UNITY Youth Highlight
November brought Katy Johnston into three different settings for learning and leadership: the White House Tribal Youth Forum, the National Congress of American Indians convention, and a Walk for Water event with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Her report connected national conversations with an issue rooted in her own home valley.
Johnston, a member of the Bishop Paiute Tribe, served as Female Co-President of UNITY’s 2023–2024 National UNITY Council Executive Committee cohort. The cohort represents Native youth, connects regional councils and individual members, and supports leadership through cooperation and service. As co-president, she brought that youth leadership perspective into spaces where people were discussing community priorities at different scales.
At the White House Tribal Youth Forum in Washington, D.C., Johnston valued the presenters, conversations, and opportunities to connect. Returning to the forum allowed her to continue learning alongside other Native youth and people working on issues affecting their communities.
Her next experience, NCAI in New Orleans, broadened her view of leadership gatherings. “I’ve always just been able to go to youth conferences so to be able to see what the adults do and we do at conferences are so similar!” she wrote.
That comparison is an important part of her reflection. Conferences create space for relationships, shared concerns, and learning, whether participants are beginning their leadership journey or already carrying established responsibilities. Johnston could recognize practices familiar from youth organizing in a broader tribal leadership setting.
Closer to home, the Walk for Water event shifted her attention to the water connected with her valley. She described enjoying the opportunity to learn more about where that water came from through the LADWP event. The experience linked environmental learning with a place and community meaningful to her.
Together, the three activities connected several areas of UNITY’s work: youth voice, social development, leadership, and respect for the natural world. Johnston’s account shows learning moving in both directions—outward through national gatherings and back toward the relationships and resources of home.
“It was a grateful month <3,” she shared. Behind that brief reflection was a month of listening, making connections, and considering how the experiences of a young co-president relate to the future of her community.
