Instilling wellness through workforce development II - with instilling wellness through workforce development II (instilling wellness II), the indian health center of santa clara valley (IHC) will…

Instilling wellness through workforce development II - with instilling wellness through workforce development II (instilling wellness II), the indian health center of santa clara valley (IHC) will increase the capacity of the local service system to use data-driven approaches to create and implement effective substance use prevention programming and policies for urban american indian/alaska native (AI/an) youth aged 9-20 in santa clara county (SCC). Instilling wellness II has two overarching goals: 1) to develop and increase infrastructure and capacity to conduct data-driven substance abuse prevention for AI/an youth, and 2) to provide the samhsa developed and recommended culturally based best-practice model for AI/an youth substance abuse prevention, gona, adapted to include economic development strategies. As part of this work, IHC will complete a needs assessment and create a strategic plan. The strategic plan will identify a collaborative approach to utilize assets to prioritize and address long-term substance abuse prevention needs in the community. These priorities will be reinforced during regular interactions with the stakeholder groups. Instilling wellness II will provide of an adapted, evidence-based gathering of native americans (gona) annually, aiming to promote cultural connectedness and increase job preparedness for 265 AI/an youth and transitional age youth (TAY) by the end of the grant. IHC will engage three key stakeholder groups to ensure that our culturally appropriate data-based programming meets the behavioral priorities of the communities: the native youth council, the california statewide epidemiological workgroup (SEW), and the community coalition: 1) the state of california has an operational and on-going SEW that meets monthly. IHC will continue to participate in these meetings so that the needs of the AI/an population are integrated into overall work; 2) the native youth council (YC) will meet quarterly and will provide feedback and suggestions for the program application process, workshops, trainings, and follow-up activities; and 3) a community coalition comprised of quarterly meetings with community-based partners that will review data, provide input on priorities, policy, and e programming for urban AI/an youth in SCC. IT is anticipated that youth served by the project will experience increased job skills, cultural, resiliency and coping skills resulting in reduced substance use. Program impacts will be measured by monitoring the following outcomes: 30-day use of alcohol, marijuana, tobacco and prescription drug use, access, perception of harm, parent/peer disapproval, improvement in cultural connectedness, improvement in job skills perception, expansion of the youth participants professional social network, increases in hope for the future, and changes in job acquisition.