29th Annual Project Venture Leadership Camp Photos and Reflections

29th Annual Project Venture National Leadership Camp!

Over 100 youth and 40 adults from across North America attended NIYLP's 29th Annual Leadership Camp July 13-19th!

Activities included hiking, ropes course, archery, arts and crafts, service activities, cultural sharing, horse inspired growth and healing, orienteering, mountain biking and more.

Youth learned and had opportunities to practice leadership skills, decision making, positive risk taking, communication and developed life-long friendships.

Adults from over 10 Project Venture Implementation sites spent the 7 days learning how design and carry-out similar PV camps in their own

communities.

NIYLP would like to thank all who made our 29th Annual National Camp possible with special recognition to Cowboy Jed from the Silver Dollar Ranch operated by the Pueblo of Laguna. Also the Pueblo of Laguna for the donation and transportation of the tables and chairs. DeAnne Pete and the Gallup Indian Medical Center for supporting Gallup area youth to attend. La Ronge Project Venture site for bringing extra tents and helping shuttle people up and down the mountain. Our amazing cooks for nutritional food that was hot and on time! The professional medical team in the med hut supported by The Native Health Initiative and volunteer nurses, Chidinma and Nneka Eze. And their co-worker Tamar Green of Portland OR. Dr. Emily Spade King who provided social, emotional and mental health support as needed. Staff of New Sunrise Regional Treatment who provided support on the ropes course. Red Horse Nation, Jen Stanchfield from Experiential Tools, Jim Grout from High 5 Adventure Learning Center, Margaret Merrill from Oso Vista Ranch, the Amazing NIYLP Staff and Service Staff, Nat Stone and Susan Carter (evaluators)....And many, many more!

Stay tuned to Facebook for dates for the 30th Annual PV Leadership Camp next July! Hope to see you there!

Portland Oregon, Project Venture Youth Addictions Counselor Position

YOUTH ADDICTIONS COUNSELOR:

The Youth Addictions Counselor will be responsible for providing drug and alcohol intervention, prevention and treatment services for youth clients using a collaborative process that facilitates the client’s progress toward mutually determined treatment goals and objectives. Will provide screening, intakes, and referrals, and work with youth clients to establish realistic, achievable goals consistent with achieving and maintaining recovery. Develops and implements, based on the assessment, individualized comprehensive treatment plans per Federal/State requirements for all youth clients. Facilitates group sessions for clients using various methods including experiential and outdoor activities, supervises attendance at activities specific to treatment plan, and maintain all client records in accordance with State and Federal regulations. Must be available for some evening and weekend work and occasional multi-day trips with youth.

TO QUALIFY:

Must be a Certified Chemical Dependency Specialist I or CADC1 with at least one year’s paid experience as a chemical dependency counselor and experience with youth Drug and Alcohol programs. Candidates must demonstrate disciplined empathy for alcohol/drug abuse clients and an understanding of the illness concept of alcoholism/drug abuse, plus demonstrate knowledge of AA, NA, Alateen and other support programs.

NARA NW is an Indian-owned and operated Private, Non-Profit, that provides culturally appropriate education, physical and mental health services, and substance abuse treatment to American Indians, Alaska Natives and other vulnerable people.

TO APPLY: Email your cover letter, resume, & salary requirements to jobs@naranorthwest.org or fax to 503-224-4494. NARA requires a minimum of two years sobriety if in recovery and all potential hires are required to pass a pre-employment (post-offer) drug screen and criminal background check.

EOE: within scope of Indian Preference, all candidates receive equal consideration. Preference in hiring is given to qualified Native Americans in accordance w/the Indian Preference Act (Title 25, US Code, Section 472 &473).

Excellent benefits - Medical, Dental, 401k match, Paid vacation, and more!

Check out our website: www.naranorthwest.org

$100 million in Affordable Care Act grants to help create healthier U.S. communities

Is your community or Tribe considering writing a Community Transformation Grant? Be sure to include Project Venture, an evidence-based, healthy life style program for middle and high school aged youth!

