We are often asked what impact we are having in Native communities. We can provide statistics, reports and formal findings, of course, but sometimes the words of our grantees speak loudest. Here are some of their stories taken from our Indian Giver newsletter:
Troubled Waters: What the Aleut Community is Doing to Restore Health to the Bering Sea
Native fishermen from the Aleut Community of St. Paul Island make a living catching halibut in the Bering Sea, but they are competing with large-scale industrial fishing. With First Nations’ help, the tribe is providing more equitable access for fishermen by bringing more Indigenous voices and knowledge to the fishery management process.
Read Full StoryOne Native Group’s Fight to Protect Sacred Land From Destructive Lithium Mining
People of Red Mountain is a grassroots organization of traditional knowledge keepers and members of the Fort McDermitt Paiute and Shoshone Tribe. The group is fighting hard against a proposed lithium mine in Thacker Pass, Nevada, an area in Humboldt County estimated to contain the largest-known lithium deposits in the United States.
Read Full StoryReturning the People’s Land to the Tongva Community
The Gabrieleno /Tongva San Gabriel Band of Mission Indians is reclaiming one acre of its land through its Tongva-led nonprofit, the Taraxat Paaxaavxa Conservancy. The public announcement of this land reclamation was officially made with a story in the Los Angeles Times titled, “After nearly 200 years, the Tongva community has land in Los Angeles County.”
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The Yuchi Language Comes Home
Since time immemorial, languages have been passed down in the home, from parent to child. It is how languages survive ― and cultures thrive. And it is for this reason that in Halay Turning Heart’s home, only the Yuchi language is spoken. “We have three kids, ages 6, 4, and 2, and we are raising them to be first-language speakers,” says the administrator of the Yuchi Language Project (YLP), a community-based, nonprofit organization in Sapulpa, Oklahoma, launched in 1994 by her father and YLP’s executive director, Dr. Richard Grounds.
Read Full StoryStocking the Pantry: How the Oneida Nation is Fighting Hunger on the Rez
The Oneida Emergency Food Pantry was launched in 2017. Its mission statement is simple: “We are an engaged community that fights hunger together.” Initially, the pantry served 12 people daily. Today, the pantry serves more than 700 people a month and receives around 200,000 pounds of food donations a year from many sources.
Read Full Story‘Our Foods Are Beautiful!’
First Nations community partner YAKANAL, a New Mexico-based international program, is reconnecting Indigenous people to their land and traditional agriculture. “The goal of restoring healthy Native foods allows the community to rely less on processed foods and can provide a sustainable source of income for Indigenous farmers,” explains Dr. Shelly Valdez, YAKANAL co-founder and CEO of Native Pathways.
Read Full StoryOneida Nation Trains More Butchers to Fortify Its Protein Supply Chain
The Oneida Nation has welcomed eight new butcher apprentices. A plumber, a physical therapist, and other tribal members of all ages and walks of life came together for a cumulative eight-day training ― both online and onsite ― to learn how to safely and respectfully process meat to feed the Oneida community.
Read Full StoryKe Kula ‘o Pi’ilani: A One-of-a-Kind Hawaiian Immersion School
On the island of Maui, Hawaiʹi, there exists a school like no other: Ke Kula ‘o Pi’ilani, the only private, independent, and nonprofit Hawaiian language and culture immersion school in the world. Behind the school is a powerful river that flows through the entire island out to the sea. It is the perfect setting for a curriculum focused on the four themes of fresh water, heavens, land, and ocean.
Read Full StoryHunkpati Processors: Local, High-Quality Beef
The Crow Creek Sioux Tribe of South Dakota built a brand-new, state-of-the-art meat processing plant, Hunkpati Processors, to provide a local, high-quality protein source for its community. “This project has brought great cultural pride to our people,” says Tribal Chairman Peter Lengkeek.
Read Full Story'$pending Frenzy' Returns! Plus, a New App!
After a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19, First Nations’ popular financial skills program for teens and young adults called “Spending Frenzy” has resumed in-person events. First stop: Central High School in Gallup, New Mexico, where students learned about the importance of financial planning.
Read Full StoryThe Historic Malki Museum: ‘We’re COVID-Safe!’
The Malki Museum is the first museum in California founded by Native Americans in 1964. During the pandemic, the historic Malki Museum, located on the Morongo Band of Mission Indians Reservation, adopted robust COVID-safety measures and messaging to get visitors back to the museum―and used this opportunity to teach the Cahuilla language at the same time.
