Nisqually At Risk Yout Prevention/Intervention Initiative

The Nisqually Indian Tribe is presently involved in a multi-year effort to improve personal outcomes for at-risk tribal youth ages 7-17 within the tribal service area of the Nisqually reservation and Thurston County. These tribal youth continue to be hampered by low educational achievement, delinquency, and are plagued by a high school non-completion rate of over 60%. For a variety of reasons - environmental, cultural, institutional - Indian students often fail to acquire basic educational skills in their early school years, and consequently fall increasingly behind as they move through the educational system. By the time they reach secondary school, they are disillusioned, have low self esteem, and feel alienated from a system that has allowed them to slip through the cracks. These students are then vulnerable to a range of problems, including juvenile delinquency, substance abuse, unemployment, and other personal problems. The Tribe has addressed the above problems thorough previous DOJ At Risk Youth Services/Tribal Youth Program projects. However, the Tribe has concluded that theses efforts have not been entirely successful in mounting an adequate and effective response to the myriad of community, family and personal factors that contribute to the youth at risk problem. Therefore the Tribe has developed the proposed At Risk Native Youth Prevention/Intervention Initiative to address in a more comprehensive and aggressive manner the issue of adolescent youth educational failure and juvenile delinquency that has emerged among these at risk tribal youth over the past five years. As part of this enhanced effort, the Tribe is developing a multipurpose 24,000 square foot, $4,000,000 Youth and Emergency Services facility through tribal and USDA funding. The facility has been identified in the Tribe's long range community vision plan as a major unmet need of the tribal community. Tribal Council has accordingly directed tribal staff to secure the resources to establish a fully functional youth and emergency services facility on the reservation. The proposed At Risk Native Youth Prevention/Intervention Initiative will provide both operating funds for the facility as well as startup equipment and furnishings. NCA/NCF