Center for Native American Youth

2026 Darthmouth Tribal Leadership Academy
2026-07-27 - 2026-07-31 | Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, United States
Join Dartmouth College for a week of high-impact learning and relationship building, designed just for Indian Country! Native leaders new to their roles in Indian Country, whether elected or appointed, will learn from Dartmouth’s Faculty Presenters in a 25 member cohort. Topics include economic development, grant writing, health care delivery and intergovernmental relations. The program is fully funded, with travel support available.

2026 Native Power Building Summit
2026-07-16 | Scottsdale, AZ, Scottsdale, AZ
The fifth Native Power Building Summit is a powerful, one-day gathering of Native American, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian leaders, organizers, elected officials, artists, academics and allies from across the country. Taking place Thursday, July 16, 2026, in Scottsdale, Arizona, the Summit creates space for connection, reflection, and collective visioning rooted in shared purpose.
This year’s theme, Still We Rise: Joy, Justice, & the Fight for Indigenous Futures, honors our enduring presence, adaptability and the strength we draw from one another. It is an affirmation of who we are and who we are becoming. Together, we will celebrate joy as a powerful force, courageous leadership and coming together to imagine and build futures where Indigenous voices continue to lead.

UNITY National Conference 50th Anniversary
2026-07-10 - 2026-07-14 | Oklahoma City Convention Center, 100 Mick Cornett Dr, Oklahoma, 73109, United States
The National UNITY Conference, is an impactful five-day youth-led annual event held every July in a pre-selected region of the U.S. About 3,000 Native youth and advisors are expected to attend the 2026 National UNITY Oklahoma City, Oklahoma (July 10 – July 14, 2026). The National UNITY Conference complete with general sessions, regional caucuses, workshops, career/education fair, and fun evening activities provides hands-on leadership development activities and where the National UNITY Council conducts elections and its annual business meeting.
UNITY is celebrating 50 years of tradition and Native Youth empowerment. This national conference is a place where Native youth voices are encouraged and valued. We want to commemorate our time through the decades by highlighting some of our organization’s key achievements. Look forward to looking back into UNITY’s immense history along with some familiar faces.

Democracy is Indigenous Community Workshops: South Dakota
2026-06-30 - 2026-07-02 | South Dakota, SD, United States
As part of CNAY’s commitment to fostering and building relationships within communities and bringing valuable opportunities to Native youth across Indian Country, we’re bringing our Democracy is Indigenous training to summer events across South Dakota in 2026!

Tuesday, June 30: Sicangu Co. + SNETP 7gen Summer Youth Internship
Sinte Gleska University, Mission, SD
This 7-week paid internship seeks to empower the next generation of leaders with the skills and concepts to use their strengths to create healthy families and communities.
Wednesday, July 1: Cheyenne River Youth Project-Youth Initiative Training Program
Cheyenne River Youth Project, Eagle Butte, SD
CRYP has teen internships available in five tracks: Native Food Sovereignty, Social Enterprise, Native Wellness, Art, and Lakota Culture. All ointerns have the opportunity to become certified in First Aid and CPR, participate in educational workshops such as financial literacy and financial aid, enjoy hands-on experience in CRYP’s facilities, serve as peer mentors and community leaders, earn money for their new savings accounts, and gain vital job and life skills for a more secure and vibrant future.
Thursday, July 2: 2026 Lakota Leadership Camp
Oglala Lakota College, Kyle, SD
This 4 day Leadership Training for high school students and their families features skills in language and culture, traditional plants, food preservation, archery, resume building, hide tanning, tipi raising, grant writing, Lakota art, personal finance, Lakota games, a buffalo ceremony and more!

These tailored trainings – offered free of charge throughout the year – equip emerging young leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary for civic engagement, encouraging them to actively participate in shaping the future of their communities. All youth who participate have the opportunity to receive funding for a community action project. CNAY offers both virtual and in-person Democracy is Indigenous trainings, tailored to your community, organization, Tribe, council, summer camp, etc.
Learn more about Democracy is Indigenous & our Community Trainings.

