OJJDP Tribal Youth Training and Technical Assistance Center staff attended the 2018 UNITY Conference July 5-9 in San Diego, California. With around 2,200 youth and 2,400 in total attendance including adult coordinators. Hilary Hullinger, and member of our staff, and Sutton King, from our partners at Kognito, attended to present and be exhibitors. The focus of our attendance was to promote our Virtual Training Simulations.
At the booth, the Friend2Friend simulation was mainly shared with the Tribal youth, and their group leaders were provided with more information on the At-Risk for High School Educators and Trauma-Informed Policing with Tribal Youth. At the booth, everyone was excited to test out the simulations and around 40 people downloaded the Friend2Friend app right at the booth. We wanted to connect with tribal youth in the best way we knew how, through social media! We got creative, and the Friend2Friend app now has an Instagram @friend2friend_tribalyouth, and during the conference a Snapchat virtual filter was available for attendees to use within the conference area. We used Instagram and Snapchat to promote the app and connect with attendees. We raffled off hand designed hats by Native Artist J.C. Wheaten, and to be entered into the raffle you had to download the Friend2Friend app and take a picture with our Instagram photo booth cutout. By the end of the week we visited with tribal youth and their sponsors from across the country, and talked to them about taking and sharing our virtual training simulations.
During the workshop presentation, around 50 Tribal youth participated in a group demonstration of the Friend2Friend simulation. They were also given time to download the Friend2Friend app to their cell phone and follow along individually. We were lucky to have a tribal youth, Kaitlyn Pinkerton (Cherokee), with us presenting. She shared her story about a friend that intervened to help save her own life, and showed her peers how to use this important resource. The concern from the youth in attendance was moving. They expressed a deep level of interest and shared personal stories of instances where this training could have helped themselves or someone they knew. They spoke with urgency to address these issues in their own communities and were eager to begin sharing the simulations once back home.
Each of the virtual training simulations can be accessed at the OJJDP Tribal Youth Program website. Also available on the site is information on how to implement the simulations in your own community. Check them out here.
