WALLOWA STRATEGIES, LLC
SBA Tribal 8(a) Joint Venture
SAM UEID: RPTJBQN76K28
CAGE Code: 8WET5
Overview.
Wallowa Strategies, LLC, is an SBA 8(a) Joint Venture comprised of Cayuse Technologies, LLC, and Kauffman & Associates, Inc. (KAI). Employing industry-leading project management techniques, active stakeholder collaboration, and stringent quality controls, our team provides management and technology support services tailored to meet the unique needs of federal agencies.
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Training & Technical Assistance
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Strategic planning
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Grants Management
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Tribal Stakeholder Engagement
We believe in the inherent resilience of our indigenous people and the people-powered success of our companies. We work to improve lives, families, communities, and the organizations and systems that serve them. Our work is founded upon ancient wisdom and teachings, combined with the latest technology and strategies to find solutions for our clients and communities.
Core Capabilities
Past Performance
Cayuse’s core values mirror the traditions of the three tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation: the Walla Walla, Umatilla, and Cayuse Tribes. We do this while also embracing the world we now live in, including high technology, competition, and a knowledge worker–based economy. As a tribal and corporate entity, our mission is to “Grow the People, Grow the Company.” Under “Grow the People,” Cayuse focuses efforts to grow sustainable, marketable technology and business operations skillsets to expand our employment and economic stability. Under “Grow the Company,” Cayuse has been successful in significantly growing top-line revenue to support our employees and continue our growth. We have done so by increasing the focus, scale and depth of our marketable capabilities and offerings.
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)
KAI supports SAMSHA’s Tribal Training and Technical Assistance Center (TTTAC) to provide comprehensive Broad, Focused, and Intensive training and technical assistance (TTA) to federally recognized tribes and other AI/AN communities, seeking to address and prevent mental and substance use disorders and suicide and to promote mental health. We designed a culturally relevant, evidence-based, holistic approach to support Native communities in their self-determination efforts through infrastructure development, capacity building, and program planning and implementation.
KAI provides virtual and on-site TTA support for tribal grantees across the United States. Our subcontract supports tribal communities in preventing and reducing substance abuse and suicidal behavior among AI/AN youth up to age 24. The TTA is designed to allow AI/AN communities to support youth and young adults as they transition into adulthood by facilitating collaboration among agencies and equipping them with culturally appropriate resources.
Under a SAMHSA subcontract through Macro International, KAI convened AI/AN trainers and facilitators from across the United States to develop a collaborative culture-based prevention curriculum called GONA in 1992. This has been one of the most widely used, broadly adapted, and efficient gathering formats for conducting local TTA and prevention planning. KAI was the principal author of the curriculum, working in close collaboration with myriad trainers.
Under a contract with SAMHSA, KAI designed and implemented a national strategy for the prevention of substance abuse, violence, bullying, and suicide. This emergency contract was initiated after the tragic school shooting on the Red Lake Reservation in Minnesota, specifically to identify tribal communities most at risk and to recruit them into an intensive engagement to plan and implement prevention strategies. More than 65 tribal communities were engaged in this Intensive TTA program.
Under a contract with SAMHSA Center for Substance Abuse Prevention (CSAP), KAI designed and implemented this national TTA resource center for AI/AN communities. The Center provided on-site and virtual TTA to tribes and to regional and national organizations serving Indian Country.
Under contract with SAMHSA, KAI developed and provided TTA for AI/AN CoC grantees locally and through national convenings. Our team worked closely with SAMHSA to bring subject matter expertise to grantees to address the systems of care across communities, partnership building, family support, and advocacy.
Indian Health Service (IHS)
Under contract with the IHS, KAI planned and delivered TTA to tribal and urban Indian grantees of the IHS MSPI program. These grantees received direct TTA through national and regional convenings.
KAI is conducting the national evaluation of the Office of Urban Indian Health Program’s (OUIHP’s) 4-in-1 grant program’s reporting and is developing a reporting template that will enable much more flexibility to report indicators of success that are important to AI/AN communities.
