Tribal Youth Fellowship Project: Empowering Tribal Youth Leadership

The Center for Court Innovation (“the Center”), in partnership with the Institute of Indigenous American Legacy (“I. Am. Legacy”) will develop and administer a Tribal Youth Fellowship Program to train and empower youth leaders to develop solutions to challenges facing tribal youth. Tribal Youth Fellows will work through their fellowship to design and develop a community service program to support tribal youth and address juvenile delinquency. The Tribal Youth Fellowship Program will work to empower Tribal Youth Fellows to by: recruiting, training, and supporting two consecutive cohorts of Tribal Youth Fellows from diverse tribes and regional backgrounds; hosting regional trainings for Tribal Youth Fellows and for local tribal youth; and guiding Tribal Youth Fellows to engage in original research and project design to develop a novel tribal youth prevention or intervention program. At the end of the project, Tribal Youth Fellows will develop materials to support the implementation of their tribal youth program and will engage in presentations with tribal leaders and youth program practitioners to encourage the implementation of their program. The ultimate goal of the Tribal Youth Fellowship Program will be to train and support Tribal Youth Fellows to devise and implement solutions to challenges that are affecting youth today and to center and uplift their voice, decision-making, and agency as empowered tribal youth leaders.