NCREW: Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness

The Native Collective Research Effort to Enhance Wellness (NCREW) is a bold, community-initiated project to end suicide and drug overdose among the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation (YN). Funded by the National Institutes of Health and led locally by Principal Investigator Katherine Saluskin and Nachya George, with Dr. Cynthia R. Pearson serving as the UW site PI, NCREW is building a sustainable research infrastructure grounded in Yakama cultural knowledge and self-determination. This two-year initiative supports the co-design and adaptation of culturally centered interventions to address behavioral health crises, with an emphasis on youth and families. It also lays the foundation for YN to apply for and lead future NIH-funded research efforts, establishing enduring tribal research capacity. A core component includes enhancing tribal data systems to manage and govern community health information more effectively. The project is based on the Yakama Reservation in Washington and includes a subaward to the University of Washington, fostering academic–tribal collaboration. NCREW represents a major step toward tribal research sovereignty and public health innovation.