Every Child Thrives Fesitval
2026-06-23 - 2026-06-25 | Obama Presidential Center, 6001 S Stony Island Ave, Chicago, IL, 60637, United States
Every Child Thrives Festival is a global, multigenerational gathering where imagination fuels action and diverse voices shape a future in which all children can thrive. The Festival brings together youth, families, leaders, advocates and practitioners working across community, cultural, corporate, educational, health and systems-shaping spaces to spark possibility, act boldly and build lasting change.

Grand Valley State University Native Youth Leadership Camp
2026-06-15 - 2026-06-18 | Grand Valley State University, 1 Campus Drive, Allendale, MI, 49401, United States
Grand Valley State University (GVSU)’s Office of Multicultural Affairs invited Indigenous youth in grades 9–12 to a weeklong camp where they will build leadership skills, explore campus life and connect with culture.
As part of CNAY’s commitment to fostering and building relationships within communities and bringing valuable opportunities to Native youth across Indian Country, we’re bringing our Democracy is Indigenous training to GVSU in 2026!
These tailored trainings – offered free of charge throughout the year – equip emerging young leaders with the knowledge and skills necessary for civic engagement, encouraging them to actively participate in shaping the future of their communities. All youth who participate have the opportunity to receive funding for a community action project. CNAY offers both virtual and in-person Democracy is Indigenous trainings, tailored to your community, organization, Tribe, council, summer camp, etc.
Learn more about Democracy is Indigenous & our Community Trainings: cnay.org/home/democracy-is-indigenous-community-trainings

2026 HIP Conference: Rooted in Purpose, Rising con Poder
2026-06-10 - 2026-06-11 | JW Marriott L.A. LIVE, 900 W Olympic Blvd, Los Angeles, CA, 90015, United States
Hispanics in Philanthropy’s annual conference is where the comunidad comes to reflect, refuel and reimagine power together. Through plenarias, panels and charlas, attendees learn and exchange ideas grounded in the realities and aspirations of Latines in the US, Latin America and the Caribbean. The agenda is intentionally curated to lift up the emerging needs, bold visions and transformative leadership shaping our communities today.
As HIP prepares to gather in Los Angeles, a city built on movement, migration and imagination, we come together in the spirit of solidarity and possibility — to defend our people, celebrate our roots and rise collectively toward a more just and liberated future.

Spring 2026 Opportunity Youth Forum Convening
2026-05-12 - 2026-05-15 | Montgomery, AL, Montgomery, AL, United States
In collaboration with key implementation partner Jobs for the Future, the Opportunity Youth Forum designed and launched a national learning community of grantee partners over 10 years ago, which continue to this day. This learning community engages Opportunity Youth Forum site leads, youth leaders, funders, thought partners, and national leaders across many sectors in two convenings per year: a spring convening, typically hosted by a member community in order to promote learning in local context and lift up promising local practices in reconnecting opportunity youth, and a fall convening, which typically takes place on the Aspen Institute campus in Aspen, Colorado and focuses on national innovations and movement-building efforts.
The convenings of the Opportunity Youth Forum are a twice yearly highlight for members of the OYF network. Attendance is by invitation only.

Historic Second Global Summit on Indigenous Peacebuilding
2026-04-25 - 2026-04-26 | New York, NY, New York, NY, United States
Indigenous leaders from across the world will convene to advance recognition and inclusion of Indigenous approaches to peacebuilding and to ensure these approaches shape global responses to conflict
and ecological crisis.
Two years after the inaugural gathering, the Second Global Summit on Indigenous peacebuilding in New York City (Lenapehoking) will convene to reflect, strengthen, and operationalize this transformative agenda. It aims to advance a global movement where Indigenous Peoples are not only peace recipients but recognized as peace architects and guardians of our planet’s balance.

VA250 | America's Semiquincentennial Celebration: Inspiring a Season of Civic Renewal
2026-04-25 | Colonial Williamsburg, 101 Visitor Center Dr., Williamsburg, VA, 23185, United States
VA250 signature events unite Virginians and visitors alike in celebrating the pivotal moments leading to our nation’s independence on July 4, 1776.
On April 25, we will come together to commemorate “Our Inherently Sovereign Status & Existence as Tribal Nations: Exploring and Understanding a Unique, Complicated, and Intertwined Diplomatic Relationship with the United States.”

