Tlingit & Haida Wayfinders: Strong Roots, Healthy Futures - Applicant: Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska (T&H), a federally recognized Tribe Project Title: Wayfinders: Strong Roots, Healthy Futures Funding Opportunity: Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Program (Tribal PREP), HHS-2026-ACF-ACYF-AT-0015 Requested Funding: $595,949.10 (Year 1); $2,989,467.65 (five-year project total) Project Period: Five years (Phase 1 planning, Phase 2 implementation and evaluation) Central Council of the Tlingit & Haida Indian Tribes of Alaska requests Tribal PREP funding to expand Wayfinders: Strong Roots, Healthy Futures, a culturally grounded pregnancy-prevention and life-skills program serving Alaska Native and American Indian youth ages 10–19, and pregnant or parenting youth up to age 21, in Juneau and Angoon, Alaska. Using a hub-and-spoke model, Wayfinders will deliver weekly, curriculum-based programming to approximately 40 youth in Juneau and quarterly multi-day intensives to approximately 10 youth in Angoon, a fly-in/ferry-only community, serving an estimated 50 unduplicated AI/AN youth annually. Programming will implement FLASH, an evidence-based curriculum, with fidelity across three selected Adulthood Preparation Subjects — Healthy Relationships, Educational and Career Success, and Healthy Life Skills — within a positive youth development framework grounded in Tlingit and Haida cultural values. The project builds on three years of existing Wayfinders programming and formal partnerships, including a signed Letter of Commitment with Chatham School District, Angoon School, and a referral relationship with CBS Healing Center for behavioral health support. Local evaluation will be led by the American Institutes for Research (AIR) using a participatory, capacity-building "gradual release" model, with dual-track review by the Alaska Area Institutional Review Board and T&H's Executive Council, and will align with ACF's collaborative learning agenda for Tribal PREP grantees. This project directly advances ACF's priorities of promoting work and self-sufficiency, program integrity, evidence-based practice, and partnership and local Tribal leadership.
