Awarded Grants

The ultimate purpose of this project is to create a deeper, richer Lakota language immersion school that will uplift and empower the next generations of Sicangu Lakota.

The calving grounds of the porcupine caribou herd located in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge is being threatened by oil and gas leases that were approved after the recent Record of Decision released in August 2020. The porcupine caribou herd has used these calving grounds since the beginning of time because it is free of predators and mosquitos and it is a safe place. However, the herd can easily be disrupted and change their route if they open the area to oil and gas leases in the area. The caribou have been a primary food source for the Arctic Village of Venetie and has always had great cultural significance for the community. Protecting the porcupine caribou herd is paramount to the survival of the community’s way of life and the environmental impact of oil and gas drilling in this pristine and fragile environment is the irreplaceable destruction of the caribou calving grounds, which would negatively impact thousands of people. The elders directed the community to fight to protect the caribou calving grounds back in 1988 and the fight has continued since then. Federal authorities met with the tribe prior to the issuance of the Record of Decision, but they did not consider any of the concerns that were voiced. In response to this, the Native Village of Venetie is using their right as a sovereign nation to file a lawsuit claiming the Environmental Assessment was not performed correctly and that none of the concerns and input of local tribal communities were considered.

Expansion of the community garden and health foods classes for tribal youth, adults, and elders.

Firestarters is a movement dedicated to restore our ancestral homelands by relearning land-based healing. In the years ahead, we believe California must decolonize land stewardship policies and practices to preserve the environmental health of all people and future generations. Firestarters is building an equitable and sustainable future through environmental education and advocacy of systems change. Our innovative model centers tribal-led land stewardship of our ancestral homelands as a requirement for the equitable and sustainable health and wellbeing of all people, communities and tribal nations in California. As part of the Stewarding Native Lands program of First Nations Development Institute, the USDA Forest Service Community Forest Program and Landscape Scale Restoration Capacity Grant will support our team capacity to explore the grant programs, identify alignment to our theory of change and prepare competitive grant applications. In addition to technical assistance and support, our team is requesting additional grant writing resources.

The project will create one Curriculum Developer (CD) to develop Language Arts curricula and workbooks for the 7th and 8th grades and formally document the curriculum development process.