Native Project expands youth services center, highlights county gap in adolescent substance treatment

Tony Lodge, executive director of the Native Project, described the nonprofit’s new children and youth services center and said the agency aims to treat trauma and substance use earlier for Spokane’s children and adolescents.

The Native Project’s clinic and youth center operate in West Central Spokane and provide medical, dental and behavioral-health services, Lodge said. He told the Spokane City Council Office’s Equity Spotlight that the center was created because the community’s demographic and health indicators show a high share of young people and an acute need for early interventions: “According to the 2020 census, 30% of our population is between the ages of 0 and 18,” Lodge said.

Lodge also told the program that Native Project runs what he described as the county’s only outpatient drug- and alcohol-treatment program for adolescents. “Right now in Spokane County, we are the only outpatient drug and alcohol program, treatment program for adolescents in the whole county,” he said, describing the service as a response to rising opioid and fentanyl harms among young people.

The episode traced the organization’s origins to relocation-era migration and a long-running Native presence in West Central. Lodge said he moved to Spokane in 1979 and that the city’s urban Native community includes people from “over 300 tribes in North America that live here in Spokane County and the city of Spokane.” He described how Native Project grew from local residents organizing to support children and families into a larger clinic and service campus.

Lodge outlined how the agency blends clinical care with cultural and relational approaches. He said staff ask about diet, social ties and cultural activities — “Who are you with? ... We don't say mental health, we say your social health” — and that Native Project emphasizes culturally grounded events, no-cost community activities and multi-generational relationships that help reach families earlier.

The segment reviewed work the group carried out during the COVID-19 pandemic. Lodge said Native Project changed vaccine outreach protocols to prioritize people who were working and supporting families and to address historical hesitancy. “We flipped those, you know, who gets the first shot” and, he added, “I know we saved lives — the people of color in this community’s lives.”

Beyond clinical services, Lodge pointed to housing as a persistent policy gap: “We gotta figure out where everyone's going to sleep at night,” he said, urging policymakers and funders to treat secure housing as foundational to improving health outcomes.

Lodge also discussed community organizing and power-building. He encouraged cross-group collaboration and said institutions and community organizations can be more effective if they coordinate: “How powerful we could be if we come together,” he said, citing Native Project’s pandemic work as an example.

The interview closed with Lodge describing routine community activities, including powwows and other cultural gatherings, and an invitation to learn more about Native Project. Contact information provided during the segment: nativeproject.org and citycouncil@spokanecity.org.

Tony Lodge is executive director of the Native Project and a member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Tribe of North Dakota. Alex Jibalisco is manager of Equity and Inclusion Initiatives at the Spokane City Council Office and conducted the interview.