Gila River Indian Community Grant Teen Lifeline
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Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 2 Narrative Please structure your proposal to provide the following information in the order indicated. Provide the narrative in paragraph form in the text field provided. Please be thorough but strive for brevity. 1. Briefly describe your organization’s history, mission and goals. Teen Lifeline was founded in 1986 in response to a devastating wave of teen suicides in Arizona. After the airing of the ABC movie Surviving, which depicted a young person’s death by suicide, mental health professionals, educators, and community leaders came together to create a resource where teens in crisis could talk to someone who understood—another teen. What emerged was Teen Lifeline, an organization dedicated to preventing teen suicide in Arizona through enhancing resiliency in youth and fostering supportive communities. For nearly 40 years, Teen Lifeline has provided free, 24/7, peer-to-peer crisis intervention and suicide prevention services. Our confidential hotline, staffed by trained teen peer counselors under the supervision of master’s-level clinicians, ensures that no young person faces a crisis alone. Beyond the hotline, we provide suicide prevention education in schools and postvention services for communities impacted by youth suicide, equipping families, educators, and youth-serving professionals with the tools to recognize warning signs and intervene before a tragedy occurs. Teen Lifeline reaches more than 350,000 individuals statewide each year, responding to over 40,000 crisis calls and texts while working with more than 80 school districts to integrate suicide prevention into classrooms, policies, and public health initiatives. With this funding, we will expand our statewide crisis services, strengthening access to immediate emotional support, deepening partnerships with municipal and tribal agencies, and ensuring that historically underserved communities receive the resources they need. 2. To determine eligibility for this grant please select one item in the drop-down below. Non-Profit If Municipal, please go to number 3 below. Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 3 If Non-Municipal or Non-profit, please describe how the services provided by your organization align with a government service of the supporting municipality. Explain how this project will support that service and describe the municipality’s role in the project if applicable (beyond serving as a pass-through). Teen Lifeline’s crisis intervention and suicide prevention services align with municipal public health and safety priorities by ensuring that no young person in Arizona faces a crisis alone. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10-24, and too many teens struggle in silence without knowing where to turn for help. Our free, confidential, and anonymous 24/7 crisis hotline ensures that every young person has immediate access to life-saving support, connecting them to trained peer counselors who understand what they are going through. This service not only provides a critical lifeline for youth in distress but also relieves the burden on emergency responders, schools, and municipal agencies by intervening before a crisis escalates to the need for law enforcement or hospitalization. This project will strengthen both our hotline and direct crisis response efforts in communities across Arizona, ensuring that more teens, parents, and educators have access to the resources they need. With this funding, Teen Lifeline will increase our hotline’s capacity, allowing us to answer more calls and texts, reduce wait times, and ensure that no teen seeking help is left unheard. Every day, we connect with youth who are struggling—feeling hopeless, alone, or afraid to reach out to an adult. By expanding our ability to respond, we are creating more connections of hope and ensuring that every young person has someone to turn to in their darkest moments. Beyond the hotline, this funding will allow Teen Lifeline to expand our crisis services within schools and communities, meeting teens where they are before they reach a breaking point. Through suicide prevention workshops, school partnerships, and postvention support, we ensure that youth, educators, and parents have the knowledge and tools to recognize warning signs, start difficult conversations, and take action before tragedy occurs. Teen Lifeline already works closely with over 80 school districts, embedding suicide prevention into school culture and policies. This funding will allow us to expand that reach, build new partnerships, and make sure more students, teachers, and families have the skills to intervene when a young person is struggling. Municipalities play a critical role in this work by ensuring that Teen Lifeline’s resources are integrated into local crisis response systems, from school partnerships to law enforcement and public health initiatives. By Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 4 strengthening collaboration between Teen Lifeline and municipal agencies, this project will create a stronger, more connected safety net for Arizona’s youth, ensuring that