Suquamish Tribal Youth Cultural Program

The Suquamish Youth Program proposes to build connections between Suquamish youth and their cultural traditions and history with the specific intent of reducing violence and substance abuse, increasing conflict resolution skills, and improving a host of positive outcomes. The project goal is to provide prevention services to impact risk factors for delinquency, specifically, violence and substance abuse among youth. The program will serve youth 10-17 years of age and anticipates serving 50 youth annually, or 150 total over the three-year grant period. The project will be conducted on the Port Madison Indian Reservation and will be situated as part of Suquamish Tribal Youth Services, which works in a variety of settings that include a youth center, school site collaborations, and a host of recreational and social service programs. The program will provide a wide array of cultural classes and events, will train a cadre of youth in a 'train the trainer' model on Suquamish history and culture that the youth will share with their peers and the larger community, will conduct prevention activities that link substance abuse prevention with cultural connection, and will provide general and culturally specific conflict resolution training. CA/NCF