Strengthening Native American Nonprofits

Native Youth and Culture Fund

At First Nations Development Institute, we know that our Native youth represent the future success and well-being of our people and our communities. The Native Youth & Culture Fund makes grants annually to support Native youth and culture programs throughout Native American communities in the U.S. The fund is supported by the Kalliopeia Foundation, along with contributions from other foundation, tribal, corporate and individual supporters.

First Nations awarded 22 Native Youth and Culture Fund grants in 2012.

California Indian Manpower Consortium, Inc.

The California Tribal Culture Exchange is a two-part project. The first part, a YouTube contest, will be short videos documenting Native culture and tradition featuring elders submitted by Native youth from select California counties. Three winners will receive money for their community inter-generational project.

The second part will be a compilation of the videos to be distributed throughout California, but will be aimed at Native students who are at risk of dropping out of high school, their peers, and their educators.

Citizen Potawatomi Community Development Corporation

The Mamishkwezewen (Renew in Strength) Program is a year-long project that focuses on strengthening leadership, renewing assets and preserving the culture, language and heritage of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation. Youth will participate in a five-day intensive camp and monthly mentoring and training sessions in areas including leadership, economic development and financial education.

Dakota Wicohan

Dakota Wicohan is a training ground for the next generation of Dakota Nation leaders. A merging of two existing and successful youth programs – the 10-year-old Sunktanka Horse program that is grounded in renewing horse tradition, and the three-year-old Wikoska leadership program for young women – will strengthen the model for cultivating responsibility. The program engages youth ages 10 to 18 in the southwestern Minnesota area.

Dry Creek Rancheria Band of Pomo Indians

A two-day language and culture camp for youth ages 6 to 16. The camp will focus on traditional practices of preparing food and understanding the flora and fauna of the Native homelands. The Southern Pomo language will be interwoven throughout the camp. Current technology for language use will be incorporated to encourage youth to remain engaged.

Hawaiian Community Assets, Inc.

Strengthening Future Generations is a culturally relevant financial education project for Hawaii and Native Hawaiian youth ages 13-27 who reside in low- and moderate-income communities. Through training and technical assistance, Hawaiian Community Assets will also mentor community members to deliver financial education to youth.

Hui Malama o ke Kai Program

A holistic, cultural-education project, the Papa Makau Kalaiwaa (Canoe Building Apprenticeship), will target ninth through 12th grade youth from the coastal community of Waimanalo, Hawaii. The project will teach Native youth to construct a Hawaiian outrigger canoe under the guidance of an expert Native Hawaiian canoe-builder, perpetuating the art, skills, practices and values of this traditional occupation.

Ilisagvik College

An expansion of the Junior Public Health Educator Program will serve the North Slope Borough villages, Nome, and Kotzebue. Youth will be trained to take part in public health outreach and as peer educators to foster a healthy community. Students will be trained in public speaking, presentations, library research, and health education while connecting all of these elements to inua. Inua are the philosophies, history, language and interconnectedness of all living things.

Mashpee Wampanoag Indian Tribal Council

The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe’s Youth Council members, ages 15 to 20, will document the stories and history of the tribal community and traditions as told by elders. The result of the project will be production of 1,000 DVDs, CDs and books for distribution back to all tribal member households in which an elder or youth lives.

Mesa Media, Inc.

This project will empower Hopi youth, ages 14 to 25, to enhance their Hopi language skills, to document Hopi oral history, and will feed their curiosity about Hopi cultural practices in which they participate. It will provide a connection between elders and youth by providing opportunities for youth to interview Hopi elders while engaging in traditional activities such as cultivation of Hopi food.

This project integrates Hopi youth into a larger project funded by The Christensen Fund that will produce five volumes of conversational Hopi CDs/workbooks based on firsthand Hopi agricultural knowledge from Hopi elders, and which will train Hopi educators and parents to use materials for teaching younger children to become fluent speakers.

Mescalero Apache Tribe

The Youth Group 2012 Traditional Apache Project serves tribal members of the Mescalero Apache reservation but also tribal members in the surrounding communities between the ages of five to 18. The project will develop activities that promote cultural and linguistic preservation, promote physical health and well-being, and create a leadership group for equine-assisted therapy.

Native Village of Koyuk

The “Subsistence through the Seasons: Elder and Youth Summer Camp" will involve a partnership between village youth and local elders. The elders will teach traditional knowledge, skills and values to Koyuk youth ages 8 to 19. An Alaska Native media artist will work with youth on interviewing and cultural-documentation skills. Together they will digitally document the camp and subsistence activities and produce a video for cultural reference.

Navajo Technical College

The project will develop new interdisciplinary curricula that will integrate Navajo language, traditional food preparation, and Navajo weaving for undergraduate students at Navajo Technical College. The coursework is designed to increase employment options for Navajos in traditional areas of study. The curriculum principally designed for the Navajo Nation can serve as a model for K-16 educators from other tribes.

