SAMHSA awards at least $4.1 million to Alaska tribal youth suicide prevention programs

At least 10 Alaska Native tribes and tribal health organizations will begin five-year youth suicide prevention programs on Sept. 30 under federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awards. Eight share $3,138,943.

Tuluksak Native Community, a village of 313 in the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, received $700,000 to serve 153 youth and young adults through 24. Paimiut Native Village, in Hooper Bay, received $349,709 and expects to serve about 125 individual youth. Akiachak Native Community received $350,000 for a program reaching about 382 young people. Other recipients include the Village of Alakanuk ($350,000), the Kenaitze Indian Tribe ($350,000, serving a 15,000-square-mile area), the Southeast Alaska Regional Health Consortium ($339,234, for Craig, Klawock, Hydaburg and Kasaan), Kodiak Area Native Association ($350,000) and Cook Inlet Tribal Council ($350,000).

Two more hold awards under the same listing and terms: Tanana Chiefs Conference, $735,000 for 15 Interior villages, and Ninilchik Village, $250,000. The 10 come to $4,123,943.

Alaska's youth suicide rate hit a 10-year high in 2025, Department of Health Bulletin No. 11 says. The bulletin counted 174 youth suicide deaths and 4,101 attempts among Alaskans aged 10 to 18 from 2016 to 2025, and found Alaska Native youth experience the highest rates of both. Alaska Native youth aged 10 to 18 died by suicide at 47 per 100,000, compared with 9 per 100,000 for White youth.

Kenaitze's application cites provider shortages and waitlists, and reports regional Alaska Native youth reporting suicidal ideation at 32.2%, against 23.5% statewide, and suicide planning at 29.6%, against 23.7%.

The grant requires a shared frame: a project workgroup, a community needs and readiness assessment, a tribal strategic action plan and postvention protocols, the plan for after a death. Alakanuk's program centers on Calricaraq. Akiachak's draws on Calricaraq and Yuuyaraq elder teachings. Southeast Alaska's programs use storytelling and culture camps.

Polly Andrews, a senior learning and development advisor, told the House Tribal Affairs Committee on April 21, at a hearing on Alaska Native incarceration, that Native programs are grounded in traditional values and that "when we connect with our culture and our strengths of who we are as Alaska Native people, it's these very things that support well-being and community wellness for our people."

The Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association and Asa'carsarmiut Tribal Council each received $350,000, under a different federal listing, for youth substance misuse and overdose prevention. Kodiak Area Native Association received $200,000 for mental health awareness training through 2029.

The Suicide and Crisis Lifeline is reachable at 988.