Project 1: The State of the Native American Family

Principal Partner:  United National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc.
Action Committee Chairman:  Vincent A. Toya, Jr., Male Member at Large, National UNITY Council, Executive Committee (vincent@pnyteam.org)
Project Date:  Project to place take in February 2008
Objective:  to gain a better understanding of the current State of the Native American Family through activities to take place at the February 2008 National UNITY Council's Midyear Business Meeting.

Project Description: Family life has a profound influence on each individual and is a major factor in determining how we live out our future lives. Therefore, it is of utmost importance to ensure that an environment exits within our society that supports the healthy growth and development of the family and its members.  Unfortunately, a substantial percentage of Native American families do not have the benefit of such an environment and this is reflected in the sampling of statistics listed below that show that (when compared to the population of the United States) they experience a substantially higher:

The Native youth who are represented by the National UNITY Council have decided to take positive actions and to address these issues where they believe the greatest opportunity for improvement lies and that is the primary goal of their National Initiative to Strengthen Native Families. Therefore, the purpose on this Initiative related project is to assess the State of the Native American Family by organizing a forum of prominent Native Americans who are at the forefront of the efforts to strengthen Native families. The forum, which will convene at the February 2008 National UNITY Council Midyear Business Meeting, will be designed to: facilitate the gathering of information that will give insights into the current state of Native American life;  provide the participants with a better understanding about the efforts to address the greatest issues of concern; and show through examples how Native youth and  interested others can get involved within their respective communities to help bring about positive change.

The forum panel will include at least five members who are knowledgeable of the issues and active in the efforts to address the greatest concerns that have been identified by by the native youth who are represented by the National UNITY Council. The forum proceedings will be videotaped and streamed to the Internet as a live Webcast for viewing by youth and others who share an interest but who are unable to attend the midyear meeting.  At the conclusion of the forum the panel members will respond to questions asked from the audience in attendance and from those who send in text messages, e-mail or call in their questions during the Webcast. The panel members will then participate in a talking circle to further discuss the topics at issue with the youth and their advisers in attendance. The talking circle portion will be videotaped but not included as a part of the live Webcast. An edited version of the videotaped proceedings will be uploaded to the UNITY website for future reference.

 

Return to Project Introduction