Interdependence has been a value of Native cultures since time immemorial. Today’s tribal leaders were once the children of the community and will be its elders tomorrow. Native youth provide a special perspective on the world, and have a unique power and motivation to make a difference within their communities. While youth are undoubtedly the future of tribal nations, many are already serving as leaders and agents of change in their communities today.

Over one-third of the Native population is under the age of 18 as compared to only 24 percent of the total population who are under the age of 18. There is a large bubble in the 15-19 age group for the American Indian and Alaska Native population, so even more Native young people will be able to vote in the next few years and will likely be headed to college or other advanced education and training pathways.

This sizeable young population represents an unprecedented moment of opportunity. Providing youth with the tools, resources, encouragement, and positive environment they need to thrive is an incredibly important investment tribal leaders have prioritized to ensure a strong future for their community.

Native youth sit at the confluence of where our past joins with present and future; and tribal leaders often work to create experiences for their youth that celebrate Native culture while exposing youth to new knowledge. As essential culture and tradition bearers, preparing youth for the future may not just mean preparing them to walk in two worlds, but preparing them for the “one world” of tomorrow by ensuring that they feel strong in their Native cultures and that they feel confident engaging with other cultures.

About Native Youth

NCAI offers internships and fellowships to provide an opportunity for young leaders from across Indian Country to serve on the front lines of legislative action and policy development. All interns and fellows are selected through an application and interview process.


The Wilma Mankiller Fellowship Program for Tribal Policy and Governance:

 The NCAI Wilma Mankiller Fellowship Program for Tribal Policy and Governance Fellowship Program provides an exceptional opportunity for emerging young professionals from across Indian Country to work side by side with national leaders in tribal policy. Applicants must have a college degree or equivalent experience. 

Applications will open later this year.


The Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute

, offers an in-depth list of resources for youth. Established by former North Dakota Senator Byron Dorgan, the organizations resources offers resources for youth, tribes, and others. Check out the 

Center’s Internship and Fellowships resources by visiting their website

George Washington Native American Political Leadership Program (NAPLP)

The Native American Political Leadership Program (NAPLP) offered by the George Washington University is a full scholarship program designed to give Native American undergraduate and graduate students an incredible educational opportunity in the nation’s capital. Partnering with Semester In Washington Politics, NAPLP students take classes at GW, participate in hands-on internships, and interact with political leaders and policymakers. NAPLP includes a series of seminars devoted to public policy issues affecting Native American communities (American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian). Funded by a generous grant from the AT&T Foundation, NAPLP plays a key role in preparing the next generation of Native American political leaders.

NAPLP offers an invaluable up-close view of Washington, D.C. Students learn how political decisions are made, how power is wielded and how government is run – because they are right in the center of the process. NAPLP is a guided, hands-on tour of the workings of the U.S. government, immersing students in the processes that define our political system.

Fellowships


NCAI works to ensure that Tribal Youth thrive by equipping tribal leaders with the resources necessary to support the young people in their communities and by providing young leaders with the tools needed to be successful in their endeavors.

We, the National Congress of American Indian Youth, unite to serve our peoples concerns and interests by enhancing the spiritual, mental, physical and emotional well-being of tribal youth for a better Native America.

Established in 1997, the NCAI Youth Commission has been a space for tribal youth to come together and discuss solutions to the unique challenges they face within their communities. The youth commission has served as a space for Indian Country’s young people to stand together, empowered, to inform Indian Country’s greater decisions regarding the future. Youth Commission members have often informed NCAI’s general membership on various issues, informing key advocacy decisions. The youth commissioners also provide leadership development opportunities and provides a forum for national Native youth networking.

The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Youth Commission is designed specifically for college and high school students ages 16-23 with an interest in political science, tribal government and Native American legislative and governmental affairs.

The Youth Commission provides a unique perspective on issues relevant to tribal youth. It is to be a resource to NCAI and Tribal Leaders. It is an opportunity to acquire knowledge from NCAI and Tribal Leaders about the organizational processes of NCAI and structure of Tribal Politics. The Commission also serves to enhance leadership skills and cultivate those we may have obtained prior. Most importantly the NCAI Youth Commission is a mechanism for achieving a unified voice for ALL Native American and Alaskan Native Youth.

About NCAI Youth Commission

Our 2022-23 newly elected Youth Commission Officers are:


Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community

Madison Brown: Youth Commission Secretary

2022-2023 Youth Commission

Our 2021-22 newly elected Youth Commission Officers are:


White Mountain Apache, San Carlos Apache


Choctaw Nation/ Registered First generation descendent of Eastern Band Cherokees

2021-2022 Youth Commission

In October 2018, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) Youth Commission were inspired to get involved in the ICWA conversation after learning about the then called Brackeen v. Zinke (Bernhardt) case. They felt it was important to have policymakers, judges, and the general public understand their perspective and hear their voice. Developed by consensus during a writing session during the NCAI conference, the NCAI Youth Commission released the following statement.

The Indian Child Welfare Act was created in order to protect the best interest of Indian children and to promote the stability and security of tribal communities and families. We, as youth leaders, know that our identity is who we are, is within our culture, and within the tribal community that raises us. Our membership and blood quantum has never defined us as members of our tribal communities. To us, we are raised by tribal communities, because we learn not just from our family but from the communities as a whole. They teach us our languages, our traditions, they show us who we are as American Indian/Alaska Native youth; that is a right every American Indian/Alaska Native child should have. They should not be taken from their tribal communities because when they are, a piece of our culture is lost."

