Teen Development Program

The Squaxin Island Tribe’s (Tribe) Teen Development Program will continue to increase access to personalized, culturally-relevant opportunities for teens, promoting youth engagement, teen personal development, leadership and real-world skills, thereby preventing youth delinquency, crime, and court involvement. At the Squaxin Island Tribe, many young people face multiple challenges to positive development. The Squaxin Island Tribe will address the complex community justice needs by continuing the Teen Development Program for another five years. The Teen Development Program is a targeted prevention effort for Squaxin Island Tribe community teens age 12-17, built on a foundation of several years of successful program implementation. The primary issue identified by the community is substance abuse—most of the violence and crime in the community is tied to substance abuse, causing trauma for the victims and community, and cycles of dysfunction. The goal of this project is to provide strong protective factors for teens through the Education Department and Tu Ha’ Buts Learning Center by supporting activities that develop social competence, cultural pride, and leadership skills. Objectives include: maintain and enhance administrative and programmatic infrastructure for teen social competence, cultural pride and leadership development program; maintain consistent participation of Squaxin Teens by recruiting young teens into the program each year and continue to refine targeted recruitment efforts and activities based on teen interests; and maintain the number of teen-planned and implemented activities (8 per year). These activities will take place twice quarterly, with at least one per quarter being a cultural activity.