NativeLove: Update from Youth and Advocate Training at the Burns Pauite Tribal Nation in Oregon
NativeLove was born in 2013. The project started as a partnership between the Indian Law Resource Center, Inc. and NIWRC, Inc. with the consultant support of Buffalo Nickel Creative. As we grew, NIWRC also partnered with Verizon to continue building youth-to-youth bridges to raise awareness and end dating violence by empowering youth to redefine NativeLove. Great news: NIWRC has been refunded by Verizon for the 2017 NativeLove Project!
These past years, we have marched with tribal communities to end sexual assault, stood in solidarity with tribal communities healing from tragic youth suicides, provided technical assistance to youth in unhealthy relationships, conducted national youth ambassador-lead workshops, among many other activities. We closed out last year with the three-day Domestic Violence Awareness Month (DVAM) tribal training on the beautiful tribal lands of the Northern Paiute in Burns, Oregon, by conducting a site visit with educators and advocates, a one-on-one emerging youth and domestic violence advocate session, a Criss Cross Applesauce NativeLove Workshop with 2- to 7-year-olds, and held a NativeLove community announcement at the annual traditional community powwow. The team was present for the crowning of the annual Princess/Queen ceremony (where the dignitary crowning the Princess/Queen wore a NativeLove shirt for the ceremony), and lastly at the close of the community event weekend and powwow, held the first NativeLove Youth Contest Powwow Dance (ages 2 to 19 with first-, second-, and third-place winners).
What we learned: It is their time in history, the validation of youth experiences, the calls to action
from youth voices that create opportunities for the next generation to end violence and crisis in our communities. What are youth needs? We heard action plans on ending bullying and teen dating violence, and raised overall community support for what is important to them. If we can focus on supporting youth to build bridges across populations and within their own student body, we can guide their peer-to-peer action through activism, story-telling, and mentoring.
In the month of February, for Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (TDVAM), the NativeLove team will conduct various TDVAM activities, including the official launch of the 2017 NativeLove Project. Activities will include the NativeLove Youth Challenge, free printable and customizable posters, social media campaigns, FAQ sheets and toolkits, tribal school and tribal community site visits, TA & Training, school- based assemblies, and various mini-campaigns, as well as video projects and an audio library. We will also have mini-campaigns such as the TDVAM Healthy Communities Activity, “Inspiring Young Native Women” Nomination Campaign, for which tribal communities can nominate young women to be celebrated for their contemporary, traditional, academic, athletics, environmentalism, or youth activism promoting healthy relationships. These nominations will be highlighted across our networks and social media to honor Native girls and young women who make healthy and positive changes within their communities. This activity also includes participants honoring Native women of the past celebrating their impact on their community.
