Media Mentions

Interview / Video, Native News Online

Next on Native Bidaské: Zianne Richardson Reflects on America250 Through a Native Lens

2026 Champion for Change Zianne Richardson was interviewed by the editor of NNO for his weekly livestream series, focused on the semiquincentennial.

America 250, Champions for Change, Fellows, Haliwa-Saponi

Article / Interview, Washington Post, Washington, DC

Three words in the Declaration of Independence paint a cruel picture of Natives

McKaylin Peters [2026 Champion for Change] still recalls when she first heard the words merciless Indian savages. “I was upset. It just rolled off her tongue very easily,” recalled Peters. “It seemed like no one else was shocked except for us, the Indigenous students in the classroom. We were like, ‘Did she really just say that?’”

It wasn’t until [Tracy Canard Goodluck] was a student at Dartmouth College, she said, that she fully understood the context of the description. She was angry, but the new knowledge also awakened in her a passion for educating others about Indigenous history and mistreatment. “It shouldn’t just be about White history,” she said. “It should be about all history — the good, the bad and the ugly.”

Champions for Change, Fellows, Staff, Menominee Indian Tribe, Mvskoke Creek, Oneida Nation of Wisconsin

Article, UNITY

Congratulations to the 2026 class of changemakers, visionaries, and future leaders!

CNAY Fellow Reg Macarro and Champion for Change Summer Wildbill were both profiled as 2026 UNITY 25 Under 25 Native Youth Leaders, each citing their work with CNAY.

California Native Youth Collective, Champions for Change, Fellows, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, Pechanga Band of Indians

Press Release, The Aspen Institute, Colorado

2026 Aspen Ideas: Health Fellows

CNAY’s YAB President, Katie Lynch, was announced as part of the 2026 Aspen Ideas: Health Fellow cohort, a group of emerging health leaders selected for their innovative work, inspired accomplishments and ability to transform ideas into action.

Champions for Change, Youth Advisory Board, Board, Fellows, Staff, Youth

Article, Yale University, Connecticut, Hawaii

Twelve seniors receive Yale College’s top student prizes

Joshua Ching of Ezra Stiles College graduates cum laude with distinction in both his majors: Ethnicity, Race, and Migration and Political Science. He has been a steadfast advocate for Pasifika and Indigenous communities at Yale, advancing cultural representation, education, and dialogue across campus.

Beyond Yale, Joshua has supported Native youth through the Center for Native American Youth [2025 Champion for Change, 2026 YAB Vice President] and contributed to legal access initiatives in Hawai‘i.

Champions for Change, Youth Advisory Board, Fellows, Youth, Kanaka Maoli, Kanaka Oiwi

Article / Interview, Underscore Native News, New York, Oregon

Umatilla NYU Student Building Financial Literacy App

Summer Wildbill is tackling financial literacy, starting with an app she is developing with the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation’s Nixyáawii Community Financial Services. She hopes other Native youth can use it to feel empowered when it comes to their own finances.

Though still in undergrad, her career thus far has focused on economic development — through a study abroad program in Argentina, an internship with the United Nations and as a 2026 Champion for Change through the Center for Native American Youth, focusing her project on financial literacy. She was also a 2024 Remembering our Sisters Fellow.

Champions for Change, Fellows, Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation

News Roundup, Ka Wai Ola, Hawaii

Toves Named a Champion for Change

News Briefs: Kaylah Toves from Oʻahu has been named one of six 2026 Champions for Change – a Native youth leadership initiative of CNAY designed to highlight positive stories of impact from Indigenous communities.

Champions for Change, Fellows, Acoma Pueblo, Kanaka Maoli

Article, Native News Online

Cheyenne River Youth Project Creates Leadership Pathway for Local Teens

Cowins is not the only young adult following the YEI pathway from internships to leadership roles. A fellow trainee from his cohort, Wambli Gleska Quintana, was selected from a nationwide pool of applicants to join the 2024 Champions for Change team — created by the Center for Native American Youth, a policy program of the Aspen Institute — and also won a prestigious Gates Scholarship.

Champions for Change, Fellows, Cheyenne River Sioux

Interview / Podcast, Native News Online

Language as a Lifeline: Moses Wiseman on Normalizing Yup’ik

Next on Native Bidaské, host Levi Rickert sits down with Moses Wiseman, a 24-year-old visionary recently named a 2026 Champion for Change by the Aspen Institute. As the Director of the Alaska Native Languages Program at the Alaska Institute for Justice, Wiseman is proving that language revitalization belongs in the ER just as much as it belongs in the classroom.

Champions for Change, Fellows, Village of Chefornak

Article / Interview, Native News Online

Cornell University told her Ōlelo Hawaiʻi did not meet language requirements to graduate. She pushed back, and won.

Kaylah Toves took her own advice and stood up for herself. The senior at Cornell University faced pushback when she recently petitioned the institution to accept Ōlelo Hawaiʻi as her second language required to graduate.

“I made sure to petition for why I believe I deserve to have Ōlelo recognized as my language proficiency here on campus. It ended up working, even though my advisors had told me otherwise,” she told [Cultivating Culture].

Champions for Change, Fellows, Acoma Pueblo, Kanaka Oiwi