The lower elwha klallam tribe (LEKT) is a federally recognized tribe in clallam county, washington

The Lower Elwha Klallam Tribe (LEKT) was awarded a $500,000 Project Grant under the Department of Justice's Tribal Youth Program (CFDA 16.731) to implement the Empowering Youth through the Ways of Our Ancestors (EYWOA) program. The 5-year program aims to address drug and alcohol use among tribal youth through prevention education rooted in Klallam culture and traditions. Key activities will include teaching mental, physical, and emotional health skills, reducing youth delinquency and truancy, and strengthening the tribal juvenile justice system through leadership development and community engagement. The program will be implemented in partnership with the University of Washington's Alcohol and Drug Abuse Institute and other neighboring tribes. This grant award will enable the Lower Elwha Tribal Community Council to develop and deliver culturally-relevant programming to empower tribal youth and preserve Klallam culture in the community.

LEKT will implement ctas purpose area 9 category 2 funds to address the ongoing epidemic of drug and alcohol use within the community by employing prevention education for the tribal youth through the empowering youth through the ways of our ancestors (EYWOA) program. The program is based on evidence- and community-based participatory research that was conducted and implemented in partnership with the university of washingtons alcohol and drug abuse institute, the suquamish, and port gamble sklallam tribes. The EYWOA program will implement prevention, coping, and healing skills through education of the lower elwha culture to the youth of the tribe. The participants' mental, physical, and emotional health will be improved through learning the culture and traditions of the klallam people and understanding the impacts of historical trauma and cultural disconnect. The program will (1) reduce youth delinquency and truancy through evidence-based cultural preventative programming and (2) strengthen the juvenile justice system through leadership education and community engagement by creating spiritually and mentally resilient youth. This program will develop the tribal youth and prepare them to face the risk factors that many native children fall victim to, and increase the longevity of the klallam culture and community.