Culturally-based prevention program based on Healing of the Canoe program

The Justice Department's grant-making components have created a streamlined approach for federally recognized Tribes, Tribal consortia, Alaska Native villages and corporations, as well as authorized tribal designees to apply for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015 funding opportunities. The Coordinated Tribal Assistance Solicitation (CTAS) serves as a single solicitation for existing tribal government-specific grant programs administered by the Office of Justice Programs (OJP), the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) and the Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). The CTAS solicitation is designed to assist tribes with addressing crime and public safety issues in a comprehensive manner. The CTAS grant-application process was inspired by and developed after consultation with tribal leaders, including sessions at the Justice Department's Tribal Nations Listening Session in 2009, and has been updated based on continued tribal consultations and listening sessions. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP) provides awards under CTAS Purpose Area 9--Tribal Youth Program (TYP) to federally recognized tribes to develop and implement programs that support and enhance Tribal efforts to prevent and control juvenile delinquency and strengthen juvenile justice system for American Indian/Alaska Native youth.

This project will develop and deploy a holistic an integrated culturally-based prevention approach for Tribal youth. The project is based on the Healing of the Canoe model, which is considered best-practices in cultural prevention for Pacific Northwest Tribes. The project is targeted towards Tribal youth of all ages regardless of where they live.

The project focuses on three primary areas. First, the Tribe will utilize the Healing of the Canoe model as a basis on developing integrated culturally-based programming. After modifying the program to reflect local traditions and customs, the Tribe will evaluate all existing prevention programs and identify how and where these principles and lessons can be incorporated. In addition, over the course of the project period the Tribe will launch additional culturally-based programs built on this mode. The second series of activities focuses on enhancing and expanding the Tribe’s mentoring program to recreate the historical role of intergenerational teaching for Tribal youth. Through this element of the program, the Tribe will engage more members while leveraging their passion and talent. The final element of the program is focused on making culturally-based prevention programming more accessible to Tribal youth regardless of where they live. The Tribe will do this by enhancing their on-line portal and developing experiential learning programs that can be taken to the communities in which Tribal youth live.

The goal of this program is to enhance the prevention and intervention capacity of the Tribe in order to address the growing issues of substance abuse and high-risk behaviors amongst Tribal youth. The objectives are 1) integrate culturally-based program throughout all activities, 2) re-establish intergenerational learning, and 3) ensure all Tribal youth have access to their culture and these programs, regardless where they live.
CA/NCF