Center to Partner with John's Hopkins University

AUGUST 2023

Center to Partner with Johns Hopkins University

$7.1M Funding for Promotion of Wellness, Education & Resilience Among Native Youth

The Center for Children, Families and Workforce Development (Center) recently secured a 5-year, $7.1 million grant from the US Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office of Population Affairs (OASH OPA) to provide evidence-based, youth pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection prevention programs to American Indian (AI) youth in Montana, Arizona and New Mexico.

In partnership with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Indigenous Health (JHU-CIH), AI youth who access health and/or mental health care at All Nations Health Center in Missoula or Rocky Boy Health Center on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation will be able to receive targeted, culturally-appropriate interventions and education for pregnancy prevention/delay and pregnancy spacing; as well as sexually transmitted infection (STI) prevention in each of their health center’s settings. In collaboration with faculty from JHU-CIH on the Navajo Nation in Arizona and New Mexico, these prevention programs will be implemented in their American Indian (AI) summer camps and reservation school districts. Together this multi-state project will focus on reducing AI teen birth and STI rates which consistently are the highest rates of any ethnic minority group.

“Focused education for this high-risk group is going to benefit their family and in turn our entire community,” explained Sandra Friede, Rocky Boy Health Center’s (RBHC) Public Health Nurse. RBHC is housed on the Rocky Boy’s Reservation and provides health and mental health care to its tribal community.

All Nations Health Center’s (ANHC) Executive Director, Skye McGinty, said that “All Nations is thrilled to be partnering with the University of Montana, the Chippewa Cree Tribe of Montana, and Navajo Nation on culturally appropriate reproductive education. Decolonizing our bodies starts with the kind of empowerment this grant will provide for Native youth and their families.” Based in Missoula, ANHC serves over 18 Tribes throughout Montana.

Using a community-engaged, participatory approach to program implementation, the evidence-based programs have a foundational methodology in trauma-informed care and Positive Youth Development. Community and Youth Advisory Boards within each AI setting will assist UM and JHU staff in the oversight, implementation and monitoring of all project activities.

Kate Chapin, Executive Director of the Center shared, “We are committed to advancing health equity across the state and this new partnership with Johns Hopkins University’s CIH will provide Montana with the tools and expertise to better serve the most vulnerable populations in Montana – American Indian youth. We are honored to receive this 5-year award.”

If you are interested in learning more about the work the Center will be doing on this project, contact Kristen Rogers, PhD at [email protected].

“This multi-year, multi-state prevention grant will provide a transformative and foundational infrastructure from which American Indian youth will be supported, served and valued within their tribal culture while learning about pregnancy prevention, spacing and delay that will include sexually transmitted infection prevention and intervention. A main goal of this project is to reduce pregnancies in AI youth while respecting cultural norms of family and Tribal connectedness.”

— Kristen Rogers,PhD, Director of Research and Evaluation for the Center for Children Families and Workforce Development

The Center for Children, Families & Workforce Development partners with the child protection, health, educational, and judicial systems to develop educational and training resources for professionals and caregivers statewide. We also conduct research that focuses on solving problems that impact children and families, and we work to help partnering agencies with capacity building and technical assistance.

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