Coyotes Partner with UNITY to Recognize Native Youth Award Winners

As National Native American Heritage Month wrapped up, the Arizona Coyotes partnered with the United National Indian Tribal Youth (UNITY) to recognize the six young Native Americans from Arizona who were named to the charity's 25-under-25 list.
UNITY's mission,
according to its website
, is to foster the spiritual, mental, physical, and social development of American Indian and Alaska native youth, and help build a strong, unified, and self-reliant Native America through greater youth involvement. The charity sought to raise $20,000 on Giving Tuesday, and will continue to accept donations through the end of this week.
That money will be used to fund education and conference registration scholarships, and those interested in donating to UNITY
can do so here
.

The charity, which was founded in 1976, works with Native American youth from ages 14-24, and recognizes 25 individuals every other year to "recognize the amazing work that our Native American youth are doing around the country," according to Mary Kim Titla, UNITY's Executive Director.
Six of the 25 recognized individuals are from Arizona: Jasmine Lemas (18, Gila River Indian Community), Candice Joe (19, Navajo), Elijah Cota (20, Pascua Yaqui), Jovi J. Williams (17, White Mountain Apache Tribe), Lourdes Pereira (21, Hia-Ced O'odham/Tohono O'odham), and Samuel Lopez (19, Tohono O'Odham Nation).

"It's really amazing because we talk about youth being the leaders of tomorrow, but they really are the leaders of today," Titla said. "They are already very active when it comes to advocacy and also coming up with solutions to issues that they are concerned about. We have youth who are already, as teenagers, leading national efforts and bringing awareness to the things that they're passionate about."
The honorees will be recognized at the 2023 Midyear Conference in Tempe, which takes place in late February.
Nadia Rivera, the Coyotes' Chief Impact Officer and Executive Director or Foundation & Community Impact, said the team and Foundation are excited to partner with UNITY given its emphasis on youth leadership.
The ability to help empower Native Youth to make a difference in their communities, which are often disconnected from much-needed support and resources, made it an easy decision.
She said the Coyotes will have a presence at the upcoming conference, and hopes to eventually be able to remain engaged with both UNITY and other charities throughout the year.
Rivera said the impact the youth have in their comminities is immeasurable, and the Coyotes recognized the Arizona recipients on social media earlier this week, and helping to spread the word around UNITY's fundraising efforts.

"This is a community that's very much in need," Rivera said. "Some of these communities need that hope and need those beacons of light. That's what these youth represent. They're the ones who can bring the hope."
Titla, who was once a participant in UNITY and has been involved in the charity for decades, said the recipients from throughout the country were selected based on the work they're doing in their respective communities, which includes creating awareness about a particular platform that they're passionate about.
Honorees either apply or are nominated for the recognition before submitting brief essays about what their passion and how they're working to change their communities.
The end result highlights some of the most dynamic Native American Youth between the ages of 14-24.
"The recipients are all doing amazing work around the country," Titla said. "These leaders make a difference, we know that they can reach their peers better than we can."
Getting young individuals involved also helps bring awareness and remedy problems in a proactive manner, as opposed to reactively addressing issues.
"A lot of these communities are remote, and while there's many much-needed resources that go into them, there's nothing like empowering the youth to help their communities," Rivera said. "It's about getting to them younger so that these problems don't continue so they can break that cycle."

Titla said she's looking forward to a continued partnership with the organization, and said every group that partners with UNITY makes a difference in their mission.
"Native American youth don't always have that access or that opportunity, so when they're able to see that someone cares about them, when an organization like the Arizona Coyotes cares about them, or that these famous hockey players care about them, that really makes a difference," she said. "We are so thankful because it will impact the lives of young people, and in the end it helps us with our goal and our mission, which is to make sure that our youth become happy, healthy and productive."