Native youth leaders push for policies to support their communities

At the Boys & Girls Clubs of America’s 2026 Summit for America’s Youth, a contingent of 22 Boys & Girls Club members representing Native communities traveled to Washington, D.C., to influence nationwide policymaking.

According to a press release from the organization, the group on The Hill included teenagers from the Flathead Reservation and Lake County, Montana; Gila River, Arizona; United American Indian Involvement in California; Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation in Kansas; and Nowata, Oklahoma.

The program involved pairing Native youth with club mentors who supported them in leading service projects throughout the year in their local communities. During their D.C. trip, the participants also spent a week building effective leadership and advocacy skills before applying those skills and their firsthand knowledge to communicate their priorities to congressional officials and staff.

One group member from the Gila River Indian Community worked on addressing substance abuse among Indigenous youth for her project. She collected data about the issue and demonstrated how it intersects with mental health and community challenges that go back through many generations. Her advocacy in D.C. focused on the need for stronger support systems and expanded mental health resources in Indian Country. 

In the press release describing this project and the summit, the Boys & Girls Club wrote, “When Native youth have the opportunity to tell their stories and speak about the issues that matter most to them, powerful things can happen.”