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Description of Organization:
The Albuquerque Area Indian Health Board (AAIHB) is a tribal 501(C)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to advocate on behalf of American Indians through the delivery of quality health care services and the enhancement of wellness, while respecting spiritual and cultural values. AAIHB has 30 years of experience in health service delivery, training and technical assistance. Its programs serve approximately 86,500 American Indians in the areas of audiology, HIV/AIDS prevention, cancer, youth incarceration, student training and research. The AAIHB Board of Directors is comprised of delegates from each of the seven non-Pueblo, tribal nations within a two-state region. Each tribe is committed to improving the health status of Southwest American Indians and endorses the holistic approach to all areas of health.

Description of project:
The Southwest Tribal Youth Project will form a partnership among the Tribal Epi Center, the state, the Indian Health Service and academia focused on eliminating health disparities for American Indian (AI) youth in Albuquerque Area. We propose to assess youth risk behavior and resilience systems, improve data representation and interpretation, utilize results and identify behavioral interventions that have been implemented and their outcomes. Objectives include:

• Increasing the number of American Indian students represented in the Youth Risk and Resiliency Survey (YRRS)/Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS),
• Generating and providing AI-specific youth behavior and resiliency reports,
• Assessing the current YRRS methods and incorporate changes to increase validity of AI data, increasing the utilization of YRRS/YRBS results in decision-making, intervention design, and evaluation of trends over time and
• Developing and administering intervention strategies to address youth behaviors with the highest reported risk.