California 988 Tribal Response Project - Riverside–San Bernardino County Indian Health, Inc. (RSBCIHI) leads the statewide California 988 Tribal Response Task Force—a partnership of 988 crisis centers, Tribal and Urban Indian health organizations, and federal and state agencies—to expand culturally grounded crisis care and improve access to 988 services across all eleven 988 call centers and thirty five Tribal and Urban Indian health organizations serving AI/AN people statewide. The California 988 Tribal Response Project spans 58 counties across Southern, Central, and Northern California—from Riverside and San Bernardino to Del Norte, Humboldt, Butte, Sacramento, Los Angeles, Orange, Ventura, San Diego, Alameda, and others. These counties are home to 1.4 million AI/AN people and 109 federally recognized tribes, the largest number of any state. This project will reach AI/AN youth and adults statewide to strengthen crisis response across diverse geographies, from remote rural regions to dense urban centers. The 2026 project will expand on work completed by the Task Force—engaging all eleven 988 call centers and all thirty five Tribal and Urban Indian health organizations in California to strengthen crisis response, improve referral connections, increase awareness and utilization of 988, and unify culturally responsive training, communication, and coordinated crisis pathways needed to support 988 services now and in the future. Several components of this project—including the culturally responsive training plan, the HSQ 7 pilot, and digital communication materials—are designed for adaptation and replication nationwide to support AI/AN crisis response efforts across the country. Capacity building goals include: • Establish and maintain the project team • Establish and maintain formal collaborations • Develop a system to collect and report on tribal members’ 988 utilization, service outcomes, referral connections, and follow-up • Deliver culturally responsive training for 988 crisis center staff • Develop culturally responsive programs and protocols to minimize suicide risk among students and ensure timely access to crisis services • Develop, implement, and maintain a tribal 988 communication strategy The objectives directly advance SAMHSA’s Strategic Priorities by strengthening crisis system coordination, expanding culturally responsive care, improving data integration, and building a crisis ready workforce. Objectives 1.1–1.5 support SAMHSA’s priority to establish strong organizational leadership for crisis response. Objectives 2.1–2.2 advance coordinated systems of care through formal statewide partnerships. Objectives 3.1–3.2 strengthen data driven decision making through expanded AI/AN specific 988 utilization and outcome reporting. Objective 4.1 supports SAMHSA’s workforce development priority through statewide culturally responsive training. Objective 5.1 aligns with youth suicide prevention priorities by developing culturally grounded student crisis protocols. Objective 6.1 increases awareness and access to crisis services through statewide dissemination of Tribal 988 communication materials. Together, these objectives embed trauma informed, culturally grounded best practices across California’s crisis continuum.
