Native youth are gathering at the UNITY headquarters in Mesa, Arizona every week to learn more about Teen Pregnancy Prevention. United National Indian Tribal Youth Inc., also known as UNITY, is in a partnership with the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona to offer  the Native STANDS curriculum centered on health and personal identity. The trainer for the course is Debbie Manuel, Navajo, and Executive Director of the Morning Star Leaders Foundation.

The curriculum was developed by a workgroup that included Native youth, a Native elder, public health and youth development experts, and health curriculum developers. It is designed to meet the needs of today’s Native youth. It honors tradition and culture at the same time that it meets today’s Native youth where they are: walking between two different—but interconnected—worlds. While Native STAND acknowledges that Native youth face many of the same challenges as mainstream youth, it embraces the power of traditional teachings and cultural strengths that Native youth have within themselves and their communities.

While the class is underway, Native youth are still encouraged to sign up. The bi-weekly class, held late afternoons, runs through the first week of July. For more information contact Ron Interpreter at r.interpreter@unityinc.org.