Texas Native Health 988 Lifeline Program - Texas Native Health (TNH), the only AAAHC-accredited Urban Indian Organization in the state of Texas, requests $1,365,000 annually for this 3 year cycle to expand culturally responsive 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline access for American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) individuals across the state of Texas. Building on a funded FY 2023 988 Tribal Response award, TNH will strengthen embedded behavioral health capacity, deepen crisis center partnerships, and increase 988 awareness among AI/AN individuals who face the highest suicide mortality rate of any racial or ethnic group in the nation. TNH serves AI/AN individuals across Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin. Critical capacity gaps include limited warm handoff infrastructure between 988 crisis contact centers and culturally responsive follow-up care, insufficient AI/AN cultural competency training among crisis center staff, and low 988 awareness outside the DFW corridor. In 2022, the suicide rate among non-Hispanic AI/AN persons was 91% greater than the overall U.S. population rate, and AI/AN adults in 2024 were 17% less likely than U.S. adults overall to have received mental health treatment in the past year. The overarching goal of this funding is to ensure AI/AN individuals in urban Texas have access to a coordinated, culturally grounded crisis response system they trust. The population of focus includes AI/AN individuals of all ages, with highest need among those aged 25 to 44, youth, veterans, and individuals involved with criminal justice and child welfare systems. TNH's three goals and nine measurable objectives advance SAMHSA's Strategic Priorities of expanding crisis intervention care and preventing serious mental illness. Goal 1 targets MOU execution with crisis contact center partners by Month 6 of Year 1, a 75% warm handoff completion rate by Year 1 end, and 80% of individuals screened receiving a documented referral disposition within the same care encounter. Goal 2 targets a referral completion rate of 70% or higher by Year 1 increasing to 80% by Year 3, measurable QIP improvement in at least two performance indicators per reporting cycle, and 100% SPARS compliance throughout the project period. Goal 3 targets 80% of cultural competency training participants demonstrating 20% or greater knowledge gain annually, a 25% increase in reported 988 awareness among event participants by Year 3, and a 20% annual increase in communications campaign reach beginning Year 1. TNH will implement all six required activities: renewing and expanding MOUs with crisis contact centers in Houston and Austin and with AITSCM in San Antonio; implementing a five-stage data management workflow; delivering AI/AN cultural competency training to a minimum of 50 providers annually; engaging Dallas ISD, Dallas Police Department, and first responder agencies across all five target cities; participating fully in SAMHSA's national cross-site evaluation; and executing a 988 communications strategy aligned with SAMHSA's 988 partner toolkit.
