we're also joined by the members of the ncai board including the chairman and lance gum. we're joined by tribal leaders of more than a dozen tribes including timothy belew. leaders and staff of many of our partner organizations are also in the audience today, such as partners from mass ahec, naia and a lot of acronyms. we're honored to be here, to have several important ncai partners from outside indian country to join us jenny baucus from google, pepe from walmart cathy coechin. and we want to recognize our leaders from washington, d.c. native students from george washington american universities, and we have student parties watching across indian country including the arizona state and yale universities. i specially want to thing a moment to thank senator barrasso. as a new chairman of the senate committee on indian affairs, we look forward to continuing our close, working relationship with the senator and his key team. and now it's time for me to be able to introduce the 21st president of the national congress of american indians, bryan clavisde. he was elected in octo

ncai continues to work to convert the policy ideas that inspire and dwoid tribal nations today and to policy advice for the administration and congress. today, as in the past, we are releasing the report called promoting self-determine agent and modernizing the trust relationship. the report outlines our priorities for this year and identifies specific ways the united states can uphold these commitments. i urge all members of congress to read it, review it with your staff. use it as an occasion to continue the necessary conversation about how our nations can move forward together. in the end the relationship that we have inherited, like any good relationship, depends on two things -- respect and trust. here i have a replica wampum belt. the nations of the irkwoi confederacy continue to exchange belts like this one as a sign of peace. this recognizes the sovereignty of nations. from time in memorial we have made treaties among ourselves. treaties with the european nations and treaties with the united states of america. many generations ago we did not share a common language, but we did

we talk about an ncai. my son is on the tribal council. he is a young man who grew up with challenge but while he was getting ready to speak, he said, it is my 15th anniversary. i am now call and drug-free for 15 years today -- alcohol and drug-free. [applause] we have so many young men and women warriors doing so much for indian country. those are the ones. we try to steer away from future leaders. young people are our leaders today. the zen people are leaders today. it is empowering young warrior men to learn how to be big brothers, fathers, powerful rolemodels and their community. there are very strong women leadership roles in our society. i think it is important that we understand we have powerful young people and those are the ones that help us deal with matters like suicide prevention, alcohol and drug abuse because those evils are out there. on the issue of her capital, -- opper capita. for the most part, we educate our young people to deal with those. per capita payments generally are very small. these tribes that you have them ar

and the hands are going up just in atlanta when naga honored our youth at our ncai convention in atlanta, i asked that question. of the parents of the youth that were sitting in that room, there were 2 or 300 in the room and i asked that question, how many of you are breaking the cycle? how many of you are raising your kids in a drug and alcohol-free environment? three-quarters or more in the room raised their hands. so once again, it starts at home. it starts with the person saying, i want my kids to be raised in a better environment than i was raised in and i encourage all the youth that are still waiting to be parents to make that promise today that the way we break historical trauma is breaking the cycle of drug abuse, alcohol abuse and dropout rates. [applause] >> and i'd like to say this. it's been my great-grandfather grandfather's father, i, all abused alcohol. and my two grandkids that are seven and two right now they are the first ones in my family in 100 years to be raised in a home with no drugs, no alcohol, no marijuana, no cigarettes, no crack, no crank, no cocaine, no noth

we are honored to have several importance and ncai partners from outside the government today. we have representatives from google walmart the asian pacific island community and we also want to recognize our future leaders here. we have native students from george washington american university and student parties watching across indian country including arizona state and yale university. i especially want to take a moment to thank senator grasso for taking time out of his busy day to join us and provide the congressional response. as a new chairman of the senate commission on indian affairs, we look forward to continuing our close relationship with the senator and his key team. and now, it is time for me to introduce the 21st president of the national congress of american indians to deliver the state of indian nations address. he was elected in october, 2013 and he has served the indian tribal community as chairman since 1997. he has spent his career furthering the interests of native people to help create jobs, open trade opportunities and reinvigorate the fish and seafood in