L-R back row: CSC members Leanna “Bubbles” Isaac, Evelyn Day and Roberta Moto, University of Michigan study staff and PhD candidate Lauren White, CSC member Diane McEachern, Valarie Pingayak, and Munick Chappel. Front row, L-R: PC CARES research team members Angel Zhong, Lisa Wexler, Elizabeth Evans, and Tara Schmidt.
The project is Community-Based Participatory Research funded by the National Institute of Medicine. The participating communities are full and equal partners in all phases of the research process. Our goal is to proceed in the most respectful way we can, and to generate a scientific process that accurately reflects the preferences and priorities of the people the research is designed to serve.
As a mechanism for community involvement, a group of local tribal leaders, Elders, and caring community members comprise the Community Steering Committee. The function of the PC CARES Community Steering Committee is to guide each phase of research to ensure it is respectful, aligned with local priorities and cultural values, and useful. Members integrate perspectives from lived experience into the development and implementation of PC CARES.
Membership is typically by invitation based on relationships built when working together on suicide prevention projects in the state. If you’d like to find out more about how to join, and what membership entails, please fill out this online inquiry form AND contact Tara Schmidt - pccares@umich.edu.
Local Steering Committee
Roberta Moto
Roberta Moto is the Wellness Program Manager for Maniilaq Association. She is a tribal member of the Native Village of Deering, Alaska. Her Inupiaq name is Anausuk. She is a wife, mother of 6, and grandmother of 8. She lives and works in Deering, Alaska. Her work experience includes: ICWA Coordinator, Tribal Administrator, and Village Based Counselor. She has a Bachelors in Social Work with an emphasis in Child Welfare from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. She sits on the ANCHRR Research Steering Committee and the Statewide Suicide Prevention Council. Roberta is a co-creator of PC CARES and has guided its development since the beginning. She helps train new program facilitators, leads learning circles, and mentors communities starting and sustaining PC CARES.
Valeria Qass’uq Pingayak
Valerie Pingayak is a Cup'ik from the Qissunamiut Tribe from Chevak, Alaska. Her Cup'ik name is Qass'uq. Ms. Pingayak is a facilitator of several suicide prevention trainings, and supports communities/tribes/organizations who have received Native Connections Grant who work toward suicide prevention, mental health awareness, substance use reduction, and reducing the impacts of generational and historical trauma within commiunities. She is so excited to be a part of this amazing effort.
Pictures to come…
Lisa Charles
Lisa Charles of Newtok is a proud Yup'ik mother of 7. She works as a Workforce and Benefits Navigator for AVCP. She lives and works in Mertarvik, Alaska which is the new village site for Newtok that is relocating due to erosion and melting permafrost.
Anna Wiseman, Toksook Bay
I am from Toksook Bay, Nunakauyarmiut. I work as a Community Family Services Specialist and I enjoy raising my family in a Traditional community.
Evelyn Olaqroaq Day, Bethel
Retired Elder (bio to come)
Josie Garnie
Josie Garnie’s traditional name is Poiyuna, after her great-grandma. She is Inupiaq, born and raised in Teller, the daughter of Joe Garnie and Helen Okbaok, and related to the Topkok, Kakaruk, and Okbaok families. She is also the mother to two daughters: Lauryn and Aubrina. Josie was hired as a Village Based Counselor in 1997 as part of a pilot project for Norton Sound Health Corporation. She still serves as the VBC for Teller and supervises half of the VBCs in the Norton Sound/Bering Strait region. She received her Rural Human Services Certificate and Associate of Applied Science in Human Services Degree from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Josie is a certified as a Behavioral Health Aide Practitioner and has been an LSC member since 2018.
Leanna “Bubbles” Isaac
Leanna K. Isaac is a Yup’ik woman from the Kuskowkim River, living and serving on the lands of the Orutsararmiut Native Council in Bethel, AK. Leanna is a happy mother of 1, and has over 22 years working in human services at varying capacities, with the most recent being working with Elders at the Yukon Kuskokwim Elders Home as the Social Worker. Leanna has her certificate in Rural Human Services, Associates in Human Services, B.A. in Social Work, and M.S. in Social Work.
Naomi Munick Chappel, Kiana
Naomi Munick Chappel is a Native Village of Kiana tribal member living in Kiana, Alaska. I have worked as an administrative assistant in Anchorage for NANA for several years, moved back home in 2012 and worked as the ICWA/Wellness Coordinator as the Shareholder Relations Coordinator for NANA Regional Corporation for 7 years. Munick says “I enjoy working with our people and helping them work on reaching their employment and family oriented goals. I have 6 children and currently 6 tutiks (grandchildren). Life can get difficult, you choose how you will respond to life challenges. Our people are strong and resilient as long as we continue to help each other.”
Community Steering Committee meeting in Nome in 2019. Back row, L-R: Roberta Moto, Emily Murray, Lauren White, Lena Danner, Josie Garnie, Keith Morrison. Front row, L-R: Tara Schmidt, Lisa Wexler, Diane McEachern, Edna Apatiki, and Darlene Trigg.
Local Steering Committee Newsletters
Regular program updates are provided to Steering Committee members.