Colorado State University

The “Our Youth, Our Future” Project

 The “Our Youth, Our Future” Project is funded by the National Institutes of Health to work exclusively with schools serving Native students in 6th-12th grades. The goal of this project is to provide schools with some of the tools that they may need to support the health and wellness of their students, and to help prevention researchers to create innovative prevention programs tailored to the specific needs of rural Native youth.

Watch this short video about the project and feedback from a participating school principal!

For more information and to enroll your school to participate,
contact our Field Director, Allison Burford,
via email or call 970-491-3895.

Download a pdf copy of our brochure!

Learn more about how our project can benefit your school! 

Who can participate?

To ensure that the Our Youth Our Future Project continues to work with and benefit schools serving Native students, and that the anonymity of those students is protected, participating schools must meet four main criteria.

• Be an elementary, middle, or high school with at least two grades in the 6th-12th grade range. (ex: elementary school with a minimum of 6th & 7th grades, a middle school containing at least two grades between 6th-12th, a high school containing 2 more more grades, or any combination of school containing 2 or more 6th-12th grades ).
• Your school must have at least 20 students per grade to ensure student anonymity for the online survey and school report.
• Your school must have 20% or more of your 6th-12th grade students that identify as Native American.
• Your school must be located on, or within 20mi, of a federally recognized American Indian reservation.

What does a school get for participating?

Participating schools will receive two important primary benefits plus access to our team prevention researchers and a list of additional resources that may help your students, school, and community. 

• Your school will receive some amount of financial compensation (depending on the size of your school) for your time and involvement in the project. The compensation is awarded to the school upon completion of the school survey, and a bonus is added for ensuring 80% or more of your students participate in the anonymous online survey. The amount each school receives will be based on school size and will be between $500 – $4000. 
• Your school will also receive a comprehensive school report summarizing your anonymous student responses. This school report is completely confidential to your school and will not be shared by us with anyone else. Though we do encourage schools to share them at their own discretion. These reports can be used as baseline assessments for requesting grant funding, or for sharing information about emerging trends and urgent needs with governing boards, parent groups, and other stakeholders invested in the welfare of your students.

What does participation involve?

Participation will be easy with some minimal planning and good communication with your teachers and staff. There is no cost to your school other than a small amount of time.

• Enroll your school in the project. You can contact the Field Director for the project, Allison Burford, via email or by phone at 970-491-3895 to inquire about steps for enrollment.
• If additional approvals are required, then our staff will work with your school to gain appropriate approvals as required by your school board and/or tribal council. Depending on where your school is located, our project may already be approved by your Tribal IRB to be administered in schools on your reservation.
• Your school will choose a survey date(s) ideal for you to administer the Our Youth Our Future survey to your 6th-8th grade students. The survey is administered online, takes 30 minutes or less for students to complete, and is completely anonymous. No identifying information is ever asked about students or families, and no questions are asked about
• Your school will be provided with all the necessary materials to notify the parents of your 6th-12th grade students when the anonymous survey is taking place, and how they can contact the school to ask questions or opt-out their student. A designated contact at your school will keep a short list of any students whose parents decided to opt-out, and ensure their teachers have that list.
• Your school administer the survey to your 6th-12th grade students. Our project team will supply your school with a project guide and a packet of teacher instructions to help makes this as easy as possible on your teachers and staff.

What is on the survey and in the report?

• The Our Youth Our Future survey asks students about school engagement, plans for their future, factors that promote resilience, and questions about substance use and reasons for using.  No questions are asked about sexual behavior, abortion, or sensitive parental behaviors.
• The comprehensive report is specific to your school and completely confidential. It provides summaries of your anonymous student responses and provides key findings and comparisons to national data.
• Our staff can provide your school with a copy of the survey and an example of what the report we send your school would look like if you would like to see them before deciding to enroll your school.

How to enroll a school in the project!

We sincerely hope that your school will join us in this important project to provide funding and critical information necessary to help improve the mental and physical health of Native youth.

For more information and to enroll your school to participate, contact our Field Director, Allison Burford, via email or call 970-491-3895.