Project Grant H79SM091117

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded Tanana Chiefs Conference $735,000 on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532) to establish the Strength in the Circle Project, a five-year Garrett Lee Smith Tribal Youth Suicide Prevention and Early Intervention Initiative serving 15 rural Alaska Native communities in Interior Alaska.

Strength in the Circle builds sustainable, community-level suicide prevention infrastructure by working intensively with three communities per year through September 29, 2031. The program trains community members, school personnel, and youth in evidence-based prevention programs; establishes standardized crisis response and postvention protocols; and creates referral pathways connecting at-risk youth ages 10–24 to behavioral health services. Each participating community receives trained personnel, written protocols, and institutional partnerships designed to sustain suicide prevention capacity after the grant period ends.

The five-year total project period funding is $3,675,000 (annual federal funding requested of $735,000). Place of performance is Fairbanks, Alaska. The award responds to disparities in the TCC service area: the suicide rate in Interior Alaska is 37.5 per 100,000, nearly three times the national rate of 13.7 per 100,000. TCC serves 39 communities across a 235,000 square-mile region with no road access between most communities, where youth face compounding risk factors including disproportionate involvement in child welfare and juvenile justice systems, high rates of adverse childhood experiences, and substance use disorder prevalence of approximately 7 percent above the national adolescent average. In 2025, only 76 of 122 youth referred to TCC behavioral health services were admitted to treatment, a service gap this program addresses.