DISTRICT TRANSPORTATION SCHEDULE
Saturday July 13, 2024 and Sunday July 14, 2024
Districts
#1 (Bus A) 7:30am 7:45am 8:50am 11:00pm 12:00am
#2 (Bus A) 8:00 am 8:10am 8:50am 11:00pm 11:40pm
#3 (Bus B) 8:00am 8:10am 8:50am 11:00pm 11:40pm
#4 (Bus C) 8:00am 8:15am 8:50am 11:00pm 11:35pm
#5 (Bus D) 8:00am 8:15am 8:45am 11:00pm 11:30pm
#6 (Bus E) 8:00am 8:15am 9:00am 11:00pm 11:45pm
#7 (Bus E) 7:30am 7:45am 9:00am 11:00pm 12:05am
Participants who did not sign up for registration will NOT be allowed on the bus. Participants will be required to ride the same bus to and from the conference.
Youth will be picked up and dropped off at the same location. Please respect the transportation driver, chaperon, & passengers.
Backpacks and bags will be inspected for the safety of all participants. Transportation times are subject to change.
If you have any questions, please contact youth council office at (520) 562-1866 or youthcouncil@gric.nsn.us.
AGENDA: Saturday July 13, 2024
Akimel O’odham/Pee-Posh Youth Council
37th Annual Gila River Youth Conference Hilton Mesa ~ Mesa, AZ July 13-14, 2024
AGENDA
SATURDAY, JULY 13, 2024
9:00am Registration Opens
9:00 – 11:00am Registration & Arrival Red Mountain Foyer
GENERAL SESSION:
10:00am
11:30am
AOPPYC Opening Ceremony: Red Mountain Ballroom
Welcome, Blessing: Robert Stone
Opening Remarks: Junior Pancott & Zyana Flores Youth Conference Co-Chairs
GRIC Community Welcome: Governor Stephen Lewis
Keynote Speaker: Greg Mendoza
AOPPYC Elections: Aiyana Jackson, AOPPYC Secretary
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
Caucus: Election Rules & Applications
District 1 Palo Verde 3
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
Mesquite
Ocotillo 2
Ocotillo 1
The Cove
District 6 Palo Verde 2
District 7
Palo Verde 1
Visitors & Guests Red Mountain Ballroom
12:00-12:45pm Lunch Atrium
1:00-1:45pm Workshops A See Workshop Schedule
2:00-2:45pm Workshops B See Workshop Schedule
3:00-3:45pm Workshops C See Workshop Schedule
AGENDA: Saturday July 13, 2024
4:00 – 6:00pm Exhibitors Mesquite Foyer
4:00 pm Incentives Red Mountain Foyer
PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES / CULTURE ACTIVITIES
4:00-4:50pm Session 1
5:00-5:50pm Session 2
Gins (men’s stick game) The Cove
Komai (women stick games) Ocotillo 2
Traditional Sandal making Mesquite
Shell Necklace making Ocotillo 1
Basketball Activity East Parking Lot
Pee-Posh Bird Singing Palo Verde 3
Songs of the River: Zine making & Poetry writing Through an Indigenous lens Palo Verde 2
The River Room “Quiet Room” Palo Verde 1
6pm – 7pm (400) Dinner Atrium
8:00pm-10:45pm DJ Lokie (Jaime Jackson) Red Mountain Ballroom
9:00pm (400) Evening Snacks Red Mountain Foyer
10:45pm Start Boarding Buses West Entrance
11:00pm Bus departs
AGENDA: Sunday July 14, 2024
Akimel O’odham/Pee-Posh Youth Council
37th Annual Gila River Youth Conference Hilton Mesa ~ Mesa, AZ July 13-14, 2024
AGENDA
SUNDAY, JULY 14, 2024
9:00am Registration & Arrival Red Mountain Foyer
10:00am General Assembly Red Mountain Ballroom
Welcome & Blessing: Antonio Go:hk Davis
Opening Remarks: Lt. Governor Regina Antone
Keynote Speaker: Amar’e Stoudemire
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
11:00am Break
11:15am Icebreaker
11:30am AOPPYC Presentation of Awards Red Mountain
12:00-1:00pm Lunch Atrium
1:00pm – 2:00pm Caucus: Election Rules & Applications
District 1 Paolo Verde 3
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
District 7
Mesquite
Ocotillo 2
Ocotillo 1
The Cove
Palo Verde 2
Palo Verde 1
Visitors & Guests Red Mountain Ballroom
2:00pm Incentive Giveaway Red Mountain Foyer
2:30 – 4:00pm Talent Show Red Mountain Ballroom
AGENDA: Sunday July 14, 2024
PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES / CULTURE ACTIVITIES
4:00-4:50pm
5:00-5:50pm
Session 1
Session 2
Gins (men’s stick game) The Cove
Komai (women stick games) Ocotillo 2
Traditional Sandal making Mesquite
Shell Necklace making Ocotillo 1
Pee-Posh Bird Singing Palo Verde 3
Songs of the River: Zine making & Poetry writing
Through an Indigenous lens Palo Verde 2
The River Room “Quiet Room” Palo Verde 1
6:00 -7:00pm Dinner Atrium
7:00pm -10:00pm
CAPTURE MEMORIES WITH YOUR FRIENDS AT THE YOUTH CONFERENCE PHOTO BOOTH! Get your photo taken and take home a print!
7:00pm-10:45pm Waila Band-Group Passion Red Mountain Ballroom
10:45pm Start Boarding bus West Entrance
11:00pm Bus departs
Strengthening the Flow of Your Cultural Knowledge
Tribal Historic Preservation
Office Room Name: Palo Verde 1
This presentation will educate young people by connecting them to their ancestral territory, within and extending beyond the reservation, and the ancestral way of life built off various rivers.
Flood Control Engineering on the Reservation
Land Use Planning and Zoning – Flood Control Engineering
Room Name: Palo Verde 2
A presentation on what flood control is, why it is important, and what projects we have done so far within the Gila River Indian Community. Our workshop will contain PowerPoint presentation showing historical flooding on the reservation. What we do to quantify and develop solutions, design, construct, and maintain flood control infrastructure.
Elev8 Your Future Through Medical & Health Careers
Gila River Health Care
Room Name: Palo Verde 3
Are you considering a career in the Health & Medical field? Come and join us for an introduction to your future. Learn of the opportunities available through Gila River Indian Community. Meet health care professionals and take home fun gifts and prizes.
DEQ Environmental Education Center & You
Department of Environmental Quality
Room Name: Ocotillo 1
The Department of Environmental Quality has been working on our Environmental Education Center for the past two years. This workshop will include current plans for the EEC and share gardening education with our youth.
How P-MIP Revitalizes the River Through Constructing a Water Delivery System
Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project
Room Name: Ocotillo 2
Since 1998, the Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project (P-MIP) has been building the largest water delivery system in Indian Country. With nearly 207 miles of canal and pipeline completed, P-MIP is now introducing renewable energy generation with solar panels over canal, the first in the Western Hemisphere.
What this means for you and your future. 2024-2025 Gila River Royalty
Room Name: Red Mountain 2
Join Miss Gila River Susanna Osife and Jr. Miss Gila River Shayla Davis in an interactive workshop to learn how they are using their reign to amplify their platforms.
IT’S UP TO YOU(TH)
Gila River Health Care Prevention Program
Room Name: Mesquite
Tired of avoiding school bathrooms because of people vaping? Concerned about protecting the brains and lungs of your peers? Want to make a positive impact? Join us as we learn about vaping and how it affects your health.
Let’s Get Creative with Native American Music
Tribal Education Department
Room Name: Red Mountain 3
We will explore different genres of Native American music such as chicken scratch, powwow, flute, rap, jazz and other Tribal music history. During this listening session we will be using our creative minds to draw a picture that is related to our district or community we live in. Students will then get a chance, if they wish, to tell the group their story on what they drew and how the music played a role in there drawing or lifestyle.
