Center for Native American Youth to Research the Impact of Suicide on Native Youth

Native News Network Staff in Native Health. Discussion »

WASHINGTON – The Center for Native American Youth, a policy program within the Aspen Institute headquartered in Washington DC, announced today a $75,000 grant from the New York Life Foundation. The Center was established with a goal of bringing greater national attention to the issues facing Native American youth and to foster solutions, with special emphasis on youth suicide prevention.

Former US Sen. Byron Dorgan, founder and chairman of the
Center for Native American Youth

The funding will support a convening and a study of resources to determine the current and future needs for bereavement and grief programming for the 2.1 million American Indian and Alaska Native, AI/AN, youth in the United States. According to the Center, average suicide rates among Native American youth have reached 3.5 times the national average, with some tribal communities having rates up to 10 times the national average.

“American Indian children are too often left behind in this country, with chronically underfunded health care and education systems,”

commented former U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan, founder and chairman of the Center for Native American Youth.

“I am excited about the Center's partnership with the New York Life Foundation because it is an example of efforts aimed at improving the lives of youth.”

“The statistics are powerful. The AI/AN youth face a disproportionately large number of losses but lack culturally sensitive bereavement services and resources to meet the demand ”

said Maria Collins, senior program officer of the New York Life Foundation.

The grant will support research into the impact suicides have on youth and communities, and help to determine the bereavement resources and services that are needed to address this specific population.

“In our outreach in Indian country, we hear from youth, parents and teachers that more bereavement programming is needed,”

said Erin Bailey, director of the Center for Native American Youth at Aspen Institute.

“We want to make this issue a priority on the national level.”

posted February 12, 2013 7:40 am est