Friday, May 9, 2025
5/9/2025
SRMT-DFC Year 6-10 Project - Akwesasne is the traditional Mohawk name of the Saint Regis Mohawk Reservation located in Northern New York State. Situated approximately 80 miles northeast of Lake Ontario and 60 miles southwest of Montreal, Quebec, the reservation is divided by the United States and Canadian border, and subdivided further by Franklin County in New York State and the Canadian Provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The area comprises 16,640 square acres of wetland, agricultural land, woodland and light commercial development. The total membership population of Akwesasne under the Tribe is 16,211, with 8,298 females and 7,913 males. The youth population of age 24 and younger is 4,475 or nearly 28% of the population. Most youth attend middle school and senior high school at Salmon River Central School. This district is NCES designated as Rural with the priority category designation of a High Need/Resource Capacity school district. There are 757 students in grades 6-12 and 62% of the students are Native American, 33% - White, 2% - Hispanic, and 3% - Multiracial. In addition, 17% of the population are students with disabilities, 74.5% are deemed economically disadvantaged, and 71% of the students are eligible to participate in the Free Lunch and Reduced-Price Lunch Programs. The graduation rate for Native American students is 85%, which is slightly lower than for all students at 87%. Youth identify anecdotally with a variety of sexual orientations and gender identities, including, two spirit, transgender, straight, gay, bisexual, asexual, and questioning. Recently, there has been awareness and support for the 2SLBGTQAI+ community with training and support from the Akwesasne Safe Zone. The Akwesasne community has experienced declining economic conditions and employment opportunities in recent years. In April 2020, 290 of 679 tribal employees faced lay off due to COVID-19. Since then, the unemployment rate of the community has been fluctuating to as high as 5-6% at times. The resulting poor economic conditions have given rise to numerous social and behavioral concerns for our families, including limited earning potential, lack of adequate housing, domestic violence, addiction, and gambling issues. These conditions have not been without consequences. Substance abuse, trauma (including generational and historical), suicides, and suicide attempts have had negative impacts in Akwesasne. Our tribal leaders recognize the urgency to deal with these issues, tasking community stakeholders, including the Akwesasne Coalition for Community Empowerment (ACCE), to identify solutions for increased and enhanced programs and services to meet our community's needs. ACCE will work to establish and strengthen collaboration among community partners to effect sustainable community-level change to prevent and reduce substance use among youth. ACCE will focus on changing the local community environmental conditions tied to substance abuse. A review of local data and the 2021 Prevention Needs Assessment youth survey data identified alcohol and marijuana, including cannabis oils and edibles, as the substances of focus. Underage drinking and vaping marijuana are two pervasive risk behaviors trending among our youth. ACCE proposes to utilize the elements of the Strategic Prevention Framework, Seven Strategies for Community Level Change, and the DFC Framework to guide its DFC efforts. The desired long-term outcomes consist of reducing past 30-day use of alcohol and marijuana use by youth ages 12-17 years and strengthening the coalition's community partnerships. ACCE will participate in the National Cross-Site Evaluation and collect data relative to youth substance use for alcohol, tobacco, marijuana, and prescription drugs for the four DFC required measures: past 30-day use, perception of risk/harm of use, perception of parental disapproval of use, and perception of peer disapproval of 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).