The Urban Indian Center of Salt Lake (UICSL) provides medical, BH, crisis, and social services to AI/AN people in a five-county urban and rural service area. UICSL contracted with KAI to conduct an environmental assessment and recommend changes that will help ensure a seamless transition into fully operational tele-BH services.
Education (ED)
KAI partners with the Southeast Alaska Education Resource Center (SERRC) in a ground-up establishment and evaluation of the new Region 16 Comprehensive Center (R16CC) for the U.S. Department of Education. R16CC serves Washington, Oregon, and Alaska, with the goal of supporting equitable educational outcomes in Alaska, Washington, and Oregon. R16CC’s work in Washington State is tribally focused.
States
KAI has provided support for Department of Public Health and Human Services’ (DPHHS’) project from 2016 to the present, forming a coalition of Montana tribes and urban Indian representatives for American Indian youth suicide reduction in Montana and facilitating the development of a strategic plan to reduce Native youth suicide across the state. The efforts under this contract resulted in a statewide effort to implement the Zero Suicide model.
The Montana DPHHS, Addictive and Mental Disorder Division (AMDD) was awarded grant funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and from SAMHSA to respond to the disaster declared by the U.S. president arising from the COVID-19 pandemic by responding to the crisis counseling needs of tribal communities across the state. KAI is working alongside partners Mental Health America of Montana, Montana Hospital Association, and Montana Public Health Institute.
The California TMAT project is designed to meet the specific OUD prevention, treatment, and recovery needs of California’s tribal and urban Indian communities. KAI provides technical assistance for implementing TMAT, facilitates peer-to-peer learning, delivers provider and clinician training, and integrates culturally validated traditional healing and recovery practices for OUD.
Under a contract with the Washington State Department of Health, KAI provides culturally appropriate communication messages, products, and strategies to prevent or reduce the use of marijuana among AI/AN youth ages 12–17 across the state. KAI partnered with Native influencers, including Rosalie Fish, Ajuawak Kapashesit, and Steven Paul Judd, to share the stories of how they choose to celebrate their culture rather than use marijuana, resulting in extensive campaign engagement on various social media platforms.
KAI recently worked with The Healing Lodge of the Seven Nations (HL7N) and the Squaxin Island Tribe’s Northwest Indian Treatment Center (NWITC) to assist in the development of the state of Washington’s enhanced Medicaid Reimbursement Rate Justification application package for submission to the Washington State Health Care Authority (HCA) that satisfied the HCA requirements for submission to CMS.
Foundations, Nonprofits, for For-Profits
KAI supported AARP’s National Urban Elder Needs Assessment Survey (NUENAS), which aims to assess the gap in available knowledge about AI/AN elders in urban environments. KAI worked to ensure that the well-established network of health and social service providers engaged and supported urban Indian populations in a meaningful and productive way that enabled maximization and sharing of information and research impacts.
Since 2012, KAI has provided evaluation consultation services to 21 grantees of MACP Native Arts and Cultures (NAC) Program. KAI assists grantees in developing logic models and evaluation plans and in identifying metrics and data collection instruments specific to each grantee. We developed a first-of-its-kind grantee dashboard for tracking data collection and for producing metrics that are meaningful and appropriate, reflect grantees’ priorities and cultural contexts, and provide a place where grantees can access a web-based data collection system and update their evaluation information.
KAI conducted an OCA for Margaret A. Cargill Philanthropies’ four key partners to gather insights about areas in which future capacity building could be beneficial. KAI’s team of organizational management professionals researched best practices in OCA; identified and developed an OCA tool that is conducive to deep and sustainable work within Indian country; administered and conducted the OCA process, including site visits and webinars, in conjunction with four NAC key grantee partners; and formulated recommendations for organizational capacity building and effectiveness based on the results and findings of the assessment.