Fitness Fiesta | Tribal Recreation and Wellness
Room Name: Red Mountain 1
Get ready for a 45-minute fitness session that will get your body moving! We will start with a fun groovy warm-up, followed by a fiesta of body weight exercises to strengthen your cardio system and muscles -- total body workout with simple and effective moves. Together we will end the session with a simple cool-down and stretch.
Keynote Speakers
Stephen Roe Lewis was raised in Sacaton, “Gu-u-Ki”, on the Gila River Indian Community. His parents are Rodney and Willardene Lewis. His paternal grandparents are the late Rev. Roe Blaine and Sally Lewis.
His maternal grandparents are the late Willard and Catherine Pratt. Mr. Lewis has an eighteen year old son, Daniel. Stephen Roe Lewis graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelors of Science and pursued graduate studies at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
Governor Lewis has served the Community as a Gaming Commissioner for the Gila River Gaming Commission, as a member of the Board of Directors for the Gila River Telecommunications, Inc., and as a member of the Board of Directors for the Gila River Healthcare Corporation. Governor Lewis was the first Native film curator for the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah and was an Associate Producer for the groundbreaking and critically acclaimed TBS six-part feature documentary, “The Native Americans.”Governor Lewis
has worked on numerous political campaigns and organizing projects throughout Indian Country including Native voter organizing and Native voter protection in 2002 and selected as an Arizona delegate and Co-Chairing the Native American Caucus for the 2012 Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina.
Currently Governor Lewis proudly serves on the Board of Directors for the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), the Executive Board for the National Indian Gaming Association (NIGA) and the Board of Trustees for the Heard Museum of Phoenix. Governor Lewis currently oversees the implementation of the Community’s Water Settlement of 2004 (the largest water settlement of its kind in United States history).
Governor Lewis advocates for renewable and green technologies guided by O’otham agricultural history and cultural teachings. Governor Lewis’s vision is to support a new generation of Community member agriculturalists with the goal of promoting and protecting the Community’s shudag (water) and agricultural development for future generations.
Governor Lewis has made it a priority of his administration in two critical areas: To expand services for Community Veterans by proposing the Community’s first Veteran’s and Family Services Department and by committing more resources to protect the Community’s children by advocating for the protection of the Indian Child Welfare Act both at home and nationally.
Governor Lewis previously served the Community as Lieutenant Governor before being elected Governor in 2014.
Governor Stephen Roe Lewis
Keynote Speakers
Regina Antone, was born and raised on the Gila River Indian Community. She is honored and humbled to serve the people of this Community, as the Lieutenant Governor and her motto is: “If you want change, you have to be the change.”
Her father is the former Gila River Indian Community Governor Donald Antone Sr., and Ms. Antone comes from a large extended family and has three children and 11 amazing grandchildren. She is a long time dedicated fan for the Phoenix Suns basketball team, and claims to be the 6th man of the team. But, is still waiting to be called into the game.
The Gila River Indian Community has given her the opportunity to be able to walk in two worlds; she pursued her education in the medical field, receiving her Associates degree in Radiology & 3D/4D Ultrasound science. This allowed her to help others when needed, by being able to work with many other Native Tribes and hospitals in other states for 27 years. Which includes
our own Gila River Healthcare. She became a 3D/4D ultrasound specialist working in the surgical and emergency rooms, while providing on-call services to tribal communities and surrounding areas, including local hospitals and doctors’ offices.
She understands the struggles of being a working mother and attending college full time. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science & Counseling, then continued on to obtain her Master’s degree in Business Administration. With over 39 years of professional experience in working for the following areas; Healthcare industry, WIOA worker, the Employment & Training department, Program Manager for the Tribal Wellness Center, Deputy Director for Community Services Department, the Deputy Director for Department of Community Housing, and as the District 4 Council Representative for the Gila River Indian Community.
