Native Youth Crisis
Native American Youth have higher rates of suicide than any other ethnicity. With some tribes having a rate 10 times higher than the national average. In 2015, the Oglala Lakota tribe on the Pine Ridge Reservation declared a state of emergency after a string of youth suicides.
This is particularly close to home for me, as I’m Oglala Lakota, but also because I lost my brother to it.
This is why I want to bring hope to the youth in Native Communities.
Native Americans are forgotten in the media, and that has real consequences. Without it, you feel alone, you feel like you don’t matter. It was hard growing up without any role models, without any example or idea of what I could grow up to be. But now I have the opportunity to show other Native kids that there is hope. Even though the world ignores us, we're still out there, and our cultures still going strong.
But the most important message that I want to convey is that being Native American is beautiful, our culture is beautiful, and we should all be proud to be Native American.
Emotional Care Packages
This is Native Youth Suicide prevention, but more broadly it's designed to provide role models and help Native kids love themselves and their culture. This is for every Native child, because all of them deserve to love themselves and be proud of their culture. |
Bear Program
