Friday, November 22, 2024
11/22/2024
Nevada Urban Indians, Inc.’s (NUI) target population is youth placed at risk by the effects of alcohol, methamphetamines, and suicide. Specifically, NUI will target areas in which youth are at greatest risk due to pervasive negative experiences and crises such as: youth transitioning from the Justice System, children in foster care, youth experiencing homelessness, and those with a family history of alcoholism/substance abuse as identified through involvement with Child Protective Services. Traumatic experiences such as these are known to exacerbate negative behaviors, making these populations among the most vulnerable to alcohol and substance use or dependency. Service deficits pertaining to these demographics place these populations at further risk and increases the likelihood of self-harm behavior. NUI already facilitates one of only three Methamphetamine and Suicide Prevention Initiative (MSPI) programs targeting meth use and suicide awareness in Northern Nevada’s urban Native American populations. NUI now seeks to expand the scope of these services to include alcohol use in all Nevada youth as well as the intergenerational effects of use among families. NUI seeks to provide specified services to categorically defined subsets of youth organized by age bracket, addressing all ages of youth consumption of alcohol under concern. NUI seeks to address this wide range of need with the knowledge that prevention and treatment require engagement at multiple levels in order to inflict systematic change and that the type of engagement necessary varies by age. Age groups will be served through evidence-based practices that can be structured to best suit the demographic needs including behavioral and mental health services, family engagement services, community and home-based supports, and extensive outreach and education. NUI is aware of the detrimental service disparity in our area, compounding the effects of behavioral and mental health pathologies; NUI seeks to lessen the severity of this by providing quality support and recovery services focused on prevention and intervention for youth and families. Data provided by Nevada Health and Human Services (HHS) indicates that 17% of adolescents in Nevada consume alcohol before the age of 13. This is contrary to the national average of age 15; an estimated 2,000 of Nevada’s youth are thought to be alcohol dependent according to the Child Welfare League of America. Per the Youth Risk Behavior Survey, 30.6% among high school students drank alcohol and 15.3% participated in binge drinking; and among middle schoolers 10.3% drank alcohol and 2.6% participated in binge drinking (University of Nevada, 2015). Additionally, a study from the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research revealed that approximately 13,000 Nevada adolescents under the age of 18 were in need of treatment for alcohol related problems but did not receive it. Another 8,000 were unable to receive treatment for illicit substances, also above the national average according to HHS. The Center for Disease Control reports that nearly 4% of Nevada youth have admitted to using meth. Nevada’s disparity between treatment availability and youth in need is indicative of an infrastructural deficit; the effects of this are compounded by Nevada’s youth substance use statistics rising above national averages. The current project seeks to provide closure to this gap through the treatment and prevention of both alcohol and methamphetamine use.
HHS’ Tracking Accountability in Government Grants System (TAGGS) website provides access to detailed descriptions of grants, loans, aggregated direct payments and other types of financial assistance awarded by the HHS Operating Divisions (OPDIVs) and the Office of the Secretary Staff Divisions (STAFFDIVs).
