Omaha Nation Community Response Team
The Sacred Child Project |
The purpose of the Sacred Child Project (SCP) is to expand the availability of intensive outpatient treatment for Native children and their families. This comprehensive initiative strives to enhance the current tribal system of care by broadening the scope of available treatment and support services. It will enable our community’s ability to provide a comprehensive, integrated, and community-based response to youth substance abuse and child welfare issues. SCP activities are designed to reduce incidences of substance abuse related to child welfare by providing unique opportunities for those having the courage to make drastic lifestyle changes. The project also works to provide a framework of support that changes community norms regarding substance abuse and recovery which have previously led to high incidences of child abuse and neglect. Youth ages 12-18 are served through seven week cycles and continuing care. SCP utilizes the “Walking in Beauty on the Red Road” evidence-based approach as a primary treatment model and incorporates Omaha Tribal values and beliefs in each treatment cycle. SCP staff members focus on existing substance abuse, mental health, and cultural issues of youth. SCP is currently funded through grants from the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration and Administration of Children & Families. |
The Ten Clans Domestic Violence Initiative |
The Ten Clans Domestic Violence Initiative will serve as the community cornerstone for the Omaha Nation’s efforts to prevent and reduce domestic violence, date rape, sexual assault, and stalking. This initiative will improve the current law enforcement, judicial and family support system by addressing severe domestic violence crime rates, family deterioration, and lack of a coordinated cultural community response. The Ten Clans Domestic Violence Initiative provides for a strategic planning and system design process in order to implement a coordinated service system model that will provide a meaningful response to domestic violence victims. The intent of the ONCRT is to enhance the current domestic violence prevention system and provide for future services that presently do not exist, including specific services for victims with special needs. The Initiative is currently funded through the Department of Justice, Office of Violence Against Women. |
The Rain Maker Project |
The Rain Maker Project partners with the ONCRT Vision Quest Project to provide for community-based coalition activities, utilizing the evidence-based environmental strategy “Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol” to curb underage drinking issues on the Omaha Reservation. The Rain Maker Coalition includes representatives from 12 primary community sectors: Parents/Grandparents, Youth, Health Organizations, Law Enforcement, Business Owners, Faith-Based/Religious Organizations, Schools, Youth-Serving organizations, Media, State, Local or Tribal Government, Civic or Volunteer Groups, and Other Organizations Involved in Reducing Substance Abuse. The Rain Maker Project provides strategic planning activities, following the SAMHSA Prevention Framework model, as well as community trainings and forums on preventing underage drinking, reducing substance abuse and violence among youth, and cultural pathways to change community attitudes regarding substance abuse. The Coalition meets monthly following a strategic plan and is funded through a SPF-SIG grant from the Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services. |
Project HOPE |
The ONCRT has built upon prior community suicide prevention efforts in order to develop and implement a youth based suicide prevention initiative, grounded in strong partnerships and collaborations, by assisting Native American youth and young adults ages 10-24. Project HOPE is funded through a grant from SAMHSA and utilizes the “American Indian Life Skills Development Curriculum” (AILSDC) evidence-based approach in providing a school-based curriculum for youth in grades 6-12 at both K-12 public schools on the reservation. The Project also incorporates prevention, early intervention, and outreach services, a media campaign to dramatize the existing suicide ideology in the community, and is developing an emergency response infrastructure. Project HOPE strives to strengthen the tribal system of care and enhance our youth’s cultural knowledge and life skills. Our vision is to provide a culturally appropriate system of care, connecting a proven evidence-based approach with core values and teachings of the Omaha culture as a major protective factor in preventing suicides. This vision includes providing a framework to change community norms and support activities regarding suicide prevention. The project will partner with local groups, organizations and universities to incorporate the AILSDC into the mainstream education and health systems while engaging tribal leaders and stakeholders. |
The Medicine Wheel Project |
The Medicine Wheel Project is designed to assist at risk youth in making positive choices and developing leadership skills through working with horses using Omaha traditions pertaining to the horse. The Medicine Wheel Project is built on strong traditional values and seeks to delay onset of drug and alcohol experimentation and decrease the likelihood of transition to regular use. The horse has been central to Omaha cultural identity, values, and spirituality for nearly 300 years. This traditional bond between horses and humans is the perfect medium for communicating cultural values and beliefs regarding honor, courage, dignity, protecting others, empathy unselfishness, sharing and traditional spirituality to early adolescents. The Medicine Wheel Project is sponsored through a partnership between Omaha Nation Public Schools and ONCRT, which seeks funding to sustain, develop, and implement this innovative, culturally specific equine-assisted alcohol and drug prevention program for youth who are members of the Omaha Tribe in Northeastern Nebraska. The Medicine Wheel Project (Sacred Horse Society) continues to build on strong traditional cultural values of a Great Plains horse culture as a means to teach and sustain positive traditional values and pro-social, pro-cultural behaviors to prevent substance abuse and youth crime. It is based on traditional cultural spirituality, practices, and values, and it will be developed and implemented by Omaha people. The Medicine Wheel Project is currently funded through the Omaha Nation Public School. |
