CASE STUDY - National American Indian Housing Council

What was the process of putting the program together?The Menominee Tribe’s drug abuse prevention program is culturally structuredand implemented to function with three components, which are prevention, intervention,and security/suppression. All three are driven by community-based collaborationactivities designed to eliminate drugs and their associated crimes in the housingcommunities.The tribe has identified collaboration to be a definite strength in having aneffective and efficient drug elimination program.In developing a comprehensive program, the process entailed the following:1. Assessing current position2. Conducting a community survey3. Analyzing responsesPrevention activities were designed to increase the age onset for youthinvolvement in substance abuse and to reduce the juvenile crime in the housingdevelopment areas. Most of the prevention program is targeted toward youths betweenthe ages of 8 – 18. Youth prevention is at the same level as adult prevention to prevent acycle from repeating itself.In addition, through other prevention resources, the Menominee drug eliminationprogram co-sponsors annual activities that include both youth and adults. The tribe hasfound that a “one time effort” type of programming does not establish the consistencynecessary for long term results. Continuous activities that are in place are as follows:• Cultural camp: a week-long camp designed to provide drug abuse preventionactivities, recreation, and education in a culturally sensitive manner• Teen retreats• Recreational tournaments• After school collaborationsIntervention Activities were designed to reduce recidivism in the court system forjuveniles and to provide education for the families with referral systems in place. Theseactivities are as follows:• Home based intervention program• Ropes and Challenge Course Drug Free Coalition• Volunteer Recruitment CampaignSecurity/Suppression Activities were designed to identify and reduce peakordinance violations and to eliminate drugs and their associated crimes from thedevelopment areas. These steps included the following:32