Ms. Antone has always worked with the people in many areas, from the beginning of life to the end. This has allowed her to be able to work side by side with the people, to hear and see experiences first-hand, and to know what the needs are for the Community. She looks forward to continuing to work with the people, the Community Council, and Governor Lewis, to create a strong working team for the future growth of the Gila River Indian Community.
Lieutenant Governor Regina Antone is a strategic planner with innovative concepts, her outside of the box thinking provides the implementation of new ideas. By bringing together her connection with the people, the strong leadership of our ancestor’s foresight, including the past and current leaders, she looks to move us forward to create a strong and solid foundation of Community and Economic development for our generations to come. Our Community is strong and resilient and we will always remain.
LT. Governor Regina Antone
Greg Mendoza works as Youth Programs Director for United National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc. (UNITY). A member of the Gila River Indian Community from the village of Goodyear (O’odham: Valin Thak), Mendoza is responsible for managing UNITY’s youth engagement strategy, including the management of youth programs and supporting outreach among 340+ American Indian and Alaska Native youth affiliates of UNITY’s Network in 36 states.
Mendoza brings more than 35 years of work experience in the areas of youth development, public policy and tribal government. He is the past Governor of the Gila River Indian Community and served his local community as a Community Council Representative representing the District Four Community. Prior to public office, the late Gila River Indian Community Governor William R. Rhodes appointed Mendoza as his Chief of Staff, a position he held for six years. In 1988, he founded and directed the Akimel O’odham/Pee-Posh Youth Council, a nationally recognized community youth leadership development organization serving the needs of youth of the Gila River Indian Community.
Greg Mendoza Keynote
NBA Career Highlights
Amar’e Stoudemire: Basketball Star and Philanthropist
Amar’e Stoudemire, born on November 16, 1982, in Lake Wales, Florida, is a former professional basketball player known for his exceptional NBA career, contributions to basketball in Israel, business ventures, and philanthropy. Stoudemire’s journey from high school standout to NBA All-Star and international player is marked by numerous achievements and a lasting impact on and off the court.
Selected 9th overall in the 2002 NBA Draft by the Phoenix Suns, Stoudemire made an immediate impact, earning the NBA Rookie of the Year Award in 2003. Known for his athleticism and scoring ability, he was central to the Suns’ high-octane offense alongside Steve Nash. During his 14-season NBA career, Stoudemire was a six-time NBA All-Star and five-time All-NBA Team member, with career averages of 18.9 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks per game. He also played for the New York Knicks, Dallas Mavericks, and Miami Heat, and was a member of the 2004 Olympic team.
Ring of Honor
In 2024, the Phoenix Suns retired Stoudemire’s jersey #32 and inducted him into their Ring of Honor, recognizing his significant contributions to the franchise and his role in leading the team to multiple playoff appearances.
Philanthropy
Stoudemire’s impact extends beyond basketball through his Amar’e Stoudemire Foundation, which empowers at-risk youth through education, nutrition, and community outreach. He also supports the Each One, Teach One foundation, providing educational opportunities and mentorship to undeserved communities.
Basketball in Israel
After retiring from the NBA, Stoudemire played for Hapoel Jerusalem, winning the Israeli Basketball Premier League championship and being named Finals MVP. He later joined Maccabi Tel Aviv, adding another Israeli championship to his resume. His presence elevated the league’s profile and contributed to the growth of basketball in the region.
Conclusion
Amar’e Stoudemire’s career reflects his talent, dedication, and versatility. From his stellar NBA career and induction into the Suns’ Ring of Honor to his philanthropic initiatives and contributions to international basketball, Stoudemire continues to inspire and impact lives, embodying the spirit of a true champion.
“Perseverance is always the way to go. You have to stay mentally prepared. You have to make sure you have some self discipline in order to recover from injuries.”
~ Amar’e Stoudemire
GRIIDD & P-MIP
Tribal Elections Program
Department of Environmental Quality
Office of Emergency Management
Judicial-Probation Department
Gila River Victim Services Department
Gila River Health Care
K-12 Programs (TED)
GRIC Employment & Training Department
