GLIIHC pathways to hope - the gerald L. Ignace indian health center (GLIIHC), a federally qualified health center and wisconsin's only urban indian health organization, proposes to implement a…

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA Center for Mental Health Services) awarded $735,000 to Gerald L Ignace Indian Health Center Inc. on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532).

GLIIHC will implement Pathways to Hope, a comprehensive suicide prevention and behavioral health initiative targeting American Indian and Alaska Native youth up to age 24 across Milwaukee and tribal communities in Wisconsin. The project increases workforce capacity, expands culturally responsive life-promoting programming, enhances screening and referral systems, and develops sustainable infrastructure for suicide prevention, early intervention, and postvention. GLIIHC will increase access to suicide risk screening for AI/AN youth and community members across clinical, school, and community settings by leveraging relationships with system partners in the foster care system, public health systems, mental health programs, schools, and colleges. The project will develop and implement a comprehensive suicide risk response system that ensures timely follow-up, care coordination, and crisis support, including development of a care line to provide consultation.

Place of performance is Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The period of performance runs through September 29, 2031. The assistance type is Project Grant.

GLIIHC pathways to hope - the gerald L. Ignace indian health center (GLIIHC), a federally qualified health center and wisconsin's only urban indian health organization, proposes to implement a comprehensive initiative to reduce suicide risk and improve behavioral health outcomes among american indian and alaska native (AI/an) youth (up to age 24) across milwaukee and their tribal communities in WI. This project will increase workforce capacity, expand culturally responsive life-promoting programming, enhance screening and referral systems, and develop sustainable infrastructure for suicide prevention, early intervention, and postvention. A key component of our project involves strengthening partnerships with the foster care system, public health systems, mental health programs, schools, and colleges that have supported our application with a letter of commitment. These investments will allow GLIIHC to move toward a coordinated community-wide approach, that promotes early identification, increases protective factors, improves access to care, and reduces suicide risk among AI/an youth and young adults. AI/an communities experience the highest suicide rates of any racial or ethnic group in the united states, and recent suicide deaths and attempts within milwaukee's AI/an community highlight an urgent need for a coordinated, culturally responsive system of care. GLIIHC currently faces critical gaps as the demand for services continues to exceed available resources, particularly among youth and young adults experiencing suicidal ideation with urgent needs. Through our project, we will: 1) increase access to suicide risk screening for AI/an youth and community members across clinical, school, and community settings, leveraging relationships with system partners. 2) develop and implement a comprehensive suicide risk response system that ensures timely follow-up, care coordination, and crisis support. Implementation will include developing a care line to provide consultation and support to community members who are supporting someone at risk of suicide. 3) strengthen community-based suicide prevention capacity by building social connectedness, resilience, and support among AI/an youth and families using project venture curriculum for youth and developing social support for young adults across the milwaukee area. 4) enhance the organizational and community capacity to recognize, respond to, and prevent suicide through evidence-based training. 5) will strengthen postvention capacity and community support systems to respond to suicide loss and reduce contagion risk with the development of a postvention toolkit for AI/an youth. To address these goals and support samhsa's strategic priorities, GLIIHC will use a phased, data-driven approach to support the goals outlined. The project will be led by a project director with proven experience in developing suicide prevention programming and supported by programming/clinical staff. Outcomes will include increased screening and identification of suicide risk across systems, improved engagement and retention in care, expanded access to evidence-based treatment, increased protective factors for youth and reductions in suicide-related behaviors and associated risk factors. Data will be collected through the electronic health record and monitored using performance measures and continuous quality improvement processes. We will use data and evaluation to support samhsa's priority to identify and address emerging behavioral health threats through continuous quality improvement cycles, mortality review participation, and ongoing evaluation of clinical outcomes.