Prevention grants to focus on improving health, which can lower costs

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced today the availability of over $100 million in funding for up to 75 Community Transformation Grants. Created by the Affordable Care Act, these grants are aimed at helping communities implement projects proven to reduce chronic diseases – such as diabetes and heart disease. By promoting healthy lifestyles and communities, especially among population groups experiencing the greatest burden of chronic disease, these grants will help improve health, reduce health disparities, and lower health care costs.

“Community Transformation Grants will empower local communities with resources, information, and flexibility to help make their residents healthier,” said HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “By helping to transform communities at the ground level, these efforts can have a major impact on the health of Americans.”

“It is critical that we sustain our work to develop and spread effective programs that address leading killers like heart disease, cancer, and stroke,” said Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which oversees the Community Transformation Grants program. “These funds will allow us to build on successful programs that have helped people lead healthier lifestyles and help us save millions in health care costs in the future.”

Chronic diseases such as heart disease, cancer, stroke, and diabetes are taking a devastating toll on our nation’s health. Seven of every 10 deaths are from a chronic disease – mostly caused by tobacco use, obesity, poor diet, and too little physical activity. Treatment for people with chronic conditions accounts for more than 75% of the more than $2 trillion spent on annual U.S. medical care costs. Obesity is a significant health care cost driver; in 2008, about $147 billion of medical bills were weight-related.

Consistent with the law, these grants will focus on five priority areas:

1. tobacco-free living;

2. active living and healthy eating;

3. evidence-based quality clinical and other preventive services, specifically prevention and control of high blood pressure and high cholesterol;

4. social and emotional wellness, such as facilitating early identification of mental health needs and access to quality services, especially for people with chronic conditions; and

5. healthy and safe physical environments.

Successful applicants must use evidence-based strategies and ensure that their activities not only have broad population impact, but also help address health disparities. Examples of projects that could qualify for grants include eliminating food deserts and increasing access to healthy food options, including efforts to improve school nutrition or bring healthier food to corner markets in urban areas. Other examples include promoting blood pressure and cholesterol screenings.

Communities may also address additional areas of disease prevention and health promotion that will contribute to the overall goal of reducing chronic disease rates. These areas include adolescent health; arthritis and osteoporosis; cancer; diabetes; disabilities and secondary conditions; educational and community-based services; environmental health; HIV; injury and violence prevention; maternal, infant, and child health; mental health and mental disorders; health of older adults; oral health; and sexually transmitted diseases.

State and local government agencies, tribes and territories, and state and local non-profit organizations are eligible to apply for Community Transformation Grants. At least 20-percent of grant funds will be directed to rural and frontier areas. Applications are due to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in July 2011, with awards expected to be announced near the end of summer. The grants are expected to run for five years, with projects expanding their scope and reach over time as resources permit.

The Community Transformation Grants are one piece of a broader effort by the Obama Administration to address the health and well-being of our communities through initiatives such as the President’s Childhood Obesity Task Force, the First Lady’s Let’s Move! campaign, the National Prevention Strategy, the National Quality Strategy, and HHS’ Communities Putting Prevention to Work program. The Prevention and Public Health Fund, as part of the Affordable Care Act, is supporting this and other initiatives designed to expand and sustain the necessary capacity to prevent disease, detect it early, manage conditions before they become severe, and provide states and communities the resources they need to promote healthy living.

For more information about how the Fund is helping promote prevention in every state, visit www.HealthCare.gov/news/factsheets/prevention02092011a.html.

The official funding opportunity announcement for the Community Transformation Grants can be found at www.Grants.gov by searching for CDFA 93.531.

For more information about the grants, visit www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/grants05132011a.html or www.cdc.gov/communitytransformation.

Adventure Therapy With American Indian Youth, Dr. Susan Carter

Published by the Association for Experiential Education, this white paper by Susan Carter, Ph.D. and other AEE colleagues, explores Project Venture and the value of connectedness in increasing positive behaviors and decreasing negative risk factors.

To see other white papers on similar topics, go to www.aee.org.

