About the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative
About NP/SS About NP/SS
About the Safe Schools/Healthy Students (SS/HS) Initiative
SS/HS Vision
Our vision is a nation of communities with integrated systems that promote the mental health of students, enhance academic achievement, prevent violence and substance use, and create safe and respectful climates.
SS/HS Mission
The SS/HS Initiative supports school and community partnerships in their efforts to develop, coordinate, and implement research-based programs, effective policies, and innovative strategies through a comprehensive plan focused on positive mental, emotional, and behavioral health for children and youth.
Goals
The overall goal of the Navajo Peacemaking and Safe Schools Project is to establish a consortium of school communities which will develop and implement practices that provide safe, supportive, respectful, and drug free educational and social environments for all students and families.
Navajo Peacemaking is a system of conflict resolution and healing of relationships that has been passed down through the centuries by and for the Dine People. We are integrating a simplified version of traditional Navajo peacemaking in the schools to produce a safe and respectful climate that is rooted in Dine culture and therefore is more likely to be sustained.
To achieve this overarching goal, we have identified a multi-disciplinary and comprehensive continuum of services and programs to enhance our student’s prevention and peacemaking skills through traditional Navajo programs and research-based best practices and curricula informed by current research in the fields of social and emotional learning and risk prevention.
In closing, our Navajo Peacemaking/Safe Schools Project is made possible by a grant through the Federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative, a unique funding collaboration of the U.S. Department of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice.
The Federal Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative has funded more than 365 urban, suburban, rural, and tribal areas nationwide since 1999. This grant is the result of a unique collaboration among the U.S. Departments of Education, Health and Human Services, and Justice and was created in response to rising concerns about youth violence, substance abuse, and school safety. Each grant site determines how funds can best be used within the community to link new and existing services. Partnership between schools and communities creates a coordinated, cooperative effort that recognizes the complexity of these issues and their root causes. Using programs and services that have a proven track record of success, as well as strategies for both prevention and intervention, the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative helps reduce the risk factors that come between children of all ages and their ability to learn—and to stay safe and healthy.