In the News

NCAI Youth Commission

On the T.R.A.I.L. (Together Raising Awareness for Indian Life) to Diabetes Prevention

The Indian Health Service (IHS), the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) partnered to create a program aimed at reducing the onset of diabetes amongNative American youth. The program—On the T.R.A.I.L. (Together Raising Awareness for Indian Life) to Diabetes Prevention—is an innovative combination of physical, educational, and nutritional activities that promote healthy lifestyles. Since 2003, the T.R.A.I.L. program has served over 16,600 Native youth ages 7-11 in about 90 tribal communities.

NCAI's new five year grant award from IHS began in Fall 2017 and will end in August 2022. NCAI awarded approximately 83 Boys & Girls Clubs sites in Indian Country for the 2018-2019 grant year. In order to implement the program each site will receive the following:

• A grant to fund program operations, including a part-time staff person and program training for one year

• Evaluated program curriculum, training, and on-going technical assistance

• Access to the SPARK Afterschool Physical Activity Program

T.R.A.I.L. is comprised of a 12-chapter curriculum program that provides youth with a comprehensive understanding of healthy lifestyles in order to prevent diabetes. The program is presented with four themes:

Part 1: About Me, My Health, & Being Part of a Team

Woven throughout the program are self-esteem and prevention activities utilized by BGCA, including contributions from national, evidence-based programs such as SMART Moves. Programs draw from tribal traditions and history to learn about nutrition, food choices, media inuences, and the impact of diabetes. The program also emphasizes the importance of teamwork and community service. Members apply decision-making and goalsetting skills when completing physical activities and engage in education projects to improve healthy lifestyles in their communities. Club sites implement the Nike Let Me Play and SPARK programs to foster Club-wide participation in fun physical activities and games for 60 minutes every day.


For further information, contact Lisa Vandever via email at

. Read more about the T.R.A.I.L. program, Club site successes at 

On the T.R.A.I.L.

NCAI Youth Commission-Movement As Medicine

Native Youth Leadership Summit (NYLS) 2023

Youth Commission Election at the NCAI 79th Annual Convention

Protect the Indian Child Welfare Act - Youth Defending Youth

Pechanga Resort & Casino in Temecula, California

The Native Youth Leadership Summit (NYLS) 2022

American Indians in Tech: Contributions, Successes, and Experiences

Building Career Pathways: Working for Treasury

Virtual Event - 3:00 pm ET - For Native Youth and Young Professionals

2021 Native Cinema Showcase: Future Focused Shorts Program

Indian Pueblo Cultural Center - 9am - 4pm

Youth in Action: Indigenous Peoples' Day—Black-Indigenous Youth Advancing Social Justice

National Museum of the American Indians online virtual event

Indigenous Perspectives in Climate Change

National Tribal Leadership Climate Change Summit >> Virtual Session III: Empowering Indigenous Youth

Virtual Conference - June 25, July 9 and July 23

Indoor Soccer Field, 100 N. McCormick, Oklahoma City, OK

NCAI Youth Commission Webinar: How to get involved with the NCAI Youth Commission

Positive Youth Development: The Intersection Between Theory and Practice Workshop

Rockhurst University, Kansas City, Missouri

University of New Mexico Student Union, Albuquerque, New Mexico

Positive Youth Development In Indian Country Workshop

University of Minnesota – Twin Cities – Humphrey 50B

Let’s Play Soccer (Indoor football Field); Oklahoma City; 100 N. McCormick, OKC

Northwest Intertribal Agriculture Council Youth Summit

Major Survey on Indians with Disabilities Released

The 37th Annual PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction

Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 East Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003

Youth Events

The National Congress of American Indians holds in high regard the accomplishments, potential, and impact of Native Youth. As an important part of tribal communities, tribal leaders have, for time immemorial, strived to ensure that youth have the tools and resources to positively impact their communities. In addition to implementing a number of year-round, ongoing programs, NCAI strives to support events which bring youth together on a National scale and celebrate youth achievements.

Watch the video about Native Youth leading the charge on the Indian Child Welfare Act from the 75th NCAI Annual Convention & Marketplace 

Through a number of channels, NCAI seeks to support Native Youth in their efforts to help build a brighter future for Indian Country.

Watch a video from the news outlet Native Report from the 2009 Annual Convention - NCAI Youth Commission meetings.

NCAI’s Youth Commission offers youth ages 16-23 the opportunity to engage on National scale along-side tribal leaders to help address the issues facing Indian Country. Established in 1997, the NCAI Youth Commission has been a space for tribal youth to come together and discuss solutions to the unique challenges they face within their communities.

Read More about the NCAI Youth Commission

Visit the Youth Commission Facebook Page for news and updates

The new Native “baby boom” is coming of age at a time when tribal nations are facing and meeting challenges in setting youth development and leadership goals. Our sizeable young population represents an unprecedented moment of opportunity for tribes. The choices that Indian Country – including individual tribes – make in the coming years will determine our collective future. Now is the time to build a brighter future that addresses the significant challenges facing Native youth.

Recognizing this critical moment, the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) established the National Native Youth Cabinet (NNYC) to support Native youth and tribal efforts to foster leaders of tomorrow. The goal of the project was to increase the number of American Indian and Alaska Native youth who are prepared with political knowledge and skills to become national and tribal leaders, and to identify strategies for improving policy and data on issues of significance to Native youth.

 for more information about the National Native Youth Cabinet!

NCAI offers fellowships and internships for students and young professionals to earn valuable experience working with the nation’s oldest, largest, and most representative organization, advocating on behalf of tribal governments. Fellowships last 11 months, while internships are arranged on a case-by-case basis. 

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