The Youth Will Carry the Future Forward - Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation proposes The Youth Will Carry the Future Forward, a culturally grounded suicide prevention initiative for American Indian youth ages 10–24 across the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwestern South Dakota. The project will address depression, anxiety, trauma exposure, early substance use, suicidal ideation, suicide attempts, and limited access to culturally grounded prevention services by strengthening Tribal and community prevention capacity through Lakota lifeways. Activities will include youth leadership development, suicide prevention training for youth-facing staff, family engagement, community awareness campaigns, crisis-response protocol development, and traditional wellness activities guided by Elders, mentors, and community partners. Lakota language, storytelling, land-based learning, kinship, and intergenerational teachings will support cultural identity, belonging, resilience, coping skills, and other protective factors. The project will also strengthen coordination among Tribal, school, and community partners, expand family participation, increase knowledge of suicide warning signs and prevention resources, and establish sustainable crisis-response and behavioral health prevention systems.
