Echota's svnale project - the echota tribal suicide prevention (TSP) project is a five-year cooperative agreement led by the united keetoowah band of cherokee indians in oklahoma (UKB) through the…

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $733,896 to the Keetoowah Economic Development Authority on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532). The award supports a five-year cooperative agreement to implement the Echota Tribal Suicide Prevention Project, a youth suicide prevention and intervention initiative led by the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma through its operating behavioral-health entity, Echota Behavioral Health.

The project will establish a tribally governed universal-screening pathway, a written risk response and post-crisis handoff system, a SPARS-compatible electronic data system, and a sustained workforce trained in evidence-based suicide prevention practices. Activities target youth ages 12-24 across the United Keetoowah Band's jurisdictional service area within the 14-county Cherokee Nation reservation footprint of northeastern Oklahoma, with primary effort in Cherokee, Adair, and Delaware Counties. The project will reach an estimated 3,000-plus unduplicated youth across the five-year period and generate 3 million outreach impressions. Year-two reach is estimated at 500–550 youth annually through Echota Behavioral Health outpatient services, four partner schools (Dahlonegah, Cave Springs, and Maryetta in Adair County; Central Academy in Cherokee County), and the United Keetoowah Band's OICWA program, scaling to 650–700 youth annually by year five.

Performance is based in Tahlequah, Oklahoma. The period of performance runs through September 29, 2031.

Echota's svnale project - the echota tribal suicide prevention (TSP) project is a five-year cooperative agreement led by the united keetoowah band of cherokee indians in oklahoma (UKB) through the keetoowah economic development authority (keda) and its operating behavioral-health entity, echota behavioral health (EBH). Echota's svnale project will reduce suicide deaths, attempts, and ideation among tribal youth ages 12-24 in UKB's northeastern oklahoma service area by building a sustained tribal infrastructure for universal screening, immediate risk response, and family- and community-based prevention - reaching an estimated 3,000+ unduplicated youth and producing ≥3 million outreach impressions across five years. Grant activities will reach UKB's jurisdictional service area in the 14-county cherokee nation reservation footprint of northeastern oklahoma, with primary effort in cherokee, adair, and delaware counties. The area is predominantly rural, with limited adolescent behavioral-health capacity, no centralized youth-suicide-risk response pathway across schools and tribal services, and screening practices that are inconsistent across the three nofo-aligned settings reached by this project. The grant will address these capacity gaps by standing up a tribally governed universal-screening pathway, a written risk response & post-crisis handoff system, a spars-compatible electronic data system, and a sustained workforce trained in evidence-based suicide prevention. The population of focus is youth ages 12-24 in UKB's jurisdictional service area. Estimated unduplicated reach is ≈500-550 youth/year by year 2 (≈250 through EBH outpatient; 150-200 across four year-1 partner schools - dahlonegah, cave springs, and maryetta in adair county, central academy in cherokee county; ≈100 through UKB oicwa), scaling to ≈650-700/year by year 5 - ≈3,000+ unduplicated youth across five years. Clinical characteristics include depression, anxiety, CO-occurring substance use, prior attempts or ideation, child-welfare or juvenile-justice involvement, and bereavement; eligibility is universal within the population of focus and is not contingent on race, tribal enrollment status, or any other characteristic, consistent with nofo requirements. The project implements all seven nofo-required activities: (1) universal PHQ-9/PHQ-a and columbia suicide severity rating scale (c-ssrs) screening at EBH outpatient, four year-1 partner schools, and UKB oicwa, with ipad self-administration writing directly to the patagonia EHR; (2) a written risk response and post-crisis handoff system operational by month 12 - stanley-brown safety planning, 988 routing, 24/72-hour and 30-day follow-up, and post-ED warm handoff with northeastern health systems; (3) community prevention via calm-aligned lethal-means counseling, tribal opioid response pawn-shop outreach, american indian life skills, and talking circles; (4) workforce training in cams, QPR, ymhfa, asist, and annual trauma-informed care; (5) family supports and postvention via the UKB family resource packet and a quarterly contagion and postvention task force; (6) a spars-compatible data and evaluation system (patagonia EHR plus fedramp-moderate M365-GCC microsoft forms) with an external evaluator (the flick framework) at ≥0.25 FTE; and (7) k-12 active parental consent under 70 O.S. § 11-107 and 25 O.S. § 2005 with a 14-day comment window and ppra-compliant review under 20 U.S.C. § 1232H. Five goals organize the work: (1) implement universal suicide-risk screening in the three nofo-aligned UKB settings; (2) build and sustain a workforce trained in evidence-based suicide prevention; (3) operationalize a written risk response and post-crisis handoff system; (4) deliver postvention, family supports, and lethal-means saturation; and (5) build a tribally governed data and evaluation infrastructure that will outlast the cooperative agreement. Objectives align with samhsa strategic priorities and suprt-p indicators: MHP1 ≥250 trained in mental-healt