About us

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Portland’s Native Community in 50 Years

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The Portland region has a large, growing, and proud Native community grounded in our traditional worldview. Our united and connected community celebrates our multicultural and multi-tribal heritage as a source of strength. Our healthy community understands the connection between our environment, our culture, our spirituality, and our wellness. Our economically secure families thrive and live in homes that provide stability and a place to practice culture and connection to community. Our successful businesses support the entire Native community and its prosperity.

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NAYA Family Center in 2061

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Guided by our Elders and trusted by the community, NAYA creates a place for our people to gather together and live the values of our own unique cultures. When the Native community thrives, so does the entire Portland region. NAYA offers a wide array of comprehensive services and community-based solutions, including lifelong educational opportunities, cultural identity, leadership development, Elder support, homes for families, early childhood programs, and paths to financial security based on traditional tribal values. We are committed to eliminating poverty, hunger, family violence, and homelessness. NAYA actively seeks new ideas and embraces thoughtful risks. NAYA is an urban center building strong partnerships and authentic relationships with tribes, organizations, communities of color, and our neighbors throughout the region. NAYA is led by a board of directors that reflects the Native community, and all strategic decisions made throughout the organization are youth centered, family driven and Elder guided.

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2023 – 2028 Strategic Plan

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NAYA’s 2023 – 2028 Strategic Plan was adopted by the NAYA Board of Directors in June 2023 and launched in July 2023. Through a robust community engagement process, we gathered input and feedback from more than 100 individuals, including staff, program participants, funders, partners, and board members. The plan’s goals, strategies, and objectives reflect our community’s feedback and aspirations for NAYA’s future.

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HOW WE WORK

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The NAYA Family Center’s core values are a representation of how we do our important work for the community. NAYA is always improving how we do our work, and we have continued to refine these definitions since they were first determined by our community in 2003. To honor the Chinook people, on whose traditional lands our work is based, we first present our Values in Chinook, with translations, followed by our official English definition.

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RESPECT - Kimtǝks kʰanawi tilixam - “Respect all people”

• We believe in individual responsibility to show love, acceptance, and kindness to everyone.

BALANCE - Munk pus wik t’ux̣ǝlqa-hayásh, wik t’ux̣ǝlqa-hayú - “Make it so that it isn’t too large (or too important)”

• We value the importance of maintaining the many interrelated parts of our lives and adapting to bring together old and new ways.

PRIDE - Nanich kwanisim sax̣ali - “Look perpetually up”

• We show our pride by honoring our ancestors and our heritage, feeling good about ourselves and our people, and taking care of each other.

GIVING - Munk k’ilapay-palach: “Do return-giving"

• We practice the value of generosity by putting the community before the individual and honoring each other through service and respect.

COMMUNITY - Łush kʰanawi kaku-ixt ntsayka - “We should all be as one”

• We value the interconnection that we have with each other, our environment, and our shared traditions. We work collectively to honor the needs of the community rather than the individual to create a safer environment of caring, communication, and respect.

TRADITION - Kimtǝks ul-la - “Respect ‘old law’”

• We follow the practice of honoring and passing on our ancestors’ teachings. We believe all tribes and cultures bring valuable and important contributions to our community.

KINDNESS - Munk ɬush–tǝmtǝm kʰapa kʰanawi-ɬaksta - “Make a good heart to everybody”

• We are mindful of how we relate and how our behaviors affect others. We strive to live in a compassionate, gentle, caring, and trustworthy way toward one another and our community.

ACCOUNTABILITY - Munk pus hilu-ipset-tǝmtǝm - “Make it so that there is no hidden-heartedness"

• We own our responsibility for our actions and the results of those actions. We are responsible for how we speak to and relate with each other, and we admit it when we make mistakes.

DIVERSITY - Kimtǝks x̣luyma-tilixam - “Respect unlike people”

• We embrace the diversity of our community and practice openness, pride, and sharing to honor our differences.

LEADERSHIP - Munk kakwa tayi-tilixam - “Be/do like a leader”

• We value and encourage the many kinds of leadership that we can exhibit. We promote the growth of all the many positive forms of leadership that our community exhibits.

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