Brian Yazzie has been hired by Boys & Girls Clubs of America (BGCA) as its national director of Native American Programs, a newly created position at the national level for the Atlanta-based nonprofit.
Yazzie is currently the director of Native American services for BGC Scottsdale, Ariz. The Scottsdale outfit has received funding from the Department of Health and Human Services in the past for mentoring of incarcerated children, and more recently helped establish BGCA’s only full-time program at a juvenile facility, located at the Salt River facility.
BGCA began an expansion of its reach into Native American areas in the mid-2000s, when Congress was in the habit of appropriating between $60 million and $85 million directly to BGCA. In 2007, BGCA was instructed to split $60 million with FirstPic, a consulting firm that would use the $30 million to get tribal clubs off the ground. First Pic is led by founder Mark Piccirilli and Senior Vice President Robbie Callaway, the former head lobbyist in Washington for BGCA.
BGCA has received just over $4 million in subsequent years through the Tribal Program at the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, according to FedSpending.org.