To contact Susan Carter, Ph.D., email susanleecarter@comcast.net or call 505-508-2232

Matt Baker, Project Venture and Tataskweyak Cree First Nation

by Cassie Landrum

Imagine leaving home on a plane that will take you to a cold land a thousand miles away. It’s your first time leaving the country, and you’re traveling alone. That’s what Matt Baker did when he flew to Manitoba Canada to reconnect NIYLP with a Tataskweyak Cree First Nation Tribe that had adopted Project Venture, NIYLP’s flagship program months earlier. Although the Tataskweyak Cree already had previously been introduced to Project Venture, they had such a fun-filled learning experience that they allocated their remaining funding for the year to bring Matt for another workshop of activities and experiential exercises.

Matt, a trainer and consultant for NIYLP, did more than lead activities and share information with the Tataskweyak Cree —he exchanged culture in a way that redefined experiential learning for both parties. Matt said his plan for the trip was to observe their progress since their first training and “refine what they have learned.” He hoped to help the Tataskweyak Cree further integrate the experiential learning model, which Matt explains “focuses on how the experience becomes a learning experience.” An example of experiential education is service learning, in which students enrich their communities through service projects while gaining self-confidence and bonding with their peers.

Matt also gave the group a chance to learn new activities that they didn’t have the opportunity to do in the initial training program. A group favorite, Stepping Stones, was a group-oriented task requiring two groups to make it across six stepping stones, or islands, using a narrow board—all without interfering with the other team, or falling off their islands. A defining moment, Matt explained, came when they saw how the activity related to the Full Value Commitment they had learned, which encourages the group to be here, be safe, speak your truth, care for self and others, set goals, and be able to let go and move on.

Matt was able to interact with both the students of the Tataskqeyak Cree’s Project Venture program and the staff. This was a welcome occasion to bring the concept of experiential learning to life for the students, an added motivation for Matt. “When you’re working out there away from home, or when you’re all alone, working with kids gave me a boost,” he explained.

In the freezing Canadian temperatures, the students could hardly imagine the hot arid deserts of Mexico, where they believed Matt was from. “They were really receptive and really curious about where I came from,” said Matt. “When I say New Mexico, they leave out the ‘new’, and think old Mexico.” Using their knowledge as an opportunity to illustrate experiential learning, Matt had the students map out the United States, using their bodies to represent the states that they knew. He found that New Mexico was one of the least known states, and began to change that, sharing aspects of New Mexican culture with the Tataskweyak Cree. Matt explained that New Mexico, being on a high desert plain can get snow, though it can indeed get hot. He explained what chili was and that “we eat a lot of it—red or green.”

The group had a piece of culture to share with him, too. While the thermometer hovered around -12° C/10°F during the day, and dipped to -26°C /-15°F at night, the locals stayed warm with mittens and boots made of moose hair and moose skin. In addition to their stories, they shared a delectable part of their own tradition— fresh moose. This was Matt’s first time trying moose, which was sautéed and prepared traditionally, and he described it as “tast[ing] gamey, a bit like Elk.”

This week, Matt will have company as he returns to Canada, accompanied by his wife, Tasha, the Direct Service Manager and a trainer at NIYLP. NIYLP employs ten trainers who travel the country and share the Project Venture program. Matt’s next trip to La Ronge, Saskatchewan, Canada will be one of several to First Nation groups that have received grants for preventing substance abuse and alcoholism in Native Indigenous communities.

The groups that Matt and Tash are training have limited experience with Project Venture, though some have already developed a basic foundation of experiential education. Trainers typically lead a two-and-a-half day training, to immerse program leaders an immersion in Project Venture Model and in the theory behind it. The training is rich with interactive activities and initiatives that drive home the principles that guide Project Venture. Project Venture has upcoming trainings in New Mexico, Hawaii, New Hampshire, California, Nebraska Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and elsewhere in Canada.

Where ever they go, NIYLP’s trainers are sure to share, and receive, a taste of other cultures.

To learn how to bring Project Venture to your community, contact NIYLP at info@niylp.org.

Cassie Landrum is an outdoor adventure and experiential educator living in Texas and volunteering for NIYLP. Cassie has been interviewing NIYLP staff to help us document and share the experience of being a Project Venture training and educator. When she's not writing or facilitating an outdoor ed program, Cassie also enjoys mime, improv, juggling and fitness.