UNITY Teams Up with Nike N7 to Promote Healthy Lifestyles at National Conference

Mesa, Arizona-UNITY, Inc. is proud to announce its second consecutive year partnering with Nike N7 to support health promotion and disease prevention at its annual National UNITY Conference July 10-14, 2015 in conjunction with the White House Tribal Youth Gathering on July 9. Nike N7 athletes and UNITY youth leaders will kick off a year-long fitness campaign as a way to celebrate UNITY's 40th birthday next year. At the national conference, nearly 1,500 youth and their chaperones in Washington, DC will participate in various fitness activities. Last year, in Oregon, conference attendees overwhelmingly cited the Nike N7 Day at the Nike world headquarters as a highlight of the conference.

"N7 is our commitment to bring sport and all of its benefits to Native American and Aboriginal communities in the United States and Canada, with a focus on youth," said Sam McCracken, General Manager of Nike N7. "Beyond promoting healthy and physically active lifestyle, sport helps build self-confidence and enables youth to be a force for positive change in their community. We believe that through activity, competition and play, Native American and Aboriginal youth can unleash the power of their generation and inspire the next."

"We are working with Nike N7 to create another memorable and special event to encourage Native youth to move and stay healthy not just at the conference but all year long," said Mary Kim Titla, Executive Director of UNITY, Inc. "In 2011, UNITY promoted First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move in Indian Country initiative and this year UNITY was an early acceptor of President Barack Obama's Generation Indigenous Challenge, which Nike N7 also supports, so it makes sense to team up to promote fitness as our Native youth converge on our nation's capitol," added Titla.

The National UNITY Conference will take place July 10-14, 2015 at the Renaissance Washington, DC Downtown Hotel. The five-day agenda will feature several nationally known keynote speakers, more than 30 workshops, a cultural exchange night, talent show, and awards banquet and dance. UNITY, which stands for United National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc., was founded in 1976 in Oklahoma. Oklahoma City is the site for UNITY's 40th anniversary conference. Details of the year-long fitness campaign will be released soon.

Registration for the National UNITY Conference is now open with a registration rate of $300. Those interested in registering can go to http://www.unityinc.org. Tribes are highly encouraged to send representatives from their communities to participate in the conference that hones leadership skills, encourages peer-to-peer interaction and networking, and celebrates Native youth.

Many of the youth who attend the conference represent the 155 UNITY affiliated youth councils from 35 states, the largest Native American youth network of its kind in the nation. Exclusive sponsorship and exhibitor opportunities are now available. For more information, contact the UNITY office at (480) 718-9793.

About UNITY, Inc.

United National Indian Tribal Youth, Inc. (UNITY) is a national network organization promoting personal development, citizenship, and leadership among Native American youth. UNITY's mission is to foster the spiritual, mental, physical, and social development of American Indian and Alaska Native youth and to help build a strong, unified, and self-reliant Native America through greater youth involvement. Tribes, Alaska Native villages, high schools, colleges, urban centers, and others sponsor UNITY affiliated youth councils. Please visit

http://www.unityinc.org to learn more about getting involved with UNITY as a youth, advisor, alum, partner, or sponsor.

About N7

N7 is Nike's long-time commitment and mission to inspire and enable 2 million Native American and Aboriginal youth in North America to participate in sport and physical activity. The N7 philosophy embraces the Native philosophy: "In every deliberation we must consider the impact of our decisions on the next seven generations."

After nearly a decade of partnership with tribes across North America to support programs aimed at physically active lifestyles, Nike deepened its connection to the Native American community in 2007 with the launch of N7 beginning with the Nike Air Native N7 shoe. The N7 collection followed in 2009, to celebrate Native American and Aboriginal culture and to raise awareness for the N7 Fund, which has raised more than $3 million for Native American and Aboriginal youth sport programs.