Services

Youth services

NAYA Family Center provides academic and social opportunities to grade school, middle school, and high school students to help them reach their full potential through academically rigorous learning opportunities and culturally specific programming.

Individual student advocacy

Student services brings parents, students, educators, and service providers together through case management and advocacy.

Tutoring center

Tutors provide help in all academic subjects, as well as in GED preparation. A networked computer lab is also available to assist students with homework and research projects. Additional high school activities include dances, college visitations, life-skills workshops, portfolio and résumé workshops, and scholarship/financial aid application assistance.

Native clubs are located in several area schools.

Seasonal programming and camps

The Summer Institute provides an opportunity for high school students to earn high school and college credit by successfully completing math, science, culture, and other college-level courses. The Math and Science Augmentation Program (MASAP) offers students entering the 5th through 8th grades a 5-week summer camp, a 3-day winter camp, and spring break camp focusing on math and science and cultural knowledge.

Cultural arts and recreation program

Cultural arts classes are offered in regalia construction, beading, and Native intertribal dance classes. Sports program activities include basketball teams, sports clinics, and a variety of outdoor club outings such as hiking, rafting, rock climbing, and horseback riding.

Family services

Healing Circle

Healing Circle, a domestic violence prevention program, provides a wide range of services, including immediate crisis intervention services, advocacy and ongoing support, and educational services. The goals of Healing Circle are to keep Native American families safe and to educate our people in an effort to end the silence about domestic and sexual violence. Healing Circle works to reinforce the fact is that domestic violence is not, and has never been, condoned by the Native community.

Foster care

The foster care program provides case management services for Native youth and families in foster or relative care. Guardianship and postadoption services are also available.

Pathways to Adulthood

We can help qualifying youth obtain state and federal assistance. Life-skills workshops, educational advocacy, foster care support meetings, and financial assistance for housing and education are just a few of the services offered. Relationship-building classes are also offered, such as a class on positive Indian parenting.

Community services

The Employment, Housing, and Community Development Department offers the Native community an employment services program, provides limited housing resources, and organizes community-building activities. It also includes the Portland Youth and Elders Council on Poverty Reduction. The goal of the Native Community Employment Services (NCES) program is to increase the economic success of the Native community in Portland. To do this, our program provides opportunities for participants to gain the skills and experience needed to be successful in the workforce.

Participants enrolled in the NCES program complete a personal employment goal plan and attend 8 weeks of employment workshops covering the following: job searching, applications and résumé writing, interviewing, positive professional attitudes and interpersonal communication, time management, and workplace ethics. Work experience and internship opportunities are also available to successful participants. When participants successfully complete the 8 weeks of workshops, they will have set and accomplished goals, built relationships with staff, shown follow-through, and gained specific skills to succeed in the workforce. This is done in ways that incorporate Native learning styles and traditional Native culture to strengthen participants' cultural identity and community pride.