 providers who support street outreach programs. 

Mobile medication units provide induction, medication administration and observation as well as toxicology tests and other services.

The street units, meanwhile, will be deployed in areas that include Harlem, the Lower East Side and the Bronx as well as communities in the Southern Tier and Mohawk Valley regions. Workers will visit areas like parks were homeless people gather and other locations to provide overdose prevention and education as well as dispense and prescribe naloxone.

"Every individual has different needs and goals related to their recovery, and at OASAS, we are dedicated to meeting them wherever they are and offering any help they require to reach their goals," New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports Commissioner Chinazo Cunningham said. "These new mobile medication units and street outreach efforts will allow us to connect with high-risk populations, engage more people, and link them to lifesaving assistance and support."