National Indian Youth Council
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| Founded | August 10–13, 1961 Gallup, New Mexico |
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| Founders | Mel Thom (Walker River Paiute) Herb Blatchford (Diné) Shirley Hill Witt (Mohawk) Clyde Warrior (Ponca) Joan Noble (Ute) Bernadine Eschief (Shoshone-Bannock-Pima) Howard McKinley, Jr. (Navajo) Edison Real Bird (Crow) Karen Rickard (Tuscarora) John R. Winchester (Pottawatomie) Viola Hatch (Arapaho) |
| Type | 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization |
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| Mission | To provide and ensure that every Native American person has an equal opportunity to participate, excel and become a viable member and asset to his/her community. By providing access to education, health care, social service, employment, housing, leadership in government and economic development this will insure their dignity and self-respect. |
| Website | www.niyc-alb.org |
With the belief that we can serve a realistic need, the National Indian Youth Council dedicated its activities and projects to attaining a greater future for our Indian People.
The National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) is the second oldest American Indian organization in the United States with a membership of more than 15,000. It was the first independent native student organization, and one of the first native organizations to use direct action protests as a means to pursue its goals. During the 1960s, NIYC acted primarily as a civil rights organization. It was very active in the movement to preserve tribal fishing rights in the Northwest.
In the 1970s NIYC focused on environmental concerns and aided tribes suffering from the adverse effects of contamination from coal strip mining and uranium mining. The NIYC seeks to improve public education and job training for Native Americans, educate the general public about their issues, promote religious freedom, and increase political participation.
The Preamble to the NIYC's Constitution and Statement of Purpose reads:
Now therefore be it resolved, that the National Indian Youth Council endeavors to carry forward the policy of making their inherent sovereign rights known to all people, opposing termination of federal responsibility at all levels, seeking full participation and consent on jurisdiction matters involving Indians, and staunchly supporting the exercise of those basic rights guaranteed American Indians by the statutes of the United States of America.
The National Indian Youth Council (NIYC) was established in 1961 by young American Indians who were either in college or had recently graduated. The NIYC is a result of youths dissenting from tribal leaders, which began during the American Indian Chicago Conference in 1961, where several young American Indians, a handful of who had become acquainted while participating in the Southwest Regional Indian Youth Council, became disillusioned with the tribal leaders.[1]:53-54. After listening to the ideas presented by the conservative faction of the conference, the youth began to express dissenting opinions. This group, including Clyde Warrior (Ponca) and Mel Thom (Walker River Paiute), temporarily called themselves the Chicago Conference Youth Council.[1]:57. Later in the year, after that summer's Workshop on American Indian Affairs had ended, the group that had joined together as the Chicago Conference Youth Council met in Gallup, New Mexico.[5] It was there that the National Indian Youth Council was established. The NIYC is the second oldest national Indian organization and was influenced and aligned with the Civil Rights Movement.
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