Replicating Health and Wellness in New Mexico

Administration for Native Americans Commissioner Lillian Sparks RobinsonBy Lillian Sparks Robinson, Commissioner, Administration for Native Americans

Early in July, over 800 Native American youth from around the country came to Washington, D.C. for the first ever White House Tribal Youth Gathering . The gathered youth met and spoke with Cabinet secretaries, heads of federal agencies, and leaders in the nonprofit and private sectors to address issues of concern to Native American youth. These youth represent the emerging leaders in Indian Country and the next generation to tackle the economic, social, and cultural preservation issues in their communities. This event was part of Generation-Indigenous Initiative (Gen-I), the companion of sorts to the President’s My Brother’s Keeper Initiative.

I was fortunate to participate with one of the youth discussions about culture. Youth shared how important language, culture, and traditions are to their well-being. It was an added bonus to meet youth and their chaperones that worked with or benefited from ANA funded programs in their communities. At the Gathering, I was able to share a report that details many of the youth centered projects ANA has funded and visited over the past 5 years. 

Since 2009, 107 ANA projects have had a strong youth development component, and we have been able to write up reports to Congress on 64 of them.   We’d like to share what one of recently ended grantees accomplished for their young people in their communities and promote a healthy lifestyle

From 2012-2014, the Notah Begay III Foundation, Inc. (NB3) implemented an ANA Social and Economic Development Strategies project with the purpose of creating a replicable model of culturally appropriate, community-driven collaboration and programming to address the epidemics of obesity and type 2 diabetes. NB3 decided to work with the San Felipe Pueblo. This Pueblo, located in New Mexico, suffers from high rates of type 2 diabetes and obesity with 51 percent of elementary school students in the Pueblo were obese or overweight. This is in comparison to the national average of 32 percent.  This health trend puts the youth of San Felipe at a great risk for becoming overweight or obese adults, and lays the groundwork for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease, certain types of cancer, depression, and increased risk of early death.  NB3 partnered with the government of San Felipe to develop tribal programs geared toward reducing and preventing these diseases.

The NB3 project met three objectives to successfully complete the project.  The first was to mobilize 75 community members to develop and implement a community-based action plan focusing on type-2 diabetes and child obesity. The second objective increased the Pueblo’s access to and use of healthy and fresh foods by supporting the introduction of a Mobile Grocery food delivery program.  Finally, this project also expanded the physical fitness opportunities for youth through the NB3Soccer League. 

The youth in the project not only helped educate and encourage their peers in healthy lifestyles, but the benefits carried over to their families.  As one project participant stated, “My [seven year old] daughter asks me, “Can we eat healthy?” And then we go to the grocery store and she knows where everything is and what to get.”

With the end of this project, NB3 is handing over the reins to the San Felipe community, who understands the importance of this project and will continue to sustain the program after the project end date.

This is just one example of the work ANA is doing to support healthy lifestyles for youth while giving them leadership opportunities and empowering them to address issues in their community. We are proud to be highlighting some of the work of Native American communities to support the future generation of Native leadership that mirror the objectives of these important initiatives.