Raising Healthy Native Youth Through Culturally Relevant Health Education
HealthyNativeYouth.org contains health promotion curricula and resources for American Indian and Alaska Native youth. The site is designed for tribal health educators, teachers, and parents – providing the training and tools needed to access and deliver effective, age-appropriate programs.
The Healthy Native Youth website was produced in collaboration by the Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board, the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium, the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, Inc., and the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.
To design the site, they teamed up with adolescent health colleagues and stakeholders across Indian Country to build connections and gain insights based on their experience. The team brainstormed strategies to support the dissemination of culturally-appropriate sexual health programs to AI/AN youth. The Healthy Native Youth website emerged from this year-long planning process.
According to the 2010 US Census, approximately 5.2 million self-identified American Indian/Alaska Natives (AI/ANs) live in the U.S., of whom 2 million qualify for federal services.
"American Indians as sovereign nations need partners outside of Indian Country. One of the most important aspects of nation building is the careful cultivation of allies."