Program

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Each year NAIWA hosts a conference to strengthen the five purposes that  

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• Home, Family Life & Community

• Health & Education

• Inter-tribal Communication

• Awareness of Indian Culture

• Fellowship Among All Peoples

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Speakers

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Our speakers have included local, regional and national leaders. For our 50th

anniversary conference, we have invited Interior Secretary Deb Haaland,

a member of Laguna and Jemez Pueblos.

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Secretary Haaland grew up in a military family; her father was a Marine

and her mother is a Navy veteran. As a single mother, she volunteered at her

daughter's pre-school in order to afford an early childhood education. She

earned degrees from the University of New Mexico and UNM Law School.

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For several years, she ran her own small business producing and canning

Pueblo Salsa and later became the first Chairwoman elected to the Laguna

Development Corporation Board of Directors, overseeing business operations

of the second largest tribal gaming enterprise in New Mexico.

 

After running for New Mexico Lieutenant Governor in 2014, Haaland became the first Native American woman to be elected to lead a State Party. After a lifetime of organizing communities to stand up for New Mexico families, Representative Haaland was elected as one of the first Native American women to serve in Congress. She served in leadership roles as the 116th Congress Freshman Class Representative to the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee, House Democratic Region VI Whip (Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona) and Deputy Whip for the Congressional Progressive Caucus. She became the first American Indian secretary of the U.S. Department of Interior in 2021 serving under the Biden Administration. 

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Please check back to see a full list of speakers.