Tona TreeTop

Tona TreeTop is Hunkpapa Lakota and an enrolled citizen of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe from Ft. Yates, North Dakota. She has been working with and advocating for American Indian youth and adults with disabilities in various tribal communities in the Northwest and in Arizona for over three decades and has a master’s degree in educational leadership from Northern Arizona University. Tona has assisted and supported her youngest son Mateo TreeTop, as he transitioned through various systems of care for his disability of Traumatic Brain Injury. Mateo has now graduated from college, has two part-time jobs and currently serves as a Board Member of the Arizona Developmental Disabilities Planning Council. Tona is currently a Board Member for Disability Rights Arizona and serves on the Planning and Assessment Committee and is the Chairperson of the Diversity Committee. She is also a member of the Arizona Association of People Supporting Employment First and serves on the Education Committee. Tona also volunteers as a Parent Leader for Raising Special Kids and has also previously served on two Special Education Advisory Panels, the first for the Idaho Department of Education when she lived there and the second for the Arizona Department of Education when she moved to Arizona.