Native Like Water / InterTribal Youth Summer Programs
6 Elm Ave, Imperial Beach, CA 91932
About
Native Like Water / InterTribal Youth Summer Programs includes activities such as surf therapy day programs, group ocean play, surf, skate, music, canoe, paddle, dive, river rafting, and a 1-day surf clinic. The program also offers academic enrichment adventure, college visits and workshops, wildlife observation, nutrition and wellness, scuba certification, and data collection in kelp forest habitat. Cultural practice, cultural outreach, adult team building, safety, training, and surf therapy are part of the listed activities.
• Ages: 12–18 years old
Native Like Water (NLW) prepares and reintegrates teens and young adults into ocean recreation, conservation, wellness, and inter-generational cultural self exploration, with a focus on an Indigenous sacred relationship to water. NLW creates scholarship and support for an endangered Native American population in California, Mexico, and internationally, and has opened programming to a greater public through cultural experiences focused on cultural conservation and natural habitats. NLW and InterTribal Youth are programs of One World BRIDGE Non-Profit 501c3, and the organization reports over 24 years serving local communities, with NLW founded over 24 years ago in San Diego, California.
The program includes specific Indigenous teenage and young adult programs focused on conserving the natural environment, cultural practice, travel, surf, music, and food as medicine. So Cal InterTribal Youth and Nor Cal InterTribal Youth are open to 12–18 years old and college-age mentors, and the Surf Fellowship California Teens and Young Adults is described as an ongoing surf fellowship journey across multiple coastal Indigenous lands. Native Like Water also offers the Below the Surface NLW Fellowship with scuba certification and Indigenous knowledge as a closed group, and a Native Like Water Fellowship Program on Catalina (pimu) Island with Reef Check scuba certification to monitor reef health, with the Below the Surface program noted as full.
NLW curates experiences through an Indigenous lens and uses modern present-day Indigenous cultural paddle tools originating in Hawaii, and the program notes that surf therapy is highly effective in therapeutic recovery from depression, PTSD, and relief from trauma. The program describes itself as a 24-year enrichment program culturally based in science, arts, wellness, and leadership, and as one of the most unique programs in Indian Country. It also states that NLW’s flagship So Cal Summer Program and international exchanges can be the most important experience in a person’s life, based on an alumni sample.
Community involvement includes a yearly Fathers Day Powwow by the Sea, described as one of the only powwows on the beach in Southern California, in collaboration with the Native community of San Diego and beyond. Native Like Water and InterTribal Youth are part of a unified effort led by Native Like Water under One World BRIDGE Non-Profit 501c3, and their work supports youth programs from various tribes across the Americas who gather in California and other locations to learn and share with each other. Additional exchanges and activities include Baja Kumiai, Rosarito, Ensenada surf camp and cultural exchange; Jamaica Sweet Cultural Exchange open to the public for adults; Hawaii Waterperson Training with surf, canoe, paddle, and dive for the NLW crew only; and the return of the original California watercraft, the tule boat, to Southern California.
Native Like Water has presented at the International Surf Therapy Organization Conference in Puerto Rico and Los Angeles, and the International Surf Therapy Organization Annual Conference supports surf therapy practitioners, clinicians, and scientists working together through research and collaborations. The program also notes NLW staff and volunteer convening and training that includes a service project during a local youth surf contest, and a 1-day surf clinic and cultural outreach with the Shinnecock Native community of Long Island, New York. NLW has produced an Indigenous surf film titled “Haagua.”
Last updated July 12, 2026.
• Ages: 12–18 years old
Native Like Water (NLW) prepares and reintegrates teens and young adults into ocean recreation, conservation, wellness, and inter-generational cultural self exploration, with a focus on an Indigenous sacred relationship to water. NLW creates scholarship and support for an endangered Native American population in California, Mexico, and internationally, and has opened programming to a greater public through cultural experiences focused on cultural conservation and natural habitats. NLW and InterTribal Youth are programs of One World BRIDGE Non-Profit 501c3, and the organization reports over 24 years serving local communities, with NLW founded over 24 years ago in San Diego, California.
The program includes specific Indigenous teenage and young adult programs focused on conserving the natural environment, cultural practice, travel, surf, music, and food as medicine. So Cal InterTribal Youth and Nor Cal InterTribal Youth are open to 12–18 years old and college-age mentors, and the Surf Fellowship California Teens and Young Adults is described as an ongoing surf fellowship journey across multiple coastal Indigenous lands. Native Like Water also offers the Below the Surface NLW Fellowship with scuba certification and Indigenous knowledge as a closed group, and a Native Like Water Fellowship Program on Catalina (pimu) Island with Reef Check scuba certification to monitor reef health, with the Below the Surface program noted as full.
NLW curates experiences through an Indigenous lens and uses modern present-day Indigenous cultural paddle tools originating in Hawaii, and the program notes that surf therapy is highly effective in therapeutic recovery from depression, PTSD, and relief from trauma. The program describes itself as a 24-year enrichment program culturally based in science, arts, wellness, and leadership, and as one of the most unique programs in Indian Country. It also states that NLW’s flagship So Cal Summer Program and international exchanges can be the most important experience in a person’s life, based on an alumni sample.
Community involvement includes a yearly Fathers Day Powwow by the Sea, described as one of the only powwows on the beach in Southern California, in collaboration with the Native community of San Diego and beyond. Native Like Water and InterTribal Youth are part of a unified effort led by Native Like Water under One World BRIDGE Non-Profit 501c3, and their work supports youth programs from various tribes across the Americas who gather in California and other locations to learn and share with each other. Additional exchanges and activities include Baja Kumiai, Rosarito, Ensenada surf camp and cultural exchange; Jamaica Sweet Cultural Exchange open to the public for adults; Hawaii Waterperson Training with surf, canoe, paddle, and dive for the NLW crew only; and the return of the original California watercraft, the tule boat, to Southern California.
Native Like Water has presented at the International Surf Therapy Organization Conference in Puerto Rico and Los Angeles, and the International Surf Therapy Organization Annual Conference supports surf therapy practitioners, clinicians, and scientists working together through research and collaborations. The program also notes NLW staff and volunteer convening and training that includes a service project during a local youth surf contest, and a 1-day surf clinic and cultural outreach with the Shinnecock Native community of Long Island, New York. NLW has produced an Indigenous surf film titled “Haagua.”
Last updated July 12, 2026.
Is this your business? There is no cost, but you will be asked to sign up or log in.