National Indian Youth Leadership Project
Grants Awarded
Project Venture is a culturally-informed, outdoor youth development program that empowers American Indian youth by fostering positive self-concepts, social skills, and decision-making abilities through adventure-based learning and community service. By focusing on strengths, the program has shown significant success in reducing risky behaviors and enhancing positive developmental outcomes among participants, ultimately benefiting both the individuals and their local communities. With direct services for around 1,000 youth and support for over 90 replication sites, Project Venture contributes to a healthier and more resilient future for American Indian communities.
NIYLP seeks funding to implement Project Venture for Indigenous youth in grades 6-8 in McKinley County. This culturally responsive program aims to foster resilience and positive self-concepts in participants through outdoor adventure and traditional learning, ultimately empowering them with enhanced social skills, community engagement, and improved decision-making abilities that benefit both the youth and the wider community.
Project Venture is a culturally guided, outdoor experiential youth development program designed to foster positive outcomes among participants by employing traditional American Indian learning methods and community service. By focusing on strengths, the program helps youth enhance their self-concept, social skills, and decision-making abilities, ultimately promoting resilience and a strong sense of community engagement.
The National Indian Youth Leadership Project (NIYLP) is a New Mexico-based, Indigenous-led 501(c) 3 nonprofit organization working over 34 years to develop healthy Indigenous communities through delivering positive youth development programs. Our mission is to help Indigenous youth to embrace their potential through outdoor adventure and service. NIYLP is a national leader in the field of experiential education and Indigenous positive youth development. NIYLP’s flagship program, Project Venture, is an evidence-based, culturally guided, outdoor experiential youthdevelopment program that promotes positive outcomes in outdoor adventure-based, experiential settings using traditional Indigenous modes of learning and culturally meaningful community service activities. Project Venture is a comprehensive model that addresses the health and wellness of middle school youth through engaging their minds, bodies and spirits. The program relies on Indigenous traditional values to help youth develop positive self-concepts, effective social skills, community service ethic, internal locus of control, resiliency, and increased decision-making and problem-solving skills. In 2007 the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) awarded Project Venture evidence-based status based on consistently outstanding evaluation data that demonstrated statistically significant outcomes around reducing or preventing high-risk behaviors in Indigenous middle school students. Evaluation outcomes show reductions in risky behaviors including substance abuse, teen pregnancy, violence, depression, and anxiety; and increases in positive youth development indicators including those related to competency, connection, character, caring, confidence, and contribution. SAMHSA’s 2004 National Study of High Risk Youth identified Project Venture as the most effective intervention for Indigenous youth in this study of 48 youth prevention programs. Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP) Crime Solutions database lists Project Venture as a promising program for the prevention of alcohol and substance abuse and delinquent behavior in Indigenous youth. NIYLP provides direct services to youth in New Mexico, Arizona, and South Dakota, and capacity building training and guidance to Project Venture replication sites nationally and internationally. Over three-decades NIYLP has served thousands of Indigenous and at-risk youth in more than 90 replication sites across 25 states, Canada, Jamaica, and Europe.NIYLP has received many accolades over our long history. Among the more recent recognitions, the Association for Experiential Education awarded Project Venture Program of the Year in 2021. NIYLP was recognized in the Canadian Parliament as an organization having a positive impact on Indigenous youth. Two Indigenous communities (Pine Ridge Reservation and the Pikangikum First Nation (Ojibwe) in Ontario) whose youth have been experiencing especially devastating challenges showed zero suicides after five years of Project Venture programming. NIYLP is a featured trainer on Indigenous positive youth development in SAMHSA’s National Network to Eliminate Disparities in Behavioral Health’s (NNED) annual NNEDLearn. Almost 90% of NIYLP staff are Indigenous.