no teen struggling with mental health challenges is left without help. 3. Describe the proposed project, objectives, and your plan to implement. Every part of this funding goes to strengthening Teen Lifeline’s statewide crisis response, ensuring no teen in Arizona struggles alone. With this funding, we will expand both our crisis hotline operations and in-person crisis services, providing immediate, free, and confidential support to youth in distress while ensuring communities have the tools to prevent suicide before it happens. Every year, tens of thousands of teens reach out to our hotline—some scared, some feeling hopeless, some in immediate crisis. This funding will allow us to increase hotline staffing by over 2,500 hours, ensuring more calls and texts are answered without delay, reducing wait times, and making sure that no teen seeking help is left unheard. With demand for crisis services growing, this expansion will strengthen the connections of hope that make Teen Lifeline a life-saving resource for Arizona’s youth. Beyond the hotline, this project will expand our in-person crisis response efforts, delivering over 5,000 suicide prevention workshops statewide. These workshops provide students, educators, and parents with the skills to recognize warning signs, start life-saving conversations, and connect struggling youth to immediate help. Too often, warning signs go unnoticed or teens feel like they have nowhere to turn. Through our School ID Initiative, which already reaches over 280,000 students in nearly 400 schools, we ensure that help is always within reach. This funding will allow us to expand this initiative and embed crisis resources more deeply into schools and communities. With this investment, we will train and equip 80-100 new peer counselors, ensuring that more teens are prepared to support their peers in crisis. Every trained peer counselor is another connection of hope, another young person who can step in when a friend is struggling, another voice reminding Arizona teens that they are not alone. Teen Lifeline’s crisis services are completely free, confidential, and accessible to any teen who needs help, regardless of their background, income, or location. By strengthening our municipal and tribal partnerships, Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 5 this project will extend our reach into more rural and underserved communities, ensuring that every Arizona teen has someone to turn to, whenever they need it. With this funding, we will continue to build a future where no teen feels hopeless, no crisis goes unanswered, and no one is left without help. 4. Describe how the proposed project satisfies one or more of the priority funding areas identified by the Gila River Indian Community. Teen Lifeline’s proposed project strengthens public safety, healthcare, and education by ensuring that youth in crisis have immediate access to life-saving support and that communities are equipped to prevent suicide before tragedy occurs. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10-24 in Arizona, and too many young people struggle in silence without knowing where to turn. Our 24/7, free, and confidential crisis hotline ensures that every teen has a safe place to reach out, reducing the risk of self-harm and suicide while alleviating pressure on emergency responders. Expanding our crisis outreach and hotline capacity will allow more youth to connect with trained peer counselors before their struggles escalate into emergencies. This work is a critical part of Arizona’s public safety network, ensuring that mental health crises do not go unnoticed or untreated. Mental health is an essential component of overall well-being, and Teen Lifeline’s services fill a critical gap in Arizona’s healthcare system by providing immediate, accessible support. Our crisis hotline ensures that youth experiencing depression, anxiety, or suicidal ideation can talk to someone who understands, even when traditional mental health services are unavailable. In addition, we provide suicide prevention workshops in schools, training thousands of students, teachers, and parents to recognize warning signs and intervene before a crisis worsens. Expanding our reach will allow us to serve more youth, particularly in rural and tribal communities where access to mental health care remains limited. This investment will ensure that no teen is left without the support they need. Education is central to our approach, with Teen Lifeline embedded in over 80 school districts through suicide prevention programming, school partnerships, and our School ID Initiative, which ensures students have access to crisis resources. Our workshops provide essential mental health education, teaching students how to recognize signs of distress in themselves and their peers, while equipping educators and parents with intervention strategies. With this funding, we will expand our prevention education to more schools and train 80-100 new peer counselors, strengthening the support network available to Arizona’s youth. Teen Lifeline’s Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 6 project is deeply aligned with the Gila River Indian Community’s priority funding areas, enhancing public safety through crisis intervention, strengthening healthcare by expanding access to mental health resources, and advancing education by ensuring that schools are equipped to support students in crisis. This investment will allow us to expand our reach, deepen partnerships, and ensure that no Arizona teen struggles alone. 