Native American Youth and Family Center
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Mission Statement
The Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) is at the heart of Portland’s Native community, providing culturally-specific services and programming to youth, families, and Elders. Founded by parent and Elder volunteers in 1974, and incorporated as a non-profit in 1994, NAYA provides holistic services to the 40,000 Native Americans in the Portland region, the 9th largest urban Indian community in the country. NAYA's mission is to enhance the diverse strengths of our youth and families in partnership with the community through cultural identity and education. In 50 years of serving our community while sustaining tradition, NAYA has matured into a strong and innovative organization, impacting the lives of more than 10,000 people each year.
About This Cause
NAYA, located at the site of a traditional Chinook fishing village, is a gathering space for the Native American community to sustain tradition together. All programming at NAYA is designed with an indigenous focus provided by the Relational Worldview Model (RWM). The National Indian Child Welfare Agency designed the RWM with a particular focus on helping restore balance to the lives of Native Americans who are accessing social services. The RWM emphasizes that there are four essential areas to life: mind, body, spirit and social context, and that these four areas must be in harmony for a person to grow and thrive. We assess these areas through the use of the Native Assessment Tool (NAT), a holistic survey of individual balance which clients take at six-month intervals to track progress and identify trends, emerging needs and progress. The majority of our service recipients are Native Americans, because our culturally-specific model appeals to Native Americans, who are often less trusting of mainstream service providers and government agencies due to a long history of colonization, betrayal, displacement and genocide. Native Americans benefit greatly from culturally-specific services offered from within the community, and to intentionally attract Native Americans NAYA projects an image of cultural-specific service which the community recognizes as such. Our agency fulfills that role through our diverse range of services and programming. Our building is a designated Safe Space where all people are welcome, without regard to race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion or belief. Our Early College Academy offers programming specifically focused on raising the next generation to be inclusive and respectful of the diversity of identities and experiences in our community; ECA students receive specialized instruction in preventing dating violence, stalking, harassment, bullying and other risky behaviors. NAYA offers a variety of services across a lifetime continuum designed to move a participant from receiving services to being able to give back to the community. Our services are offered through the Relational Worldview Model, an Indigenous lens considering the Mind, Body, Spirit and Social Context of program participants. We operate an alternative high school, the Early College Academy, and support clients, infant to Elder, through Youth Educational Services, Family Services, Community Economic Development, and Community Engagement. Each department provides culturally-specific programming that delivers results based on our mission. The most common demographic of individual participating in our programs is a Native American single mother with an annual income under $15,000, age 25-35, living in Multnomah County. NAYA’s staff is comprised of highly-qualified individuals with more than 90% holding a college degree, and 40% holding a master’s degree. NAYA’s management structure includes five department directors representing program, administrative, and business operations that meet to review financial and program performance. Our management and staff are trained to address direct service needs and have the experience and wherewithal to design and implement changes, adapting to our clients’ evolving needs. Through our evaluative methods, our leadership is able to modify plans, goals, and program structures to best serve our clients with wraparound deliverables that focus on the long-term goal of creating a sustainable, healthy, and engaged Native community. Our short-term strategic plans are to ensure that we are delivering culturally-specific services that impact the everyday needs of our people. In response to disproportionate rates of poverty, homelessness, unemployment, low academic achievement, and high involvement in child welfare affecting our community, NAYA delivers crisis interventions and provides support to an at-risk population. In the medium-term, we see ourselves become proactive rather than reactive, focusing on prevention. We are a unique organization providing a continuum of services for the entire lifespan of an individual, from infant to elder. Long-term strategic plans are at the heart of NAYA deliverables. We will produce a healthier Native community that is youth focused, family driven, and Elder guided. By elevating academic achievements, providing community engagement opportunities, and increasing community assets, NAYA will improve high school graduation rates, access to postsecondary education, and community economic achievement. Native youth and families will overcome a history of poor achievement, redefining success and changing the course of their lives. Our long-term success will reverse the negative trends affecting our community, and set our people on a path to prosperity. NAYA has successfully administered numerous federal, state, local, and private foundation grants, all of which have been completed on schedule and within budget, including meeting stringent reporting requirements unique to each contract. Our annual agency budget is nearing $8 million, including increased financial holdings from community development activities. Such activities include Kah San Chako Haws and Sawash housing developments, an Emerging Community Development Financial Institution to provide small business loans, an Individual Development Account program which matches savings to help build assets, and the private, for-profit enterprises of NAYA Construction and Nawitka Catering which provide internships, resources and support in our community. Across the agency, a strict zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment and hate speech ensures that all staff members, clients and leadership feel accepted and included. The Relational Worldview Model is not exclusive to Native Americans; every service recipient benefits from the balance that the RWM seeks to provide. Native Americans have long suffered from being misidentified, and having our heritage denied, our customs ignored, and our traditions lampooned. For this reason, we acknowledge and celebrate the diversity of our community, to help put a stop to the historical disrespect of many cultures by the mainstream. NAYA’s services are available to all community members, and a significant number of Black, White, Asian and Latino Portlanders access our services.