Last summer, the Portland City Council approved a plan to distribute $114 million in federal CARES Act relief to the community. City Council allocated $3 million to be awarded as block grants to community nonprofits targeting hard-to-reach entrepreneurs. NAYA, in partnership with the Oregon Native American Chamber (ONAC), was selected as a block grant recipientView Article >
The Urban Land Institute (ULI) Terwilliger Center for Housing has named Nesika Illahee, a 59-unit affordable housing development in Northeast Portland owned and developed by Community Development Partners (CDP) and Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA), as the winner of its Jack Kemp Excellence in Affordable and Workforce Housing Awards 2020 Chairman’s Award. NesikaView Article >
Ballots for the November election are on their way! NAYA’s Civic Engagement Department has been hard at work hosting events and developing materials to help you feel best prepared to exercise your right to vote. First of all, here is a list of all Multnomah County ballot measures the NAYA Board of Directors has endorsed.View Article >
Fresh off the success of opening the historic Nesika Illahee affordable housing development, the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) has again partnered with Community Development Partners (CDP) and the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians (Siletz Tribe) to break ground on its latest project, Mamook Tokatee. Mamook Tokatee, a Chinook Wawa phrase for “makeView Article >
For Indigenous business owners and aspiring Native entrepreneurs in Portland, it often feels like there is a continuous stream of programs, resources, events, and networks to connect with to launch and run a successful business. This is no coincidence. It’s a direct result of an ongoing partnership between the Oregon Native American Chamber (ONAC)—a Portland non-profit thatView Article >
By Many Nations Academy Principal Lisa Otero One thing is for certain, we will never forget the year 2020. For staff at NAYA’s high school—Many Nations Academy—it has been a year of adapting, building, creating, and coming together in service to our students and their families. March 13th hit us hard. It was the lastView Article >
Have a dream of starting your own business? Perhaps you have an idea for a side source of income? NAYA is currently enrolling new participants for our fall Microenterprise class, starting in September and running through November. Class graduate and business owner of Golden Tradition Saffron Tanya Golden shared her thoughts on the course, stating, “I absolutely amView Article >
In just a few short years, Troy Douglass, Grand Ronde, has cemented his place as one of Portland’s most visible Native-owned business owners. Influencer, entrepreneur, and innovator, Douglass and his Cultural Blends line of clothing have become fixtures in the Pacific Northwest Indigenous community. Douglass has participated in NAYA’s Microenterprise Program as well as theView Article >
The NAYA Family Center campus will be closed to all essential staff that had been reporting to work until Wednesday, July 29, 2020. One of our essential staff has tested positive for COVID-19. Thankfully, NAYA developed a plan for such an incident months ago, and implementation of that plan is underway. The center is undergoingView Article >
A silver lining during this time of COVID-19 is the launching of BaDundle Baby, an online shop featuring sustainable second-hand baby clothes shipped like new in a reusable tote without any disposable packaging! The brainchild of twin sisters Nisha Supahan and Elaina O’Rourke from the Karuk Tribe in California and their husbands, the company offers delivery of baby clothes, sized 0-2T,View Article >