Although Indian Youth of America (IYA) was not incorporated until 1978, its work began in the summer of 1976 with an inter-tribal youth camp held on the Warm Springs Reservation in Oregon. Patricia Trudell Gordon, a Santee Sioux, founded the youth camp with the assistance of the American Indian Lawyer Training Program of Oakland, California. By the end of the first summer, Ms. Gordon had clearly in mind a design for a comprehensive Indian youth organization that would be dedicated to improving the lives of Indian children nationwide. The spirit of the first camp is conveyed by its name “Ny-Mu-Mah” which means “we are all one people.” Indian Youth of America was born out of that spirit and continues today.