The Vision Quest Project |
The Vision Quest Project partners with the Rain Maker Project in providing for community-based coalition activities on the Omaha Reservation. The ONCRT is currently in their fifth year of funding through SAMHSA’s Drug-Free Communities Support Program to serve as catalysts for multi-sector participation to reduce local substance abuse problems. The Vision Quest Project works towards accomplishing two major goals: 1) Reduce substance abuse among youth and, over time, among adults by addressing the factors in a community that increase the risk of substance abuse and promoting the factors that minimize the risk of substance abuse; and 2) Establish and strengthen collaboration among communities, private non-profit agencies, and federal, state, local, and tribal governments to support the efforts of community coalitions to prevent and reduce substance abuse among youth. The Vision Quest Project coordinates community and tribal initiatives through strategic planning efforts and provides project partners with various trainings to assist with capacity building, prevention methods and models, youth develop, and resource development. The Vision Quest Project includes representatives from 12 primary community sectors: Parents/Grandparents, Youth, Health Organizations, Law Enforcement, Business Owners, Faith-Based/Religious Organizations, Schools, Youth-Serving organizations, Media, State, Local or Tribal Government, Civic or Volunteer Groups, and Other Organizations Involved in Reducing Substance Abuse and utilizes the evidence-based environmental strategy “Communities Mobilizing for Change on Alcohol”. Substance abuse on the Omaha Reservation affects everyone. The Vision Quest Project promotes prevention through a community media campaign that includes a monthly prevention newsletter and works with the Omaha Tribal Council on updating tribal systems of care including juvenile justice and child welfare. Coalition members have been active in changing community perceptions of substance abuse and work diligently with the Tribal Government on changing tribal codes and policies regarding community safety and substance abuse. The Vision Quest Project utilizes SAMHSA’s Prevention Framework model and has created the ONCRT Community Mobilization Initiative to act as the driving force behind all ONCRT programs and activities. |
Sacred Voices Project |
The Sacred Voices Project is a one year program developed by the ONCRT to stimulate prevention efforts for younger children by targeting students in grades K-4 at Omaha Nation and Walthill Public Schools as well as children participating in local Head Start programs. The ONCRT has developed a caricature named “Khage Zhiⁿga” (Means “Little Friend” in Omaha Language) that will serve as the program logo and be identifiable with the ONCRT and Sacred Voices Project prevention efforts. The Sacred Voices Project will perform interactive puppet shows (Designed in an Omaha cultural story format) at each school and Head Start program. Age-appropriate coloring books, banners, and brochures have also been designed as handouts for the children to follow the presentation and to take home. The story will star “Khage Zhiⁿga” as the primary character with other puppets animals playing roles designed to give advice for children regarding underage drinking. Youth who have participated in the ONCRT Sacred Child Program will serve as puppeteers (Mentors) for the Sacred Voices Project. The Mentors will also assist in the evaluation process by interviewing and video recording children for their response to the presentation and feelings regarding underage drinking in the community. The Sacred Voices Project is funded by the Nebraska Department of Health & Human Services, Governor’s Safe and Drug-Free Schools and Communities Grant Program. |
Nebraska Intertribal Juvenile Detention Center Initiative |
The ONCRT has partnered with the four federally recognized Indian tribes of Nebraska to develop the Nebraska Intertribal Juvenile Detention Center Initiative in order to plan, design, and build a regional juvenile detention and rehabilitation center in Northeast Nebraska. The project is presently in Phase I of development and has received funding from the U.S. Department of Justice. A Phase II application has just been completed and sent to the Department of Justice. The project vision includes a new detention facility and a “step-down” rehabilitation program. The ONCRT will also work with tribal communities in creating social and cultural support systems of care for youth and families who have had youth completing sentencing, treatment, and educational opportunities at the facility. All four tribes and communities believe in the rehabilitation focus rather than simply incarceration. The “step-down” process will enable youth to experience cultural, social, and educational growth and promote individual healing rather than punitive measures only. Plans also include a cultural center, day treatment, staff-secure shelter care, and a youth ranch for long term placements. The tribes are interested in providing a “Circle of Care” where youth can enter and re-enter when necessary. The Nebraska Intertribal Juvenile Detention Initiative has contracted with Justice Solutions, Inc. to assist in the in the planning and development, which will include a Master Plan design. |
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