National Indian Youth Leadership Project: Project Venture
National Indian Youth Leadership Project
The National Indian Youth Leadership Project (NIYLP) is a national leader in Indigenous positive youth development and experiential education. Founded and rooted in New Mexico, NIYLP has been working over three decades to help Indigenous youth to embrace their potential through outdoor adventure and service.
NIYLP’s flagship program, Project Venture, is an evidence-based, culturally guided, outdoor experiential youth adventure program that incorporates service learning and peer mentoring and leadership. Project Venture was created under the guidance of Indigenous elders, who emphasized using traditional culture to address contemporary challenges. NIYLP works in partnership with schools to fill a gap in services. Project Venture aims to strengthen and increase protective factors and reduce risk factors that predispose Indigenous adolescents to negative and risky behaviors. Evaluation outcomes show reductions in risky behaviors including substance abuse, teen pregnancy, violence, depression, and anxiety; and increases in positive youth development indicators including those related to competency, connection, character, caring, confidence, and contribution.
Project Venture has been adapted to address opioid use disorder, suicide prevention, HIV/AIDS prevention, teen pregnancy prevention, and transition to adulthood. Our newest adaptation, Project Pre-Venture, connects Indigenous elementary school-aged children to their ancestral traditions around sustainable agricultural practices and the natural world through gardening and other outdoor experiential activities.
NIYLP has served thousands of Indigenous and at-risk youth in more than 90 replication sites across 25 states, Canada, Jamaica, and Europe. Currently, NIYLP provides direct services to about 1,000 young people in three states, with 600 located in New Mexico. NIYLP also provides capacity building training and guidance to 60 Project Venture replication sites nationally and internationally.
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The Santa Fe Community Foundation invited nonprofit partners to submit stories related to its May topic of Mental Health Awareness.
New Mexico Acequia Association
Youth education and outreach are central to the work of the New Mexico Acequia Association. Through these programs, young people engage with their local acequias and build the skills to become future community leaders.
River Source
River Source supports people advancing watershed stewardship to create significant community engagement and long-lasting impacts for intergenerational learning and ecological restoration. We provide science and policy education and the building of watershed and climate resilience in New Mexico. Our goal is to be weavers, bringing together elders, youth, and land managers to spark action for caring for our water, forests, and land and leveraging the full potential of people working together.
The Art of Generosity: Bienvenidos Outreach
The Art of Generosity — our new editorial series with Table Magazine — shines light on the people and organizations strengthening communities across New Mexico. In this first story, we meet Susan Tarver of Bienvenidos Outreach, whose work reflects how compassion, connection, and everyday acts of generosity can help neighbors meet basic needs and build lasting support systems.
