Yakama Nation Housing Fair

Over 400 people attended the" Yakama Nation Housing Fair: Healthy Families, Healthy Communities" was held on May 28, 2008, 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., at the Winter Lodge of the Yakama Nation Cultural Heritage Center in Toppenish, WA. The housing fair featured informational booths,maintenance demonstrations, and fun events for the kids. This was the first housing fair that the Yakama Nation Housing Authority (YNHA) sponsored and completed.

The Grand Prize raffle drawing for attendees.

The Yakama Nation Housing Authority was the major sponsor of the fair, with donated support from Amerind and Key Bank. A BBQ raffle prize at the end of the day was a BBQ grill donated by Ideal Lumber Company of Toppenish, Washington. Ideal Lumber was very generous in their support of the housing fair.

YNHA recruited 44 vendors including Tribal Fire, Credit, Headstart, Higher Education, Diabetes Program, Power, Waste Management, Elder Advocate, Asthma Awareness, Domestic Violence, Language Program,

Tobacco Prevention, and Land Enterprise; several local and national banks; builders and architects; state and federal agencies; and Habitat for Humanity, University of Washington, and Consumer Credit Counseling provided information to participants.

The fair featured several workshops including, Credit Repair, Home Maintenance, Landscaping, the Role of the Architect, and Green Built. Face painting, a video presentation of “Cars”, an inflated jumper, story telling,

NWONAP’s Section 184 Coordinator, Iris Friday

and water slide kept the children entertained and provided a family-friendly atmosphere.


An inflated jumper provided entertainment for kids.

The fair was advertised in the Yakima Herald Republic public service events section (30,000 circulation); the Yakama Nation Review (1100 circulation) and KYNR radio station (10,000 listeners), the local Wapato Independent and Toppenish Review. The success of the fair is due directly to the enthusiasm and energy of the YNHA staff that volunteered to set up the fair, man the tables, interact with visitors, clean up, and provide useful advice and creative ideas at the 10 weekly meetings prior to the fair. These energetic employees were motivated by the early and unconditional support of YNHA Board of Commission, YNHA Administration and the Yakama Tribal Council. Our elected leadership offered their full support and our YNHA staff responded with diligence and a conscientious focus on building a winning fair.

YNHA would like to move forward by focusing on future steps for tribal members, including home purchase, community involvement, and other . workshops including basic sink repair informational and educational events that empower tribal members to purchase their own homes. YNHA will follow up with those attendees that provided contact information and indicated interest in YNHA homebuyer programs. This follow up will consist of post

YNHA staff provided several home maintenance

card mailings to gauge the interest level in home buyer education, housing counseling and financial literacy classes. YNHA will also maintain contact with vendors and encourage their participation in future fairs. Evaluations forms were sent to vendors and workshop leaders. A 51% evaluation return rate indicated that 39% rated fair overall as Good, and 56% rated the fair as excellent, based on venue, date, variety of information, quality of information, food service, registration process, and workshops.

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Contact Us

Preston Harrison
Yakama Nation Housing Authority
611 Camas Avenue/P.O. Box 156
Wapato, WA 98951
(509) 877-6171
preston@ynha.com