5. Identify the needs/problems to be addressed, the target population and number of people to be served by the project. Every year, thousands of Arizona teens experience feelings of hopelessness, isolation, and distress, yet too many suffer in silence. For many, the barriers to seeking help—fear, stigma, lack of access to mental health care—leave them without support until it’s too late. Suicide is the second leading cause of death for youth ages 10-24 in the state, a crisis that continues to escalate as the demand for services outpaces available resources. Teen Lifeline exists to ensure no young person has to face these struggles alone by providing immediate, free, and confidential crisis intervention while building a network of support that extends into schools, families, and communities. This project will expand our reach to serve more youth, educators, and parents across Arizona, ensuring that crisis intervention and suicide prevention education are accessible where they are needed most. Our 24/7 hotline is a lifeline for teens experiencing distress, providing thousands of young people with someone to talk to in their most vulnerable moments. With this funding, we will increase hotline staffing by more than 2,500 hours, allowing us to answer more calls and texts, reduce wait times, and ensure that every teen who reaches out finds support on the other end. We anticipate answering more than 45,000 crisis contacts this year alone, offering a direct connection of hope to youth in need. Beyond the hotline, this project will mobilize prevention specialists and expand outreach into schools and communities, creating environments where suicide prevention is embedded in everyday conversations. We will deliver over 5,000 suicide prevention workshops statewide, equipping students, teachers, and parents with the tools to recognize warning signs, provide immediate support, and connect youth to crisis resources before a situation escalates. Our School ID Initiative, already reaching nearly 400 schools and over 280,000 students, will continue to expand, ensuring that every student in Arizona has access to our crisis hotline anytime they need it. Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 7 This funding will also support the training of 80-100 new teen peer counselors, empowering young people to become leaders in suicide prevention by providing them with over 72 hours of specialized crisis intervention training. Every peer counselor trained strengthens the safety net for teens, reinforcing that support exists not just on the hotline but in their everyday lives. Teen Lifeline has spent nearly four decades ensuring that no teen faces a crisis alone. This project will extend that impact, deepening our ability to respond in real-time to youth in distress, strengthening protective factors in schools and families, and reinforcing the message that help is always available and hope is never out of reach. 6. Define the project as a new or continuing program. Has GRIC previously funded this project? Continuing program but not previously funded by GRIC. 7. Provide a brief timeline including start and finish dates. Indicate if the timeline is flexible. This program is ongoing year round. 8. Identify other organizations, partners or funders participating in the project and their roles. Teen Lifeline’s partnerships with schools, healthcare providers, crisis organizations, and community coalitions are critical to ensuring that no teen in crisis is left without support. These collaborations allow us to expand crisis intervention, prevention, and postvention efforts, reaching more youth statewide and strengthening Arizona’s mental health safety net. Our formal Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with over 30 school districts ensure that we can seamlessly provide crisis consultation, postvention support following student suicides, and prevention education tailored to the needs of students, educators, and families. These agreements embed suicide prevention directly into school systems, ensuring that when a crisis arises, Teen Lifeline is often the first call a school makes. By rapidly coordinating crisis response, stabilizing students, and preventing contagion after a suicide, we help schools navigate traumatic events while ensuring that no student is left unsupported. Our School ID Initiative, which places Teen Lifeline’s crisis hotline number on student IDs in over 350 schools statewide, ensures that students always know where to turn in moments of crisis. Developed in partnership with school districts and community stakeholders, this initiative has expanded as more schools recognize the importance of providing crisis resources directly to students. We have a proven track record of successful collaborations, working with over 194 unique schools, districts, and agencies, reinforcing our role as a trusted partner in youth suicide prevention. Every September, we collaborate