Project Grant H79SM091092

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.