2026 Skoll World Forum
2026-04-21 - 2026-04-24 | Oxford, UK, Oxford, United Kingdom
The Forum shines a spotlight on some of the most promising solutions and impactful social innovations and connects leaders who are driving social progress around the world. Attendance is curated by the Skoll Foundation team, with free virtual participation open to everyone.
The 2026 Skoll World Forum will take place April 21–24 in Oxford, U.K. and online. Join us to learn and collaborate with innovative leaders from across the globe. Inspired by the cycles of regeneration found in the natural world, the Forum will remind us of our innate capacity for renewal. In a moment defined by the need for collective healing and resilience, we will come together to solve the most urgent challenges before us and reimagine a future that enables people and planet to thrive.

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) Twenty-Fifth Session
2026-04-20 - 2026-05-01 | UN Headquarters, 405 E 45th St., New York, NY, 10017, United States
The United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII) is a high- level advisory body to the Economic and Social Council. The Forum was established on 28 July 2000 by resolution 2000/22, with the mandate to deal with Indigenous issues related to economic and social development, culture, the environment, education, health and human rights. In 2026, the theme of the session is: “Ensuring Indigenous Peoples’ health, including in the context of conflict”

Native Americans in Philanthropy 2026 Annual Conference
2026-04-14 - 2026-04-16 | Riverside Convention Center, 3637 5th St., Riverside, CA, 92501, United States
The Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) 2026 Annual Conference brings together a community of leaders, practitioners, and learners at the intersection of philanthropy, Native advocacy and Tribal sovereignty to collaborate on ways to be involved in the movement to Indigenize Philanthropy.
With a firm grounding in Indigenous cultures, the NAP conference honors the past, celebrates the present and charts the map to the future — together. CNAY will be in attendance with youth representation, including Youth Advisory Board executive committee members Katie Lynch & Tayler Higgins.

Protecting Our Children Conference
2026-03-29 - 2026-04-01 | Oklahoma City Convention Center, 100 Mick Cornett Dr, Oklahoma, 73109, United States
National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) hosts the largest national gathering on Native child advocacy issues. With over 2,000 attendees, this three-day conference is the premier national event addressing Tribal child welfare and well-being.
On Monday, March 30 at 1:30pm CST, Tahnee Poafpybitty & Roxy Sprowl will be presenting — alongside Anita Horner from Casey Family Programs — Building Communities of Hope: A Training Guide to Bridge Lived Experience with Practice.
This workshop explores how culturally grounded leadership and resilience mechanisms support the well-being of Native youth in foster care. Participants will learn about CNAY’s co-created Native Foster Youth Well-Being curriculum, which transforms lived experience into advocacy and systemic change. Through discussion, reflection, youth-led insights, storytelling and a brief cultural activity, we will examine how culture, identity and good medicine can strengthen resilience and leadership. This session highlights how centering Native lived experience experts creates pathways for child welfare systems reforms to promote the advancement of Indian child welfare and culturally rooted wellness across communities.

Youth250: Our Declaration
2026-02-17 10:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | National Constitution Center, 525 Arch St, Philadelphia, PA, 19106, United States
Youth250: Our Declaration is a once-in-a-generation gathering of young adults shaping America’s future — the founders of our next chapter. As the nation looks toward its 250th anniversary in 2026, this in-person event places Gen Z at the center of the conversation, spotlighting their creativity, leadership and vision for what comes next.

2026 AIHEC Legislative Summit
2026-02-03 | YOTEL DC, 415 New Jersey Avenue, Washington, DC, 20001, United States
The American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC) brings together presidents, students and faculty from all 34 accredited Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) to engage in meaningful dialogue on critical issues impacting Tribal higher education.
CNAY speakers included Senior Program Associate Tahnee Poafpybitty & 2023 Champion for Change Samuel Hiratsuka.

