Friday, May 9, 2025
5/9/2025
The Selawik Wellness Coalition in Selawik, Alaska - With SAMHSA funding, the Native Village of Selawik will form the Selawik Wellness Coalition which will be made up of four initial task forces: Wellness Promotion; Suicide Prevention; Crisis Intervention; and the Postvention. The goals of the Selawik Wellness Coalition will be fourfold: 1) For Selawik residents to take ownership of the problem and of the solution through Wellness Promotion; 2) To educate residents on how to effectively and appropriately respond to people at risk of suicide; 3) To connect with other organizations and villages to create a region-wide alliance focused on increasing the quality of life in rural Alaska; and 4) To provide Selawik residents with immediate access to prevention, treatment, and recovery services when needed. The overall indicators of success will be a reduction in both the rate of suicide and suicide attempts in Selawik, Alaska. Other measurable objectives include: a reduced rate of adult binge drinking; reduced rate of children seeing violence or physical abuse in person; increased number of students participating in organized after school activities; increased number of residents with ASIST and Gatekeeper training; and increased data collection on all factors relevant to suicide prevention. Each task force will target different areas on the spectrum of suicide prevention. These task forces will consist of IRA staff, city staff, relevant agencies, and community volunteers. The first year will focus on developing these task forces, creating action plans which aim at the 'low hanging fruit' while also targeting long term strategic needs. The short term and low cost projects will be executed during the first year while seeking funding for more intensive and expensive activities.
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).