The DOT lake village council is requesting funding to establish a prevention, treatment and recovery program that will prevent overdose and protect communities in our region from crime related to…

The U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA) awarded a $893,327 Project Grant under the Tribal Justice Assistance Program (CFDA 16.596) to the Village of Dot Lake, Alaska. The grant will fund the establishment of a prevention, treatment and recovery program to address substance use disorders and related crime in the local region. The program aims to expand the tribe's existing culturally appropriate, evidence-based substance abuse prevention services to serve additional nearby tribal communities in the Upper Tanana region that share cultural and geographic ties with Dot Lake. Key goals include preventing overdose, reducing crime associated with substance abuse, and providing mental health and behavioral health services to address the growing demand for these services in the area.

The DOT lake village council is requesting funding to establish a prevention, treatment and recovery program that will prevent overdose and protect communities in our region from crime related to alcohol and substance use disorders and production of illicit substances such as opioids, methamphetamine, and prescription drugs. The proposed program will support and expand our culturally relevant and appropriate evidence-based substance use prevention programs. The current GAP in services is a lack of mental health and behavioral health services and continuously more people who require services. DOT lake has an excellent model that has proven to work, and we need to expand to serve the small local region where we live and work. We have a small but successful program, and we field requests every week from people who are outside of our service area but are in places that are geographically and culturally close to our community. The DOT lake tribal council has determined that is a priority to expand our successful program to serve family and friends in nearby communities. We have the capacity, the experience, and the opportunity to provide these essential mental health services to nearby villages. We propose to expand services to accept clients from the upper tanana tribes, which are close to DOT lake geographically, culturally, and historically, and which share a language base. These villages interact regularly with our community, we share family systems and cultural events, and IT makes sense to offer essential mental health crime prevention services.