SANTA ANA PUEBLO - U.S. Senator Tom Udall and Notah Begay III, founder of the Notah Begay III Foundation, welcomed Native tribal leaders, health and wellness practitioners and youth to a roundtable discussion focused on Native youth health and wellness. Together they shared their perspectives on how to address the health and wellness challenges facing Native youth and also listened to attendee solutions and perspectives. In the end, prevention, accountability, measureable impact, investment and leadership priorities were among the top themes shared by participants.
"Access to good health care - and health education - is key to ensuring Native youth can focus in school and access opportunities to build a strong future," Senator Udall said. "We must ensure Native communities have affordable health care not just to treat illness, but to prevent it. There is much we can do - and must do - including expanding broadband Internet to provide telehealth service to underserved rural and Native American communities."
"1 out of 2 Native children born since 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime," said Notah Begay III. "If we do not fundamentally address this preventable disease, unfortunately we all know how this story will end."
The time is now to help Native kids live healthy!
"The challenges facing many young Native Americans are great, but none is more fundamental than health problems which have their root cause in poor nutrition and lack of physical activity," said Notah Begay III.
With passion in their voices, each committed to continue to support Indian Country in its efforts to address Native youth health and wellness. Senator Udall called for a "Marshall plan for children" that invests in programs to help lift New Mexico kids out of poverty. Udall has introduced a bill to do this, called the Saving Our Next Generation - or SONG - Act, which will support full funding for anti-poverty programs that work, including Medicaid, Head Start, child nutrition, home visiting services, and pre-school. Udall is also pushing for full funding for the Indian Health Service and the Bureau of Indian Education.
About Senator Udall
Tom Udall is New Mexico's senior senator and serves on the Senate Committee on Indian Affairs. He has earned a reputation as a principled leader who has the integrity to do what is right for New Mexico and our nation. Tom began serving as United States Senator in 2009, after two decades of public service as U.S. Representative and New Mexico's State Attorney General.
In addition to the Committee on Indian Affairs, Senator Udall serves on four other Senate committees: Appropriations, Foreign Relations, Commerce, and Rules and Administration.
Senator Udall has introduced several bills along with Senator Martin Heinrich to improve health and education in Tribal communities.
The Native Language Immersion Student Achievement Act creates a new grant initiative to establish or expand Native language immersion programs. The grants will support the revitalization and maintenance of Tribal languages while increasing educational opportunities for Native American students. The Esther Martinez Native American Languages Preservation Act would also provide grants to Native American language educational organizations to preserve disappearing Native languages in Indian Country. Senators Udall and Heinrich have also collaborated on the Building Upon Unique Indian Learning and Development (BUILD) Act to remove barriers that tribal leaders often encounter in teaching Native languages at school, improve on existing programs and partnerships, and create new incentives to encourage educational success throughout Indian Country.
About Notah Begay III Foundation
The NB3 Foundation is the only national Native American nonprofit organization solely dedicated to reversing childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes among Native children. Our founder, Notah Begay III (Navajo/San Felipe/Isleta Pueblo) is a 4-time PGA TOUR winner and the only full-blooded Native American to play on the PGA Tour. He is currently a TV Golf Analyst for NBC Sports and the Golf Channel.
To date, NB3 Foundation has served over 24,000 Native children and families in 14 states. In the last three years, NB3F has awarded more than $1.8 million in grants to tribal communities to support childhood obesity and type 2 diabetes prevention. NB3 Foundation has also invested more than $7 million in direct service programming, including nutrition education, food access pilot projects, community garden and traditional foods projects, evidence-based sport programming, physical activity/sports camps and clinics, technical assistance to tribal communities and nonprofits, and research and evaluation work. (www.nb3foundation.org)
