Simply find the best possible online shopping Native Youth deals
Shop Native Youth products and compare prices and listings on popular online marketplaces.
John Spence assists a rider with the stirrups on a saddle during a demonstration of Native equine therapy at powwow grounds in the Grand Ronde Valley. (Elyse Wild/Native News Online)
BEAVERTON, Ore. — On a hot July morning, Dr. John Spence stands outside of an equestrian training arena, watching a 15-year-old boy lead a caramel-colored horse around an obstacle course marked by bright orange cones.
Spence, a citizen of the Gros Ventre tribe and tribal consultant for the Native American Rehabilitation Association of the Northwest, or NARA NW, is lean and strong at 83 years old. He wears sunglasses, a cowboy hat, cowboy boots, and a black T-shirt that reads, "I am worthy."
The horse swishes its coarse black tail as it walks gently behind the teenager, who is wearing an oversized white hoodie despite the triple-digit heat. Half a dozen other teenage boys stand in the arena, waiting their turn. Some shuffle their feet, their hands shoved in their pockets. A 16-year-old wearing long basketball shorts, a wide-brimmed baseball hat over his dark curls, and tattoos on his forearms calls out, "Nice job, man."
Spence leans forward, his smile widening.
"Look at that," Spence says quietly. "The horse won't…
Voter turnout among Native American communities is growing — and California organizers are working to build a network of engaged young people throughout the state.
"I realized that it's not just presidential elections that define the lay of the land for my community, the state, the country," said Maya Sanchez, a youth organizer with California Native Vote Project. "There's local elections. There's people that we put in power that I actually could go and meet… this is where real change can happen today.”
LA’s Native youth are building power through community
The nonprofit, founded months ahead of the 2016 election, focuses on increasing political power in Native American communities throughout the state. Despite recent growth, Native American election participation nationally still trails the overall population and other ethnic groups.
“There are some of us out there that don't even believe in this voting system because of all the historical trauma that there is with the U. S. government,” Sanchez said. “We're trying…