The Native Youth Project (NYP) was a national learning collaborative facilitated by the National Network of Public Health Institutes (NNPHI), Healthy Teen Network, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) that engaged seven community-based organizations serving American Indian youth to support the communities to select, adapt, and implement evidence-based programs.

However, what the project results were not able to illuminate were the processes grantees engaged in to make the NYP a reality in their specific communities. To share these lessons learned with other communities and promote sustainability, the CDC and NNPHI contracted with Healthy Teen Network to conduct Learning Walks.

Learning Walks provide the opportunity to learn about the process of engaging stakeholders, the unique geographical context that shaped the implementation of the project, and the social impact NYP had in the community.

Conducting a Learning Walk is a popular strategy used in the education field: an external observer visits a community to document lessons learned, provide input to guide decision making for future project funding, and gain understanding of the impact that a particular project might have had in a community. The following reports were developed to highlight the successes and stories from the Learning Walks.