with 35-45 schools to present suicide prevention Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 8 programs, educating thousands of students on the importance of seeking help and recognizing warning signs. In 2025, we plan to expand this reach, presenting at over 40 schools across five major school districts, ensuring that more students, educators, and families have access to critical life-saving education. Beyond schools, Teen Lifeline’s partnership with Solari Crisis & Human Services, which operates Arizona’s 988 and crisis line system, ensures seamless coordination between our youth- focused hotline and the state’s broader crisis response network. This collaboration allows youth experiencing crises that extend beyond peer-to-peer support—such as those needing mobile crisis teams or higher-level interventions—to be immediately connected to the appropriate care. Working alongside Solari ensures that Arizona’s crisis response is comprehensive, meeting youth where they are and providing immediate, specialized care when needed. Teen Lifeline is also an active member of the Arizona Suicide Prevention Coalition (AZSPC), which coordinates statewide suicide prevention strategies, shares best practices, and mobilizes resources for at-risk communities. Through AZSPC, we work alongside more than 50 suicide prevention organizations, behavioral health agencies, and public health professionals, ensuring that our crisis intervention and prevention efforts are aligned with the broader statewide strategy. AZSPC strengthens our ability to advocate for policy changes, integrate best practices into community initiatives, and expand outreach to historically underserved populations, ensuring that suicide prevention is prioritized at every level. Our partnerships also extend to behavioral health providers, hospitals, and community organizations, ensuring that teens in crisis receive continued support beyond their initial call for help. Through Caring Contacts, Teen Lifeline provides follow-up support for youth discharged from psychiatric care, reducing the risk of suicide reattempts by ensuring that teens remain connected to resources, support systems, and trusted adults. These collaborations reinforce Teen Lifeline’s commitment to building connections of hope that extend beyond a single crisis moment, ensuring that no young person has to navigate their struggles alone. By strengthening these partnerships, this project will expand our ability to provide immediate, life-saving crisis intervention while reinforcing long-term prevention strategies that empower communities to respond to youth in distress. 9. Would you be able to implement the proposed plan if your organization received partial funding for this project? Yes, Teen Lifeline would implement this project even if partial funding were received, though the scope and scale of impact would be adjusted accordingly. Every dollar invested strengthens Arizona’s crisis response network, expands suicide prevention education, and ensures that no teen in crisis is left without support. With reduced funding, we would prioritize core crisis intervention efforts, ensuring that our hotline remains fully operational and accessible statewide. A partial award would still allow us to train additional peer counselors, increase hotline staffing hours, and expand community-based crisis services, but the number of new peer counselors trained, the volume of prevention workshops conducted, and the extent of outreach to underserved communities would be scaled accordingly. While our hotline remains a top priority, fewer funds would limit our ability to expand school-based prevention programming, integrate Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 9 crisis resources into additional districts, and grow postvention services for communities impacted by suicide. Teen Lifeline has a proven track record of leveraging grant funding to secure additional resources, and if awarded partial funding, we would actively seek additional partnerships and support to maximize the project’s reach. Regardless of the funding amount, we remain committed to ensuring that every Arizona teen in crisis has access to free, confidential, and immediate support, and we would implement this project at a level that ensures tangible, measurable impact in suicide prevention across the state. 10. Describe your plan for project financial sustainability beyond the grant period. If this is a program/project previously funded by the Gila River Indian Community, describe efforts made towards the previously described sustainability plan. Teen Lifeline focuses heavily on the generation of funds through private giving. This grant would allow for the immediate expansion of the prevention programs. With increased exposure, Teen Lifeline will have an opportunity to bring in new supporters. Acquiring new corporate and individual donors will be key to sustainability. Additionally, Teen Lifeline will continue to focus on increasing donor giving through special events and fundraisers. Teen Lifeline’s Theory of Change is based upon the assertion that in order for youth to possess a sense of connection and hope for their future, they must be resilient themselves and as a community. Teen Lifeline’s services increase protective factors to create resiliency in youth and communities to prevent teen suicide. Specifically, we focus on connection to individuals, family, community, and school; life skills (including problem-solving and coping skills, ability to adapt, emotion regulation); hope for the future—optimism; and awareness of and access to effective mental health care/peer counseling hotline. 