Keetoowah healing circle: children's system of care initiative - the keetoowah healing circle children's system of care initiative is a three-year circles of care planning and…

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded $1.05 million 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) for the Keetoowah Healing Circle Children's System of Care Initiative.

The award funds a three-year planning and infrastructure-development project to establish a sustainable, family-driven, youth-guided, community-based, and culturally grounded children's system of care for the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma. The project will develop governance, partnership, data, outreach, screening, referral, and sustainability infrastructure to connect tribal child-serving programs, schools, child welfare, childcare and early-learning providers, families, and behavioral health services. Capacity development addresses significant rural access barriers, behavioral-health workforce shortages, limited transportation and broadband connectivity, poverty and food insecurity, and the absence of shared tribal governance, coordinated screening and referral pathways, formal cross-system partnerships, and a written system-of-care blueprint.

The population of focus is Keetoowah and other American Indian and Alaska Native children, youth, and young adults from birth through age 25, along with their families and caregivers, residing in the five-county service area covering Cherokee, Adair, Delaware, Mayes, and Sequoyah counties in northeastern Oklahoma. The project will prioritize infants and young children in tribal childcare and early-learning programs, school-age children and adolescents, transition-age youth, children involved with child welfare, and youth experiencing or at risk for emotional, behavioral, substance-use, trauma-related, or suicide-related concerns.

Performance occurs in Tahlequah, Oklahoma, through September 29, 2029. Although the planning grant does not fund direct clinical treatment, outreach, screening, referral, and community-engagement activities will be available.

Keetoowah healing circle: children's system of care initiative - the keetoowah healing circle children's system of care initiative is a three-year circles of care planning and infrastructure-development project led by the united keetoowah band of cherokee indians in oklahoma. The project will strengthen the tribe's capacity to establish a sustainable, family-driven, youth-guided, community-based, and culturally grounded children's system of care. Grant activities will serve the tribe's primary northeastern oklahoma service area: cherokee, adair, delaware, mayes, and sequoyah counties. The initiative responds to significant rural access barriers, behavioral-health workforce shortages, limited transportation and broadband connectivity, poverty and food insecurity, fragmented child-serving systems, and the absence of shared tribal governance, coordinated screening and referral pathways, formal cross-system partnerships, and a written system-of-care blueprint. Capacity development will focus on creating the governance, partnership, data, outreach, screening, referral, and sustainability infrastructure needed to connect tribal child-serving programs, schools, child welfare, childcare and early-learning providers, families, and behavioral health services. The population of focus is keetoowah and other american indian and alaska native children, youth, and young adults from birth through age 25, along with their families and caregivers, residing in the five-county service area. The project will prioritize the needs of infants and young children participating in tribal childcare and early-learning programs; school-age children and adolescents; transition-age youth; children involved with child welfare; and youth experiencing or at risk for emotional, behavioral, substance-use, trauma-related, or suicide-related concerns. Although this planning grant does not fund direct clinical treatment, outreach, screening, referral, and community-engagement activities will be available to all children and families served by the tribe, without racial preference. The project will implement the required circles of care activities by convening a tribal community board; conducting a tribal swot analysis of unmet needs, existing resources, and service gaps; hosting a gathering of native americans (gona); formalizing cross-system partnerships; and developing a written system-of-care blueprint. Allowable capacity-building activities will include culturally grounded mental health outreach and literacy education; community listening and planning sessions; youth and caregiver engagement; culturally responsive create-to-cope activities involving elders, culture bearers, language, traditional arts, and intergenerational learning; and development of coordinated screening, referral, information-sharing, and sustainability procedures. The initiative will engage echota behavioral health, UKB indian child welfare, the henry LEE doublehead child development center, schools, tribal leadership, elders, caregivers with lived experience, youth, and other community partners. The project goal is to build the tribal infrastructure, governance, partnerships, and cultural foundation necessary for a sustainable system of care so that every keetoowah child and youth has the opportunity to be seen, screened, and supported. By september 29, 2029, the tribe will produce and adopt one written system-of-care blueprint defining the service area, governance structure, partner roles, culturally grounded outreach approach, cross-program screening and referral pathways, and sustainability plan. Additional measurable objectives include convening a tribal community board of at least eight members that meets at least 12 times annually; completing a tribal swot analysis within six months; engaging at least 100 community members through a gona by the end of year 1; securing at least three formal partnership or data-sharing agreements by the end of year 2; and conducting at least 12 culturally grounded outreach activities annually.