Walking in Wisdom: Investing in Native Knowledge
Since First Nations launched the Luce Indigenous Knowledge Fellowship in 2020, we have recognized and supported 74 exceptional Native leaders, knowledge holders, and knowledge makers doing noteworthy
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Native Language Immersion Initiative is Growing Little Cherokee Seeds
If one seed can give birth to a giant oak tree, imagine what a group of motivated Cherokee mothers can accomplish. In 2018, Melissa Lewis became a new mother. She and her husband (both Cherokee) were...
We Begin With Relationship: A Vision for Native Arts and Language
Yá’át’ééh. Jennifer Himmelreich yinishyé. In January 2026, I joined First Nations Development Institute as a senior program officer with the Native Arts, Language, and Knowledge program. ...
A Love for Learning, Teaching, Traveling, and Birding
First Nations is grateful to Rob Jackson, a professor of neuroscience at Tufts University, for his generous donations over the years. Rob Jackson has an ironic life story. He dropped out of high schoo...
First Foods and Maternal Health: Honoring Tradition, Nurturing Futures
Food and birth are among the first teachers we encounter in life. For Native peoples, food and birth are inseparable threads in the fabric of community health. First Nations’ First Foods and Maternal ...
Restoring Buffalo, Restoring Balance on the Northern Great Plains
Based in Cannon Ball in the northern plains of North Dakota, just steps from the setting of the Standing Rock pipeline protests, Wozu Inc. is healing its community through a Native-led movement to reg...
Native Farm to School Expands Training and Technical Assistance Capacity
Since 2019, First Nations has provided educational opportunities and support to program coordinators, school staff, teachers, community and youth organizers, and knowledge-keepers of all ages to ensur...
Learning Together: Honoring Tradition Through Harvest and Teaching
(Photo credit above: Lisa Mni) One focus area of First Nations’ Native Agriculture and Food Systems Investments program is Native Food Networks. By supporting tribes and Native nonprofit organization...
The Code to Better Health
Policy Improves Food Systems, Nutrition and Access at Turtle Mountain When one thinks of good nutrition and positive health outcomes, one might think of food and access. But an essential component to ...
Rooted in Tradition: How the Tule River Indian Tribe is Standing Strong Against Climate Change
The Giant Sequoia is a powerful symbol of strength for the lands and people of the Tule River Indian Tribe. Towering more than 300 feet tall, many of these trees have withstood fires and droughts for ...
Young Leaders Push Beyond Comfort Zones to Inspire Change
In a classroom at a small tribal college on the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in Fort Yates, North Dakota — home to the Dakota and Lakota Nations — big things are happening. It is here that a group ...
More Than Camp: Promoting Language, Land, and Culture Access for Youth
Through the Native Youth and Culture Fund, First Nations has been investing in Native communities since 2002, providing financial assistance to support the perpetuation of traditional knowledge, spiri...