Nooksack Indian Tribe

Multiple workshops will comprise this project for Nooksack youth from Deming, Washington. Workshops in canoe building, cultural awareness and net making will be held. Traditional Native war canoes and salmon netting are a part of the Nooksack cultural identity.

Northwest Native American Basketweavers Association

Pacific Northwest youth ages 4 to 21 from a four-state region will have the opportunity to learn basket weaving from master weavers. Students will learn about gathering, basketry techniques, and cultural aspects of the art while engaging in meaningful dialog with the instructors.

Pueblo of Pojoaque

This Native language (Tewa) storytelling project will be centered at the Pueblo of Pojoaque's Early Childhood Center (ECC), where the youngest of the tribal population (ages 1-5) attend classes. Tewa-speaking elders will read, tell, and narrate for recording traditional stories to the children in both Tewa and English. The experiential learning will be accomplished by activities which include coloring in books, traditional arts and crafts making, and cooking.

Sac & Fox Tribe of the Mississippi in Iowa

Meskwaki Youth Enrichment will nurture culture and leadership development for tribal youth ages 6 to 19 in the Meskwaki community. The program will operate a summer day camp and employment program about cultural uniqueness. Through mentoring and hands-on work experience, the employment program will prepare youth to become members of the tribal work force.

Santa Fe Indian School

The Brave Girl is a Santa Fe Indian School student-living program for participants ages 15 to 18. The basis of the program is the promotion and development of a mentoring, networking, consciousness building and enrichment program while providing opportunities for cultural awareness and beliefs.

The Notah Begay III Foundation Inc

The Katishtya’s Health Empowerment Project will empower San Felipe Pueblo youth to engage themselves, their families, the San Felipe Pueblo Community and other local Native communities in a culturally-based obesity and diabetes health education program. The project uses Keres language and images to promote healthy lifestyles and will emphasize increased physical activity and healthy eating.

The Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin

The goal of this program is to foster environmental stewardship in a local context for Oneida high school youth in Wisconsin. Traditional teachings center on the natural world and give a holistic understanding of caring for Yukhinulha Ohw^tsya (Mother Earth). This program addresses enhancing environmental education through the use of Oneida culture and language.

The Zuni Youth Enrichment Project

The DY MESA program is a comprehensive youth-development program serving middle school students on the Zuni Reservation. The focus is a successful transition to adulthood through participation in daily after-school, weekend and school-break activities.

Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation

The Youth Leadership Development Program will serve Native youth living on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in western South Dakota. The program will give youth hands-on and life experiences in cultural education through active participation. Youth will be taught how to build sweat lodges, put up tipis, and build sun dance grounds. The coming of age ceremony will be reintroduced to the participants.

Wopanaak Language & Cultural Weetyoo, Inc.

The 2012 Summer Turtle Program is a three-week summer language camp serving Wampanaog youth between the ages of 6 to 15. Youth are immersed in language-acquisition activities. Cultural components including communal meals, games, drumming, beading and campfire gatherings.

Strengthening Native American People One Community at Time

First Nations Development Institute was awarded a two-year grant from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) - the Strengthening Communities Fund (SCF). Through this project, First Nations is building the capacity of nonprofit organizations at targeted rural and reservation-based Native American communities in the United States to support economic development. The program targets 22 Native American communities located in Arizona, Minnesota, Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Utah that have excessive poverty and low income statistics according to the U.S. Census.

Hasbidito - Strengthening the Navajo Nation

Hasbidito is a community derived, managed, and guided nonprofit organization that First Nations supported with a grant through our Strengthening Communities Fund (SCF) program. Hasbidito brings youth-centered programs and strategies together to create culturally, environmentally, and economically sustainable solutions to the eastern Navajo Nation communities of Counselor, Ojo Encino, and Torreon. With SCF funding, Hasbidito worked towards incorporation as a nonprofit organization, created a local volunteer base, and provided gardening classes to help with tribal efforts for sustainable agriculture.

Combating Domestic Violence in Native American Communities

Since 2007, First Nations Development Institute has partnered with the U.S. Department of Justice through its Office on Violence Against Women Tribal Affairs Unit to provide critically-needed technical assistance to build the capacity of the 21 Native American nonprofit tribal domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions in the United States. First Nations provides one-on-one tailored training and technical assistance through in-person site visits to the coalitions, as well as customized training Institutes that provide leadership development, organizational management, program development, and community engagement.

Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition
The Minnesota Indian Women's Sexual Assault Coalition (MIWSAC) located in St. Paul, Minnesota is one of three state tribal domestic violence and sexual assault coalitions. MIWSAC hosts several programs in areas of education and training, membership and outreach, and public awareness that aim to educate the community on how to identify and stop violence against American Indian women and children. The Barrette Project at MIWSAC honors survivors of sexual violence in a display that anonymously recounts survivors' stories. The MIWSAC has created this platform where the stories of survivors can be heard in a safe way.