Working with Tribes and Native Communities

HHD’s Native Streams Institute is dedicated to working with native communities to create a sustainable, thriving future. Our experienced American Indian and Alaskan Native staff have lived and worked in Indian country most of their lives and are geographically located in communities they serve across the United States. Our staff maintains a deep understanding of native culture, community needs, and the surrounding economic and political issues that impact tribes.

Native Streams Institute staff work on specific projects that build the capacity of native communities to promote the healthy development of American Indian and Alaskan youth and their families. Many native communities face the burden of historical trauma, as well as very high rates of poverty—above 25 percent. For the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), our staff provides customized training and technical assistance to more than 120 native communities across the country. We concentrate on needs and resource assessment, strategic planning, implementation, evaluation, and sustainability to decrease delinquency and provide a wider array of culturally specific prevention services for the community.

Suicide is one of the most tragic outcomes of intergenerational trauma and the destitution that many native people experience. Suicide rates in native communities are highest among young men from their teens to mid-twenties, almost double the rate of any other ethnic group for that age. We support native communities with youth suicide prevention, on behalf of SAMHSA’s Center for Mental Health Services. To combat feelings of hopeless and nurture adolescent identity, our staff works with communities as they establish cultural projects that connect youth to their history through cultural ceremonies, events and mentoring programs with elders.

In school districts that have a majority American Indian population and receive Safe Schools/Healthy Students grants, we provide technical assistance as they put in place programs that promote the mental health of their students, and prevent or reduce substance abuse and violence. For the past two years, HHD has also collaborated with the Native American Center for Excellence (NACE) and CRP, Inc. to provide assistance with the evaluation of innovative and emerging substance abuse prevention programs developed by Native Americans for Native Americans through the Service-to-Science (STS) initiative with SAMHSA’s Center for Substance Abuse Prevention.