Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) Fellowship: California Native Youth Collective Grant

The Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) Fellowship empowers Native youth leaders aged 18-24 through tailored training in sovereignty, leadership, and advocacy. It provides resources for community action projects and fosters intergenerational learning. The program includes three distinct cohorts focusing on environmental stewardship, advocacy for missing and murdered Indigenous people, and policy networking. Over nine months, participants enhance their skills and amplify their voices, becoming engaged community advocates while forming a supportive network.

Founded in 2011, the Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) at the Aspen Institute is a national education and advocacy organization that works alongside Native youth — ages 24 and under — on reservations, in rural villages and urban spaces across the country to improve their health, safety and overall well-being.
CNAY Fellowships
The Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) Fellowship is a program for aspiring Native youth leaders (18-24) looking to make an impact in their communities. CNAY provides tailored sovereignty, leadership and advocacy trainings, unique opportunities for education and knowledge sharing, and micro-grant support to complete a community action project of Fellows’ choosing.
CNAY supports youth-led change through a culturally-grounded, sovereignty-minded curriculum, intergenerational learning space and promotion of policy change at the tribal, local, state and national level. Fellows work alongside community members, like-minded organizations and peers to grow as individuals and in their cohorts – confident in their abilities, grounded in their culture, and rooted in Indigenous ways of knowing and being.
While all 2026 Fellows will engage in a shared, core curriculum – inclusive of trainings pertaining to sovereignty and governance, financial literacy, media and more – the bulk of their fellowship will be divided into three distinct cohorts, each focused on a different issue area:
Brave Heart: providing pathways for Native youth leaders to enhance their skills as protectors of our lands, waterways and sacred sites, and stewards for food sovereignty.
California Native Youth Collective: creating a policy advocacy network and cross-sector platform for Native youth in California.
CNAY Fellowships: California Native Youth Collective
The California Native Youth Collective (CNYC) is a network of youth leaders (ages 18-24) from across the state eager to hone their leadership skills, amplify their voices, and advocate for their communities at the local, tribal, state and national level. Over the course of 9 months, the Center for Native American Youth (CNAY) provides opportunities for CNAY Fellows on the CNYC track to engage in leadership training, develop interventions to improve outcomes in their communities and provide input on policy.
All applicants, regardless of acceptance, become part of the CNAY network and remain engaged with our community.

Eligibility

Self-identify as Native or Indigenous;
Are between the ages of 18 and 24 years old on March 1, 2026; and
Currently reside in California.