Positive Youth Development State and Local Collaboration Demonstration Projects
Fiscal Year 2005 Highlights: Nebraska

Local community: Box Butte, Dawes, Scotts Bluff, and Sheridan Counties

This rural community has a large population of Native Americans, mainly Lakota people from the Pine Ridge Reservation. Because the Lakota are not recognized as a Nebraska Tribe, they lack resources such as health services, housing, and elder care. The overall lack of jobs in the area and the refusal of many employers to hire Native Americans further add to the poverty. Many families have difficulty meeting basic needs, and community resources to assist them are limited. With the community spread across four counties, residents have difficulty accessing the few services available to them.

Native youth told the collaboration that they felt unwelcome in their communities and schools. In response, the collaborators aim to change attitudes toward Native young people both in their Tribes and in the wider community. Project organizers believe the road to greater acceptance and respect for Native youth is to engage them in positive activities in the community and assist them in recognizing their own strengths and achievements.

Partners:

Nebraska Health and Human Services (grantee agency)
Panhandle Community Youth Facility (Runaway and Homeless Youth grantee)
Nebraska Children and Families Foundation
Chadron Native American Center
Native American Health and Human Services Committee of the Panhandle Partnership of Health and Human Services
Western Community Health Resources
Pine Ridge Job Corps
Chadron State College
Highway 20 Schools
Dawes County Family Preservation

In Fiscal Year 2005, the Nebraska project

• Held a wellness gathering in Chadron, Nebraska
  
• Implemented the Sons of Tradition and Daughters of Tradition curricula in one school and hosted a train-the-trainer session, with 37 adults trained
  
• Hosted the Friends of Intertribal Gathering Pow-Wow, which included a youth fun run and walk, a competitive 5-kilometer race, and a 3-day youth camping trip
  
• Discussed ways to make health and human services more culturally appropriate for Native Americans through regular meetings with the Health and Human Services Area Administrator and the Native American Health and Human Services Committee
  
• Marked students’ achievement in completing a grade level by holding graduation celebrations
  
• Received a grant from the Disproportionate Minority Contact funds of the Nebraska Crime Commission to promote the values and intent of Positive Youth Development
  
• Held community healing meetings to address community respect for other cultures and other families within a culture

Challenges to the collaboration project’s work include

• Lack of community participation among Native Americans, who often don’t trust non-Native agencies and don’t feel their opinions have been valued
  
• Identifying qualified professionals who can work successfully with Native youth