STHD’s Drug Elimination and Safety Policy

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Approved 11/05/11

I. Need Statement

  1. The Siletz Tribal Housing Department’s (STHD) mission is to offer a safe and healthy environment for tribal families to grow and prosper. Creating a mindset that drug use and alcohol consumption are not conducive to a healthy lifestyle is central to maintaining an ideal environment for housing youth.
  2. The Siletz Tribe’s housing development is located in a rural area that provides much entertainment for nature lovers and children. However, as children mature the interests begin to vary; and unhealthy influences surreptitiously emerge to divert their attention to less than stellar pursuits. During these crucial stages many young people grow curious about drugs, alcohol, and other debilitating or destructive behaviors. This is when families, the community, and the Siletz Tribe must grow vigilant in protecting the youth.
  3. The Siletz Tribe’s Youth Program partners with families to offer activities that would not otherwise be available to many tribal youth. The Siletz Tribe’s 2005-2015 Comprehensive Plan describes the program as follows: “The Youth Services Program focuses on the well-being of young people and advocates for needs of youth. Tribal resources and others are used in developing positive community models. The program provides academic and leisure time activities in a supervised setting. Young people participate in constructive pursuits after school and on weekends.”
  4. The Youth Services Team fulfills the purpose of the Youth Program. The STHD’s resident services advocate is a member of this team along with representatives from the Siletz Tribe’s Alcohol and Drug Program, Tobacco Prevention Program, and Education Program. While the activities focus on youth the team promotes family participation because a healthy family will raise happy and healthy children in a caring and nurturing environment.
  5. The STHD recognizes that the community in which a family thrives must be healthy and safe. The Resident Organization meets once a month to discuss topics such as crime prevention, drug elimination, and other ways to maintain a healthy and safe community. The Resident Organization offers incentives, that are randomly distributed to attendees, to maximize meeting participation since the residents must present a united front to deter unhealthy influences from infiltrating the tribal community.

II. Drug Elimination and Safety Program (Goals, Outcomes, and Outputs)

  1. Education and Career
    Create self-awareness within the youth that they can achieve the highest level of success; ensure youth excel in academics; promote a mindset that attendance at an institution of higher or vocational education or enlisting with the armed forces will contribute to their success; and fully prepare the youth to enter the work force as productive members of society.
    1. Attendance at college fairs, career fairs, and other activities designed to prepare youth for higher education, vocational education, armed forces, or the work force.
      1. Provide the opportunity for youth to attend at least one college fair each year.
      2. Provide the opportunity for youth to attend at least one career fair each year.
    2. Facilitation of other activities designed to assist youth in reaching their academic and career goals.
  2. Character and Leadership
    Provide a strong foundation for the youth that enhances positive self esteem, builds confidence, and bestows a keen sense of right and wrong behavior as the youth progress through life as children, teens, adults, and elders; and ensure the youth evolve into strong and powerful leaders and role models in academics, athletics, community service, and other areas of their life.
    1. Facilitation of youth leadership conferences.
      1. Partner with Siletz tribal programs to host at least one leadership conference each year.
    2. Assistance with participation in academic, athletic, and other activities designed to create or enhance confidence, self-esteem, and burgeoning leadership skills.
      1. Provide the opportunity for youth to attend at least one leadership conference, hosted by another Indian tribe, each year.
    3. Facilitation of other activities designed to help youth become exemplary leaders in their community and positive role models for other youth.
  3. Health and Life Skills
    Ensure youth are healthy, happy, and fully prepared to overcome and conquer the negative influences that besiege them and to promote a lifestyle free from drug use, alcohol consumption, bullying, and other debilitating or destructive behaviors through the introduction of safe, healthy, and wholesome activities.
    1. Participation in activities designed to offer an alternative to alcohol consumption, drug usage, or other debilitating or destructive behaviors.
      1. Provide the opportunity for youth to attend summer camp.
    2. Facilitation of other activities designed to assist youth in maintaining a healthy and happy lifestyle.
  4. The Arts
    Expand the horizons of youth into the realm of artistic creation and expression as a conduit for building confidence and self-esteem and offer a positive outlet for expressing emotion while developing new skills, enhancing natural talents, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
    1. Attendance at activities that introduce youth to the realm of artistic creation and expression.
      1. Provide the opportunity for youth to attend at least one performance each year at the local performing arts center to encourage interest in ballet, dramatic expression, and other art forms.
    2. Participation in activities that allow youth to acquire an artistic skill or create a project that exemplifies the youth’s creative nature.
      1.  Assist families in satisfying costs associated with tuition for attendance at dance, ballet, and other classes.
    3. Facilitation of other activities designed to assist youth in embracing their creative self.
  5. Sports, Fitness, and Recreation
    Provide opportunities for youth, who live in a rural community, to participate in healthy activities that will enhance their athletic, academic, physical, and emotional well-being and offer a positive alternative to unhealthy activities that focus on drug use, alcohol consumption, and other debilitating or destructive behaviors.
    1.  Attendance at athletic and recreational activities designed to promote the healthy way of living.
      1. Provide the opportunity for youth to attend sport camps and tournaments.
      2. Provide the opportunity for youth to participate in healthy activities and to attend field trips during Christmas break, spring break, summer break, and in-service days during the school year, to counteract the tendency of the youth to congregate where drug use, alcohol consumption, and other debilitating or destructive behavior occur.
        1. Examples of healthy activities: gift making, cookie decorating, swimming, bowling, street dances, open gym, and going to the cinema.
      3. Provide the opportunity for families to offer healthy forms of entertainment for the purpose of reinforcing, within the youth, the mindset that life can be fun and enjoyable without drugs and alcohol and to promote the family unit as a safe haven for youth.
        1. Examples: Golfing, zoo trips, and water park trips.
      4. Partner with Siletz tribal programs to host at least one organized sporting event which allows the youth to build positive self esteem and confidence, acquire leadership and teamwork skills, and engage in an activity that is not drug or alcohol related; and to unite the community against any activity that is damaging to the young people.
    2. Purchase of sports and recreation equipment to benefit the youth.
    3. Facilitation of other activities designed to assist the youth in maintaining a drug and alcohol free lifestyle.
  6. Native American Heritage
    Help the youth live the happiest and healthiest life possible, as Native Americans, with the overall goal of ensuring the youth will one day serve as leaders in their respective communities and as positive role models for their descendants and other youth; and, in imbuing the youth with a sense of pride in their native heritage by sharing and promoting the Siletz and other tribal cultures for the purpose of building self-esteem and confidence and providing an alternative activity to drug use, alcohol consumption, and other debilitating or destructive behaviors.
    1. Participation in cultural activities that will instill a sense of pride in being a Native American.
      1. Provide the opportunity for families to purchase materials for tribal regalia to ensure youth can actively participate in pow wows and traditional events.
      2. Provide the opportunity for youth to share the history of the Siletz Tribe, exhibit pow wow and traditional dance styles, and display their talents in drumming and other traditional art forms.
      3. Partner with Siletz tribal programs to host culture camp in July of each year.
    2. Facilitation of other activities designed to assist the youth in embracing their Native American heritage.
  7. Youth Safety
    Assist youth in developing safety skills about crime and injury prevention.
    1. Participation in safety education classes.
      1. Provide the opportunity for youth to participate in a bike rodeo.
      2. Provide the opportunity for youth to participate in a hunter safety course each year.
    2. Facilitation of other activities designed to ensure the safety of youth in all facets of life.
  8. Healthy and Safe Community
    Coalesce as a community to maintain a healthy and safe environment for families to grow and prosper.
    1. Engaging in activities to ensure a healthy and safe community.
      1. Provide the opportunity for families to eliminate surplus items, that create a safety hazard, from the home and surrounding area.
    2. Engaging in activities to maximize participation at the monthly Resident Organization meetings.
      1. Provide incentives to maximize attendance at the monthly Resident Organization meetings.
    3. Facilitation of other activities designed to maintain a healthy and safe community.

