A White House report on Native American youth said they face education, socio-economic and health barriers that are "nothing short of a national crisis."

Based on information gathered during the Annual Cannonball Flag Day Powwow at the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe reservation in June, the "2014 Native Youth Report" is intended to expand opportunities for young Native Americans.

Back over the summer, President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama met with Lakota young adults privately. What they heard troubled and upset them enough that back at the White House, Obama ordered his cabinet to come up with a plan for new avenues of opportunity for Native American youth.

At the Tribal Nations Conference on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., President Obama made reference the meeting.

"And these young people could not have been more poised and they could not have been more thoughtful. And they talked about their families, and their friends, and their dreams for the future," President Obama said.

"But they also talked about the pain in their hearts, and the obstacles they had had to overcome, and the problems they had seen with loved ones who had been brought down by drugs or alcohol or violence or poverty."

The report said 39 percent of the Native American and Alaska Native population is under 24 years old compared to 33 percent of the rest of the American population, and 42 percent are between 15 and 19 years old, compared to 34 percent.

More than one in three American Indian and Alaska Native children lives in poverty. Their school graduation rate is 67 percent -- the lowest of any racial and ethnic demographic group across all schools. And suicide is the second leading cause of death -- 2.5 times the national rate -- for Native American youth in the 15- to 24-year-old age group.

Obama said, "One young man was raising his four little brothers by himself. All of them knew somebody that they loved who had attempted suicide, committed suicide, died in a car accident before their time. Some of them had spent time living in a bus. And there were tears in that room pretty much the entire conversation, and the sense that schools weren't always preparing them properly and that they weren't sure about the possibilities of a better future."

The report authors acknowledge the United States "owes a trust responsibility" -- based on treaties, agreements, statutes, court decisions and executive orders -- to Tribal Nations. They also acknowledge the country's deeply troubling and destructive federal policies and actions that hurt Native communities, exacerbated inequality and accelerated the loss of tribal cultural traditions, particularly through the federal policies regarding the education of Indian children which continue to have effects on Native peoples.

The education of Native American children meant sending them to boarding schools to "Kill the Indian, Save the Man," where their hair was cut, they were forced to wear school uniforms and changed their Indian names to common Euro-American names and punished for speaking their native tongue. And teach them, "English, Christianize them, inculcate within them the values and beliefs of possessive individualism, and ultimately prepare them for American citizenship."

The reports other findings were 92 percent of Native American youth attend regular public school, but the schools lacked "culturally relevant curriculum and culturally competent staff that understand how to reach Native youth." This too is, according to the report, among one of the root causes for low Native American academic achievement.

"Experience suggests that incorporating Native languages and culture into academic settings can improve educational engagement and outcomes. Such practices bolster their identity and self-worth of Native youth by respecting the norms and culture of their families and communities," the report says.

Of Native American Youth, 42,000 attend the Bureau of Indian Education Schools where students are performing far worse than the national average and the schools are badly in need of repair and access to technology.

Ahniwake Rose, executive director for the National Indian Education Association, told the Huffington Post the report and its recommendations are "unprecedented" and "is the first time that a sitting president has talked about Indian education since Kennedy," but though it was just an important first step, significant progress needed to be made.

The report makes several recommendations. Obama's whole cabinet is going to meet with Native young people and hear firsthand about their lives. The Department of Education is working on a new initiative -- Nation Youth Community Projects, which will give support for nutrition programs, mental health needs and creating culturally relevant curriculum. The report recommends that schools and colleges work to revitalize Native American history and languages in school curriculum.

"We know that learning about the history and language and traditions of one's people can make a huge difference in a child's education," Obama said.

A program called Generation Indigenous, a National Tribal Youth Network, will connect and support talented young people in Tribal Nations with a Tribal Youth Gathering in the White House next year.