NAP Member Education Session: Protecting All Native Knowledge Journeys
2026-01-21 13:00 - 14:30 | youtube.com/live/K1qtQ6IC3uo?utm_campaign=Membership%20Series&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--NSGO5r7VcyX3knl44OzE5Bx3K2XwteHzRwQ_JwWC9NmZQalWFXEma_7mR8EYjvPzyNccwOVzAQmlaozeHZWyDCczg01jgYU6rhCEQ35w_Zr2bT4E&_hsmi=376955979&utm_content=376955979&utm_source=hs_automation
Education is more than a pathway forward for our communities; it is a bridge between generations, carrying the wisdom of our elders into the future and ensuring our youth are set up to succeed. Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP) is honored to hold space for our educators who are protecting the passing on of traditional knowledge and improving access to opportunities across Indian Country. As our Tribal Colleges and Universities face even more drastic underfunding, this moment presents an opportunity for the philanthropic sector to uplift critical community development initiatives.
Join us for a very special conversation featuring Dr. Shelly C. Lowe (Navajo Nation), President of the Institute of American Indian Arts; Doris Tinsley (Shinnecock), Co-Founder of Native Americans in Higher Education and Mentorship; Julie Garreau (Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe), CEO of the Cheyenne River Youth Project; and Tracy L. Canard Goodluck (Oneida Nation of Wisconsin/Mvskoke Creek), Executive Director of the Center for Native American Youth at the Aspen Institute as they share how philanthropy can better support thriving Native communities through sustainable education and guidance grounded in our cultural values and traditions.
NAP is also excited to announce the return of Junior Moderators in each of our Member Education Sessions this year! Anagali Duncan (Cherokee Nation) will be joining this broadcast to help guide our conversation.

2026 Creating Change Conference
2026-01-21 - 2026-01-25 | Washington, D.C., Washington, DC, United States
Hosted by the National LGBTQ Task Force, this conference is the nation’s foremost political, leadership, and skills-building gathering for the LGBTQ movement. The event features a mix of day-long institutes, keynote presentations, annual awards and more than 100 workshops & caucuses.

National Congress of American Indians' (NCAI) 82nd Annual Convention & Marketplace
2025-11-16 - 2025-11-21 | Seattle Convention Center, Seattle, WA, United States
Tribal leaders, NCAI members, Native youth and allies from across Indian Country will gather to tackle critical issues, strategize for the future and strengthen nation-to-nation relationships. Additionally, attendees can browse a variety of booths ranging from Native artists to federal job recruiters and much more at this unique opportunity to connect, collaborate & contribute.

CHANGE Philanthropy 2025 UNITY Summit
2025-10-27 - 2025-10-30 | Minneapolis, MN, Minneapolis, MN, United States
For nearly a decade, CHANGE Philanthropy has sponsored this Summit, a critical space where funders, organizers and community leaders unite to strengthen our movements, increase investments in our communities and support the philanthropic sector to meet the moment. The challenges we face are immense, but so is the power we hold when we come together. This is a space to strategize, build and strive toward justice.

2025 Fall Opportunity Youth Forum (OYF) Convening
2025-10-27 - 2025-10-30 | Aspen Institute – Aspen Campus, Aspen, CO, United States
Hosted by the Aspen Institute Forum for Community Solutions, this invitation-only event brings together site leads, youth leaders, funders and national partners across sectors to promote innovations and movement-building efforts. For over a decade, the the Forum’s biannual convenings have been a cornerstone of this national learning community, highlighting local practices in the spring and focusing on national strategies each fall.

6th Annual Indigenous Children, Youth & Families (ICYF) Conference
2025-10-15 - 2025-10-16 | https://www.cnay.org/event/6th-annual-indigenous-children-youth-families-icyf-conference/
Hosted by the Washington State Department of Children, Youth & Families’ Office of Tribal Relations, this FREE public virtual event brings together staff, Tribal partners and community members under the theme Restoring Balance: Healing Ourselves and Strengthening Our Communities. Sessions will be led by national experts and state Tribal leaders on child welfare, juvenile justice, early learning and culturally-grounded programming.
The agenda features advocates and educators from the fields of Indian Child Welfare, Juvenile Justice and Early Learning. Hear about innovative programming and research from nationally recognized organizations such as the National Native Children’s Trauma Center, Indigenous Justice Circle, and CNAY.

56th Annual NIEA Convention & Trade Show
2025-10-08 - 2025-10-11 | Spokane Convention Center, Spokane, WA, United States
The National Indian Education Association (NIEA) brings together thousands of educators, students, Tribal leaders and advocates to advance the future of Native education. This year’s theme, Empowering Sovereignty: Our Legacies, Our Futures, highlights culture, language and community through keynotes, workshops and cultural events.
