We are the Center for Native American Youth

Our Vision is for all Native American youth to lead full and healthy lives, to have equal access to opportunity, and to draw strength from their culture and inspire one another.

Nancy Deere-Turney

Nancy started her own initiative focused on cultural preservation called the Youth Enrichment Camp (YEC). Nancy hosts the camp at a traditional roundhouse on her family’s land to talk to youth about the importance of culture, and the ways in which culture can be used to combat suicide and other issues Native youth are facing. A former Junior Miss and Miss Muscogee (Creek) Nation, Nancy is actively involved in her tribe’s government, and plans to run for elected office for her district’s National Council.

“Our youth are in a hard time right now. We face loss of language, culture, lives, and lack of representation in tribal and federal government. Every elder lost is one more speaker we cannot learn from. I created the Youth Enrichment Camp to target our loss of language and culture.”

BACK TO ALL POSTS

"I have been told that my dream of helping other Native youth is ridiculous and that I should give up. I realized that negative comments won’t hold me back. I will make my dream a reality."

-Elizabeth Burns,

Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, Earlier years Champion for Change