Nez Perce hope I-Vision program will benefit youth

LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) – The Nez Perce Tribe’s forthcoming I-Vision program says it all with its name.

The new training program aims to give teens and young adults the tools to build healthy relationships and marriages as they grow into adulthood.

“I-Vision is like resource mapping for a young person to self-identify where they are in certain areas, where they want to be, and then how we - being that young person and their support people - support them in getting to that desired place,” said Jackie McArthur, director of the tribe’s social services department.

The new program is made possible by a $592,165 federal grant awarded to the tribe earlier this month. The Nez Perce Tribe is the only American Indian tribe to receive the award this year, and the only entity in Idaho.

When McArthur got word the tribe received the five-year healthy marriage and relationship education grant through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, she described having “happy tears.” She applied for the grant with the assistance of grant writer Lyn Craig.

“I wanted to see a way that we could support and facilitate experiences for our young people to be equipped in going into relationships in a healthy way,” McArthur said.

The money will create six new positions specific to the program within the tribe’s social services department, and will also go toward curriculum training and conferences.

Central to the program will be the Native Wellness Institute’s “Leading the Next Generation: Building Healthy Relationships” curriculum. According to the institute’s website, the curriculum teaches healthy gender roles, sexuality, communication and conflict resolution.

The training is expected to reach 150 adults, according to project information, and at least as many youth.

The I-Vision program will also help send tribal youth to the annual National Unity Conference in Washington, D.C., and the Northwest Indian Youth Conference. An annual Healthy Marriages and Relationships Education conference is also set to begin on the Nez Perce Reservation, along with other “positive, interesting, fun and cool activities” catered for youth ages 13-25, McArthur said.

She’s hoping the program, which is voluntary for teens, and its offerings will help address the “economic disparity and social disorders” tribal youth encounter.

“We do have some issues, and this is what we can offer and how we can build to self-empower and learn how to work around those,” McArthur said.

There are no special qualifications for youth to participate in the program, she said.

McArthur is working with a grants coordinator to establish the budget for the first year of the grant and how that budget will be used.

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Information from: Lewiston Tribune, http://www.lmtribune.com