11. Describe your plan to document progress and results. Teen Lifeline operates with the understanding that every call, every crisis, and every moment of connection can mean the difference between life and death. Our evaluation process is not just about numbers—it is about ensuring that every young person who reaches out for help receives the highest-quality, life-saving support possible. Because the stakes are so high, we take an uncompromising approach to tracking, assessing, and refining our services, making sure that no teen in crisis is left without immediate, effective intervention. Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 10 Our hotline evaluation is built around real-time call tracking, analyzing trends in call volume, peak hours, and risk levels to ensure that we are meeting the needs of Arizona’s youth as effectively as possible. Every call is documented with detailed assessments of crisis severity, safety planning, and referral outcomes, allowing us to measure not only how many teens we serve, but how many lives we save. We closely monitor caller-reported improvements in well- being, successful de-escalation rates, and connections to ongoing support, ensuring that every intervention has a meaningful and measurable impact. In our prevention and postvention programs, we recognize that education and early intervention are key to preventing tragedy. Through pre- and post-surveys, school feedback, and ongoing data collection, we assess how well students, educators, and parents understand suicide risk factors, their confidence in responding to warning signs, and their likelihood to seek help or refer a peer to crisis resources. Because many suicides can be prevented with early recognition and intervention, we take this responsibility seriously—continuously refining our approach to make sure that the information we provide is clear, accessible, and truly prepares communities to take action before a crisis escalates. Our peer counselor training evaluation is equally rigorous, ensuring that every teen who volunteers on the hotline is fully prepared to handle the weight of crisis intervention. Volunteers undergo 72+ hours of crisis training, continuous supervision, and real-time skill assessments to ensure they can navigate high-risk situations with confidence, empathy, and precision. We measure retention rates, call success metrics, and volunteer feedback to continuously improve training and ensure that the peer support model remains a gold standard for youth-led crisis intervention. Postvention services are evaluated with the same level of urgency, as we recognize that schools and communities reeling from a suicide loss need immediate and effective stabilization to prevent further tragedies. We track response times, school engagement, and the effectiveness of stabilization efforts, ensuring that our support is comprehensive and that schools have the tools to prevent contagion and protect students from additional harm. Because we deal with life-and-death situations, we cannot afford to get this wrong. Our evaluation process is not just about assessing impact—it is about constantly improving, constantly refining, and constantly making sure that no teen in Arizona feels alone in their darkest moments. Every lesson learned is applied immediately, ensuring that the services we provide are as effective, accessible, and life-saving as possible. Suicide prevention is not a passive effort—it requires vigilance, adaptation, and an unwavering commitment to ensuring that every call, every training, and every partnership strengthens the safety net for Arizona’s youth. 12. Indicate any application to and/or awards made by a tribe other than the Gila River Indian Community for state shared revenues for this and any other project for the past five (5) years. In 2024 we received $100,000 from Salr River Pima Maricopa Indian Community. Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 11 Project Budget Budget Period: January through December 2025 For each budget item listed, please provide a narrative description on the following Project Budget Detail page. Column 1 Column 2 Column 3 Column 4 Column 5 Proposed Budget Expense (list each budget item) Amount requested from GRIC Amount requested or secured from other sources In Kind or matching contributions Total Budget 1. Curriculum Development & Implementation/Trainings & Meetings $1,112 $12,188 $0 $13,300 2. Dues/Subscriptions/ Publications $2,308 $25,304 $0 $27,612 3. General Liability/D&O/Malpractice/ Outside Services $1,435 $15,736 $0 $17,171 4. Peer-Related Expenses $343 $3757 $0 $4,100 5. Public Relations/Outreach & Travel/Mileage $1,855 $20,339 $0 $22,194 6. Staff Development/Seminars/ Conferences $673 $7,381 $0 $8,054 7. Telephone/Communications $1,764 $19,334 $0 $21,098 8. Building/Utilities/Equipment/ Misc. $2,758 $30,227,41 $0 $32,985.41 9. Audit/Tax Prep/Bank Charges/ Payroll Processing $1,871 $20505.50 $0 $22,376.50 10. Board of Directors $355 $3894.5 $0 $4,249.50 11. Postage/Delivery/Printing/ Supplies $1,060 $11,618.15 $0 $12,678.15 12. Director Salaries $15,052 $164,998 $0 $180,050 13. Administrative Staff Salaries $23,775 $260,612 $0 $284,387 14. Programmatic Staff Salaries $31,941 $347,215 $0 $379,156 15. Taxes, Employer Match, & Personnel Benefits $13,941 $152,823 $0 $166,764 Total Budget $100,000 $1,096,175.56 $0 $1,196,175.56 Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 12 Project Budget Detail Please provide a narrative description for each of the project budget items listed on the previous page. Include the dollar figure and how it was attained. 