An innovative tribal/community partnership process for substance abuse prevention with Alaska Native and American Indian people in Anchorage, Alaska

Since 2004, SAMHSA/CSAP has funded 60+ State Epidemiological Outcome Workgroups for using epidemiologic data to enhance substance abuse prevention. In 2006, the Anchorage area was one of five tribal communities funded to engage in data-guided assessment and planning for substance abuse prevention. The Cook Inlet Tribal Council, United Way, Municipality of Anchorage, and Southcentral Foundation launched a new partnership based on this deliberate approach to systematically use data to guide and enhance substance abuse prevention decisions. This tribal/community partnership to address data-guided substance abuse prevention for Native people represented the first of its kind.

This session will describe and frame how the unique nature and context of this community informed the group's membership/structure, collaborative process, and making of key, shared decisions. Unlike other states, there is no single tribal government locus of control for Alaska Native people; the population is not characterized by “membership” in a single tribe, but rather by heritage; and many distinct Alaska Native and American Indian groups live in Anchorage. Challenged by relatively little epidemiologic data on behavioral health issues among Native people in Anchorage, our tribal/community advisory committee and project planning team have been able to make decisions about proxy data, complete a baseline needs assessment, and develop an infrastructure for building local data to describe needs and strengths of Native people. This process has led to new strategic partnerships and to an important paradigm shift from individual behavioral based/treatment approaches to population-based public health methods for prevention in our community.