United National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc.

United National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc.
Preparing Native Youth – Further along Life's Journey (PNY)
National Initiative to Strengthen Native Families

National UNITY Council representatives met in Arlington, VA in February 2007 for their annual Midyear Business Meeting and voted to undertake a national service project with the purpose of building “a stronger nation by designing, organizing and carrying out a “National Initiative to Strengthen Native Families”. This decision was formalized by the passage of a resolution that states in part that, “the National UNITY Council shall assume a primary leadership role and promote and support youth council projects and activities that Strengthen Native Families.”

The National Initiative to Strengthen Native Families (NISNF) has three major objectives: (1) enlist tribes, agencies, organizations and individuals to partner with the youth and provide financial and other support for the Initiative; (2) involve a minimum of 60 Native youth councils in Initiative related projects and activities; and (3) involve Native youth and the Initiative partners in developing, planning and carrying out local and national projects, activities and events as a part of the National Initiative to Strengthen Native Families.

A formal agreement signing ceremony between the National UNITY Council and an initial group of partners took place in July during the 2007 National UNITY Conference in Oklahoma City. Currently 15 partners have enlisted and will provide limited funding and the expertise needed to successfully carry out the planned projects. However, additional partners are needed to ensure that adequate funding for the 10 planned National Initiative related projects is available.

Follow the links below (project number and name) to learn more about each of the 10 projects that are being planned to take place as a part of the National Initiative. If you are interested in partnering on a particular project, you may contact the Action Committee Chairman at the email address provided to request additional information and to learn how to join in and take an active role in the National Initiative. If you and your youth council or youth group are interested in participating, please contact the Action Committee Chairman at the email address provided. To participate as a partner or as a youth group, please download either the youth council commitment form or partnership agreement form and send it to the pnyteam according to the instructions accompanying the respective online forms.

List of Projects
	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 2: Old Stories, New Technology Principal Partners: Michigan Indian Education Council (MIEC) Action Committee Chairman: Erin Beaver, Female Member-at-Large, National UNITY Council, Executive Committee (erin@pnyteam.org) Project Date: Project to take place in March 2008 Objective: to train Native youth – who attend the 2008 MIEC conference -- in the use of new technology to share knowledge of tribal history and culture and to provide a means for tribal elders to share their stories with a broader audience via the Internet.
	Project 3: Focus on the Native Family Principal Partner: United National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc., Another partner to be named. Action Committee Chairman: Joshua Tso, Male Co-President, National UNITY Council, Executive Committee (josh@pnyteam.org) Project Date: Project to take place in July 2008 Objective: to share information with the expected 1,250 Native youth and their advisers, who attend the 2008 National UNITY Conference in Reno, NV, that may prove useful in their efforts the strengthen Native families within their respective communities.
	Project 4: Intergenerational Communications (Minnesota) Principal Partner: To be named Action Committee Chairman: Jared Bell, Male Member at Large, National UNITY Council, Executive Committee (jared@pnyteam.org) Project Date: Project to take place in the Spring of 2008 – specific date to be determined Objective: to facilitate a conversation between Native youth, their parents, other adults, elders and youth workers and to explore the ways and means of building stronger communication links among all age groups within Native communities.
	Project 5: Intergenerational Communications (Oklahoma) Principal Partner: To be named Action Committee Chairman: Tiffany Smalley, Female Member at Large, National UNITY Council, Executive Committee (tiffany@pnyteam.org) Project Date: Project to take place in the Spring of 2008 – specific date to be determined Objective: to facilitate a conversation between Native youth, their parents, other adults, elders and youth workers and to explore the ways and means of building stronger communication links among all age groups within Native communities.
	Project 6: Intergenerational Communications (Florida) Principal Partner: To be named Action Committee Chairman: Sheldon Smith, Male Member at Large, National UNITY Council, Executive Committee (sheldon@pnyteam.org) Project Date: Project to take place in the Spring of 2008 – specific date to be determined Objective: to facilitate a conversation between Native youth, their parents, other adults, elders and youth workers and to explore the ways and means of building stronger communication links among all age groups within Native communities.
	Project 7: Native Family Portrait Album Principal Partners: To be named Action Committee Chairman: Candice Romero, Female Member--at--Large, National UNITY Council, Executive Committee (candice@pnyteam.org) Project Date: Project to take place in the Summer of 2008 – specific date to be determined Objective: to collect and showcase portraits of our ancestors and contemporary Native families as a positive reminder of the strength to be found in a substantial percentage of Native families.
	Project 8: Celebrating Education with the Family Principal Partners: University of Oklahoma Diversity Enrichment Program (OU), Other partner(s) to be named Action Committee Chairman: J'Shon Lee, Secretary, National UNITY Council, Executive Committee (jshon@pnyteam.org) Project Date: Project to take place in the Summer of 2008 – specific date to be determined Objective: to encourage Native youth to establish educational goals and pursue higher education by providing them with information that will be useful in preparing for success in an institution of higher learning and, in addition, to better prepare them and their parents for making related decisions.
	Project 9: Information: The Power to Strengthen Native Families Principal Partners: To be named Action Committee Chairman: Juanita Toledo, Vice President, National UNITY Council, Executive Committee (juanita@pnyteam.org) Project Date: Project to take place in the Summer of 2008 – specific date to be determined Objective: to provide information to youth councils and their members represented by the National UNITY Council as well as to others within the Native American community that is useful in designing and carrying out projects to strengthen Native families within their respective communities.
	Project 10: Archiving Turtle Island Principal Partner: United National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc (UNITY) Action Committee Chairman: Kelsey Leonard, Female Co-President, National UNITY Council, Executive Committee (kelsey@pnyteam.org) Project Date: Project to take place in the Summer of 2008 – specific date to be determined Objective: to provide a means for Native youth to gain better access to the knowledge and wisdom that Native elders have to share with members of the younger generation.