Join us for our upcoming DII trainings! These FREE virtual training workshops - led by Program Coordinator Neely Bardwell - explore the powerful history of Indigenous democracy and how its principles continue to shape community leadership today. ✨
During this session, you’ll:
🔹 Learn how democracy is rooted in Indigenous teachings
🔹 Discover how YOU can create meaningful change in your community
🔹 Get a step-by-step breakdown of applying for CNAY microgrant funding
🔹 Understand how to successfully plan and implement your project after funding
Have an idea for a community event, research project, or initiative that could uplift others? We want to help you to bring it to life.
CNAY is excited to support individuals and organizations committed to making a difference. Whether you’re already involved in community work or just getting started, this workshop will guide you from inspiration → application → action.
Ready to turn your ideas into real impact? Register with the link in our bio🔗
🌎 Where in the World is CNAY?
This spring, we’re traveling coast to coast (and even abroad ✈️) to meet with youth changemakers, likeminded organizations and other partners from throughout Indian Country & beyond. First up: #NAPCON26!
⚡️ Want to join us? Follow along as we share stories and highlights from each stop. If you’ll be nearby, let us know — we’d love to connect! 🔗
#SkollWF #UNPFI #HIPConference2026 #NCAI @nativegiving@skoll.foundation@varevolution250@uset.inc@hipconference@ncai1944
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Featured art by 2025 Creative Native Artist Rulan H. (Chiricahua-Warm Springs Apache, Comanche & Seminole).
Allow us to reintroduce ourselves 🎶
Meet Tracy, Christina, Maria, Katy, Jamie, Tahnee, Samantha, Neely & Alyssa - the aunties behind CNAY (with plenty of help from our amazing consultants, interns & communities)! But enough about us... our passion is all about uplifting YOU - the Native youth who drive all our work.
Want to get more involved? We have tons of opportunities coming up this spring. So stick around! And know we’re always here to answer questions, lend an ear & cheer you on from the sidelines.
🫶🏽 Team CNAY
Today we hear from CNAY Fellow @metzzzli as she shares findings from her research, “10x Red: Exploring MMIW Case Jurisdiction Through a Lens of Trust in Law Enforcement, Sovereignty and Healing.” ❤️
“This issue is far bigger, and one ‘solution’ is not enough to bring justice to these families. We must also examine how communities can begin decolonizing the internal systems contributing to the MMIW crisis.”
Through this work, Metzli highlights the importance of sovereignty, healing and community-centered justice in addressing the ongoing Missing & Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) crisis.
🔗 Read Metzli’s full findings, linked in our bio
❤️🩹 Resources Mentioned:
Dancing for You — Cutcha Risling Baldy
“Saying the Padre Had Grabbed Her”: Rape is the Weapon, Story is the Cure — Deborah A. Miranda
#MMIP #IndigenousJustice #Decolonization #CommunityHealing #IndigenousResearch
United Nations REWIND ⏪ There were so many CNAY youth & alumni faces present at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (#UNPFII). 🇺🇳🌐
Spotted in Lenapehoking (New York City): 2026 Champion for Change @summermag_ , 2025 Brave Heart Fellows @mcrobertslakota & Giselle Alvarez, 2025 Remembering Our Sisters Fellow @carrie.lynn12 , and 2022 Champ @ivyypete w/ @liljoywinder
Meanwhile, 2025 Champ @skeg_komckud spoke on a panel at the Historic Second Global Summit on Indigenous Peacebuilding around Artificial Intelligence Emerging Technologies & Knowledge Protectors & Technology for Peace.
Across the pond, 2019 Champ @charitieropati attended the Skoll World Forum, engaging & advocating on issues around climate change, health, human rights & inequality.
All of us at CNAY are so proud of you & your continued efforts to remind Native youth their voices are needed, especially in spaces like this.
From foster care to advocacy, Native Youth can accomplish anything.
During National Foster Care Month, we’re uplifting @caikat3rine of the Yakama Nation and @pucwah of the Prairie Band Potawatomi & Muscogee Creek Nations, who are are turning lived experience into leadership through the CNAY Fellowship.
In this story from @imprintnews , they share their child welfare journeys, the importance of uplifting Native youth voices & the impact they hope to make in their communities. ❤️🩹✨
Read, share, & support Indigenous youth leadership. Full article linked in bio 🔗
#ICWA #FosterCare #ChildWelfare #NativeYouth
May 5 marks the National Day of Awareness for Missing & Murdered Indigenous Peoples.
Today—and every day—we honor our relatives who deserve justice, even when their stories don’t make headlines.
This work can weigh heavily on the spirit. To stay grounded, we asked the Remembering Our Sisters cohort to share their “why” behind advocating for our stolen relatives.
We carry their voices forward. ❤️ #MMIP #MMIWG2S
The MMIP crisis is not random. It’s rooted in systems that continue to put our communities at risk.
May is Missing & Murdered Indigenous People (MMIP) Awareness Month, which can carry a heavy weight—especially when it often falls on our communities to educate others about a crisis we’re living through.
That’s why we created this guide: to help share the deeper context & make it easier to have these hard conversations.
We’re unpacking three often-overlooked forces behind this ongoing crisis:
📌 Extractive industries & “man camps”
📌 U.S. military presence on Native lands
📌 Supreme Court rulings that weaken Tribal justice systems
Understanding the why is part of protecting our future. Share this to help build awareness & accountability. Visit the link in our bio for a closer look at the sources referenced here.
#MMIPAwareness #May5th #NoMoreStolenRelatives @niwrc@summermag_@fabian_mend0za@lilyjoywinder
Calling all Native youth (18–24): Extended Deadline: May 15
Reframe the story.
Tell the truth.
What were you never taught in school?
📝 Theme: America 250: A Republic Built on Native Land
💰 Prizes: $300 / $200 / $100 + publication
⏳ Extended Deadline: May 15
📩 Submit: [email protected]
🔗 Full rules in bio
#NativeYouth #IndigenousVoices #NativeExcellence #Storytelling #America250 NativeNews EssayContest
Groundbreakers: From Extraction to Restoration — Indigenous Youth Leading Systems Change
🌲 2024 Brave Heart Fellow & current @aspenrisinggen Youth Advisory Council member @sophiaturningrobe (Spokane, Pauquachin First Nation & Siksika) was featured in The GroupChat for #EarthDay, reflecting on youth-led systems change.
Read the full story at the link in our bio 🔗
In honor of Earth Month, we spoke with actor, activist & environmental strategist Cetan Wanbli Williams about integrating traditional ecological knowledge with contemporary conservation practices, what it means to stay grounded in community & the importance of reciprocity with the buffalo.
With the impacts of buffalo removal still felt today, Wanbli offers insight into pathways toward environmental justice. Check out our website to read the full conversation 🔗 Link in bio!
What’s Blooming in Brave Heart Country? 💚 🌲
This #EarthDay, the Brave Heart cohort shares what’s growing around them and in their homelands—offering a glimpse into the plants, traditions & relationships that sustain their communities.
Learn more & get @jeamilettm2024 ’s perspective on practicing environmental work through a lens of both Western science & Indigenous knowledge at the link in our bio 🔗
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The Brave Heart track of the CNAY Fellowship uplifts Native youth from the Pacific Northwest (ages 18–24) as leaders in environmental justice—supporting their work to advance food sovereignty, protect sacred lands & waters, and carry forward Indigenous knowledge for future generations. 🍃
EDIT: the correct spelling on slide 2 is Toipureenah!* our apologies 🫶🏽
