Diné Action Plan Spring Gathering Charts Next Five Years of Progress

Five years into the Diné Action Plan, community advocates attending the initiative's spring gathering told task force leaders directly: proven grassroots interventions are not reaching Apache County's highest-need chapters fast enough. The five-year assessment of what those years actually produced won't be publicly available until September.

The two-day convening on March 19 and 20, held in Gallup and at Fire Rock Navajo Casino in Church Rock, marked the Siihasin phase of the DAP's planning cycle: formal reflection and evaluation before drafting the next five-year operational plan. Members of the 25th Navajo Nation Council, agency partners from the Navajo Division of Behavioral Health Management and the Navajo Division of Children and Family Services, and public stakeholders attended. Navajo Nation Speaker Crystalyne Curley and President Buu Nygren both provided remarks.

Task force leaders, responding to the community pressure, pledged the updated plan would prioritize measurable outcomes: reductions in substance-use incidents, improved treatment capacity, strengthened local prevention programs, and better coordination with federal and state partners. Those commitments represent a sharper public accountability standard than the DAP's first cycle put forward.

The plan was approved in 2021 to address what Navajo leaders call the four modern-day monsters: substance abuse and addiction, suicide, violence, and Missing and Murdered Diné Relatives. Each task force now has a named leader on record with the new targets. Vera John of the Navajo Division of Behavioral Health Management leads the Substance Abuse and Addiction Task Force and can be reached at verajohn@navajo-nsn.gov. Anthony Begay of the Navajo Division of Children and Family Services leads Suicide Prevention at anthony.begay@ndcfs.org. Sonlatsa Jim, also of NDCFS, leads Violence Prevention at sonlatsa.jim@ndcfs.org. Council Delegate Amber Kanazbah Crotty chairs the MMDR Task Force at acrotty@navajo-nsn.gov.

Navajo Nation Youth Advisory Council At-Large member Louvannina Tsosie joined sessions focused on improving engagement with younger generations, a gap the DAP has identified as a priority for the next phase.

Speaker Curley addressed task force members with an unambiguous challenge. "This work reflects who we are as Diné people," she said. "You are taking on the four modern-day monsters and choosing to meet them with strength rooted in our identity and values. This work is necessary for the safety, healing, and future of our people, especially our children."

The DAP Advisory Group must now compile the full five-year assessment and deliver a draft updated plan by September 2026 for presentation at the Fall Council Session. That document will determine how Sihasin and other tribal funds are allocated to Apache County's chapters in the Northern and Chinle agencies, the communities whose advocates pushed hardest for faster results at the spring gathering.