This Week at First Nations: June 27, 2025
Join Us July 15 for New Webinar Series: Our Language, Our Legacy
Building on the momentum of First Nations’ spring campaign, “Language is Life,” First Nations’ 2025 summer webinar series elevates the work Native communities are doing to revitalize and sustain their languages.
The series is centered on a three-part theme of “Truth, Solutions, and Action Across Indian Country.” It explores the historical and systemic forces that have led to language loss and why it matters. It then highlights community-driven solutions and invites viewers to take action as informed advocates and storytellers.
In the first webinar, “Reclaiming What Was Taken: History, Trauma, and the Power of Language,” Deidre Whiteman (Spirit Lake Dakota/Hidatsa) of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, will discuss the history and lasting impact of Indian Boarding Schools, and how these institutions contributed to the suppression of Native languages and shaped contemporary Native life.
The webinar will be held on Tuesday, July 15, 2025, at 10 am Mountain Time. Learn more about the series and register here.
New First Nations Publication: Increasing Tribal Renewable Energy
First Nations convened a group of key stakeholders working to support Tribes and Native communities in pursuing renewable energy opportunities. To share knowledge and promote Native climate solutions, the “Increasing Tribal Renewable Energy” report provides an overview of convening topics, including available resources for Tribes and Native communities to expand renewable energy deployment, ways Native-led and -serving resource providers can improve access to renewable energy resources, and recommendations to strengthen Tribal participation in renewable energy opportunities. Read the report here and learn more about the Stewarding Native Lands Climate Initiative.
Buffalo as Wildlife: Challenging the Western Paradigm
The Eastern Shoshone Tribe has officially reclassified buffalo as wildlife, rather than livestock, to align with Tribal values and restore cultural and traditional relationships with the sacred relative. Wind River Buffalo Initiative, a First Nations community partner under Stewarding Native Lands’ Indigenous Partnership and American Buffalo Restoration projects, is growing the number of buffalo and building connectivity for their movement across a large landscape. Their work, in conjunction with Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho Tribes’ efforts, reflects the importance of Native-led buffalo restoration across Indian Country.
Photo credit Yahoo!news
What We’re Reading: There Is No Future Where the Lakota and the Buffalo Don’t Exist Together
In this article on Civil Eats, Native food systems leader Elsie Dubray describes the role of buffalo in Native cultures and what they teach us about our relationship to place, to one another, and to ourselves. Elsie writes:
“Buffalo restoration isn’t just the next eco-trend or hot new social justice campaign. I see Buffalo restoration as food sovereignty. I see it as language revitalization. I see it as suicide prevention. I see it as an economic alternative to a capitalist society.”
Elsie is a longtime colleague of First Nations, including as a featured community partner in our documentary, GATHER, produced to build awareness, understanding, and appreciation of the Native American food movement.
Photo credit Civil Eats and Elsie DuBray
Restoring Our Relatives Grant Opportunity
First Nations is now accepting applications under our Stewarding Native Lands’ Stewardship Initiative for projects that grow capacity and programming to employ and sustain efforts to restore Native species through traditional knowledge and community involvement.
First Nations expects to award up to 15 grants between $25,000 to $50,000 to eligible Tribes and Native-led organizations through our Restoring Our Relatives project, made possible with support from First Nations’ Tribal Lands Conservation Fund.
Learn more and apply here by Wednesday, July 16, 2025.
Questions about applying? Attend the Q&A application webinar on Tuesday, July 1, 2025, at 1 pm Mountain Time. Register here.
Apply Now for One-Year Native Farmer Professional Cohort
First Nations’ new Native Farmer Professional Cohort aims to strengthen the farming and land stewardship skills of 12 beginning Native farmers and support them in accessing resources from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service (USDA NRCS). Through the year-long enrichment program, participants will receive training and networking opportunities, with a focus on improving soil health, water quality, local food systems, and land stewardship in alignment with Native values.
The cohort launches August 4, 2025. Beginning Native farmers with less than 10 years of experience: Learn more and apply here by Friday, July 18, 2025. Note: This application is housed on First Nations’ project management system and not on Fluxx.
Application Now Open for Native Agriculture and Food Systems Scholarships
First Nations’ Native Agriculture and Food Systems Investments (NAFSI) Scholarship program supports Native American, Alaska Native, and Native Hawaiian college students to ultimately better assist their communities with their food systems efforts. Again this year, First Nations will award 20 to 25 scholarships in the amount of $1,000 to $1,500 for the 2025-2026 academic school year to Native college or university students majoring in agriculture and agriculture-related fields. Apply here by July 11, 2025.