1. Our organization is dedicated to empowering community members with the skills to identify risks and connect those in need with accessible resources. This expense covers the costs of training sessions and meetings designed to enhance these skills and provide crucial information on available resources. 2. This expense covers all costs related to publications and subscriptions essential for promoting Teen Lifeline’s services and ensuring that the community is fully informed about the available resources. 3. This expense safeguards against injuries and damages arising from routine activities and events, as well as any errors or omissions in the professional services our nonprofit provides. Our organization relies on external services to efficiently manage daily operations and to support various projects related to our facilities and programs. 4. Teen Lifeline’s teen volunteers are essential to the life-saving services we provide. This expense encompasses all costs related to supporting and expressing our gratitude for their daily contributions and achievements. 5. This expense covers the costs associated with outreach services, which are essential to our mission of fostering resilience and hope in our community. Outreach helps connect teens with valuable resources, making a significant impact on their well-being. To deliver outreach and suicide prevention services effectively, our staff travels throughout Arizona to engage with agencies, teens, parents, school personnel, and other community members. This expense ensures our staff can expand Teen Lifeline’s impact by reaching more communities and enhancing our outreach efforts. 6. Teen Lifeline's staff is dedicated to advancing their clinical skills and staying current with the latest best practices. This expense supports ongoing professional development, ensuring our team remains at the forefront of the ever-evolving mental health field. 7. This expense covers the essential communication efforts required to keep community members and partner agencies engaged in safeguarding our youth. It also includes the costs for telephones used in our peer-to-peer crisis hotline, ensuring we remain accessible and effective in our support. 8. Teen Lifeline is dedicated to partnering with and collaborating with Tucson community members. This expense covers the costs associated with maintaining a center in Tucson, where our teen volunteers and staff will deliver vital services. The building's location serves as a dedicated space where Teen Lifeline's teen volunteers can gather, take calls and texts on the crisis hotline, and receive support from both staff members and fellow volunteers. This expense covers the Gila River Indian Community Grant Application Grant Cycle 2025 13 utilities for the building where these activities occur. This expense covers the costs associated with purchasing, maintaining, and leasing technological and facility equipment. It ensures our staff has access to essential tools and resources, facilitating their ability to perform operational tasks efficiently and effectively. 9. Audit/Tax Prep/Bank Charges/ Payroll Processing 10. Board of Directors 11. Our organization uses mailing and delivery services to distribute suicide prevention resources to agencies, schools, and community groups. Additionally, this covers some of the costs associated with connecting with donors, enabling us to effectively communicate our appreciation for their support. Teen Lifeline prints informational materials for outreach events and training sessions. These documents are crucial for our outreach efforts, ensuring that individuals are well- informed about available resources. This expense covers the cost of supplies needed for daily operations, ensuring that our staff can effectively deliver essential services. 12. Director Salaries 13. Administrative Staff Salaries 14. Programmatic Staff Salaries 15. Taxes & ERE & Employer Match Simple IRA Other explanation: This budget outlines the expenses necessary for Teen Lifeline to fulfill our mission of strengthening teen resilience and preventing suicide. As we expand our reach, we are more committed than ever to saving young lives across Arizona. Your support is crucial in helping us make a profound difference in the lives of our state's teens. We sincerely appreciate your consideration and support of this essential mission. To ensure a complete application and proper submission please refer to the Grant Application Instructions.