III. Target Audience

  1. Youth Activities Component: The Youth Activities Component partners with other Siletz tribal programs to maximize youth participation in tribally sponsored activities. The youth must meet the eligibility criteria for at least one tribal program.
  2. Resident Organization Component: The Resident Organization Component provides assistance to youth and adults residing in housing developments that are operated and maintained by the Siletz Tribal Housing Department on behalf of the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.

IV. Location of Activities

The activities, funded by the STHD Drug Elimination and Safety Program, occur primarily within the State of Oregon. However, the program reserves the right to fund activities elsewhere if the activity adequately satisfies a program goal, outcome, or output.

V. Eligibility Determination

  1. Youth Activities Component: All tribal youth are eligible to participate in group activities sponsored by the Youth Services Team. The Siletz Tribal Housing Department combines its funds with other program funds; however, the housing department’s contribution equates with the number of housing youth participating in the activity.
  2. Resident Organization Component: Adults and youth who are members of a tribal household, as documented by the Siletz Tribal Housing Department, are eligible to participate in the STHD Drug Elimination and Safety Program.

VI. Allowable Costs

  1. Youth Activities Component
    1. Group Activity
      1. Lodging and transportation costs;
      2. Registration, entrance, admission, and other fees;
      3. Meals;
      4. Supplies;
      5. Entertainment equipment;
      6. Sweatshirt with a drug prevention logo; and
      7. Other costs associated with activities that are allowed by this policy.
  2. Resident Organization Component
    1. Youth Activity
      1. Registration and other fees and transportation costs for youth to attend summer camps and tournaments;
      2. Tuition and other registration costs for youth to attend dance, ballet, and other classes;
      3. Supplies to make tribal regalia for youth;
      4. Entrance, admission, and other fees and transportation costs for families to attend healthy forms of entertainment (such as golfing, zoo trips, water park trips);
      5. Costs associated with out of area travel for youth to attend cultural activities and ceremonies; and
      6. Other costs associated with activities that are allowed by this policy.
    2. Group Activity
      1. Resident Organization meals which are prepared on a monthly basis in conjunction with each meeting;
      2. Resident Organization incentives that are distributed in a random manner at the monthly meetings;
      3. Expenses associated with “Dump Day”; and
      4. Other costs associated with activities that are allowed by this policy.

VII. Administrative Expenses

  1. Salary and Expense
    1. The Resident Services Advocate manages the STHD Drug Elimination and Safety Program to include:
      1. Serving as the Siletz Tribal Housing Department’s representative on the Youth Services Team;
      2. Planning youth activities; and
      3. Transporting and chaperoning youth. The Siletz Tribal Housing Department also allows at least one other resident service employee to transport and chaperone youth on an as needed basis.
    2. The Resident Services Advocate processes requests for the Resident Organization’s component of the STHD Drug Elimination and Safety Program, prepares the meal for the resident organization’s monthly meeting, and purchases incentives as needed.