Read Full Story‘Ačaam (Singing) Together’
To help bring its community together during the pandemic, the Fernandeño Tataviam Band of Mission Indians (FTBMI) created a musical instruction program taught via Zoom, using traditional musical instruments. It aimed to teach participants the Tribe’s language and culture centered around the seasons.
Read Full StoryNative Youth Business Plan Competition Fosters Culture, Opens Doors
For Victor Corpuz (Laguna), presenting a business plan before a gathering of Native business leaders and entrepreneurs provided not only a skills-building exercise, but an opportunity to acknowledge and celebrate the ingenuity of Native people. This article recaps Victor’s experience and showcases this inspiring event.
Read Full StoryGuided to Learn, Inspired to Thrive
With support from First Nations’ 2021 Gather Food Sovereignty Grant, the O Makuʻu Ke Kahua Community Center is hosting a new curriculum of workshops designed to help community members invest in their own food systems, feed their families, and thrive through challenges.
Read Full StoryTribal Retreat Provides Creative Space for Oceti Sakowin Writers
This year, the Oak Lake Writers’ Society annual Tribal Writing Retreat shifted to a virtual format, welcoming even more Oceti Sakowin writers and expanding the reach of this first-of-its-kind writers’ platform.
Read Full StoryThe Code to Better Health
In the past year, with funding coming in part through First Nations’ Fertile Ground Advocacy Campaign, Tribal Nations Research Group has been able to invest in food policy to improve the local food systems and food economy of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa community.
Read Full StoryBringing Fresh Foods to Zuni
After multiple stops and starts, a construction-slowing pandemic, and new funding and partnerships, Major Market is boosting capacity to deliver quality food.
Read Full StoryChecking in with the Sicangu Lakota Oyate
Rosebud Economic Development Corporation has grown their food system from a barren garden on a hill into an award-winning vision that is a prototype for communities nationwide.
Read Full StoryConnecting the Birth World to the Earth World
Roberta Eaglehorse-Ortiz is finding support for growth through First Nations’ Native Fundraisers Community of Practice.
Read Full StoryLakota Artists Boost Economy, Community & Cultural Traditions on Pine Ridge
For the Pine Ridge Area Chamber of Commerce, the goal is to bolster the local economy and improve the quality of life on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. This past summer, with the help of funding from First Nations Development Institute, the chamber discovered the powerful role art can play in this economic development, while bringing people together and keeping Lakota traditions alive.
Read Full StorySocial Value, Greater Healing: Art for the Upper Sioux
When the Upper Sioux Community in Granite Falls, Minnesota, sought funding from First Nations through the Native Arts Initiative, its goal was clear: increase access, awareness and inter-generational transfer of Dakota arts. Throughout its year-long arts project, the organization met its objective. And in doing so, it showed how the arts can unite people, strengthen community and foster healing.
Read Full StoryPassing Down Art and History at the Tulalip Tribes
Generations ago, art was everywhere in the Tulalip culture, represented in its tools, clothing, food and ceremony. After years of outside stressors chipping away at the tribes’ artistic soul, the Hibulb Cultural Center is working to bring art back. Since 2011, the center has invested in culturally-significant educational programming. And now with funding from First Nations’ Native Arts Initiative, it is bolstering its classes, reaching more people and fostering even more pride in the craftsmanship and elegance of Tulalip art.
Read Full StoryAkwesasne Project Benefits Hungry Kids
The Akwesasne Boys & Girls Club has been dedicated to the youth of its community since 2001. It provides many services through after-school programming. One service it is committed to is its food and nutrition program. The “Iawekon Nutrition for Kids” program received support from First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) under its “Nourishing Native Children: Feeding Our Future” Project that was generously supported by the Walmart Foundation.
Read Full StoryBishop Paiute Tribe Expands Nutrition Education
The Bishop Paiute Tribe’s Food Sovereignty Program has been working to expand its garden-based nutrition education projects to encourage healthy food and lifestyle choices. With funding provided by First Nations Development Institute and the Walmart Foundation, the program greatly expanded its community outreach … to both children and parents.
Read Full StoryBoys With Braids & REDCO Make a Healthy Foods Connection
One of First Nations Development Institute’s grantees under its recent “Nutrition Education for Native American Communities” grant program is the Rosebud Economic Development Corporation (REDCO), a tribally-chartered corporation of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota. REDCO’s Community Food Sovereignty Initiative received the funding from First Nations as part of First Nations’ Nourishing Native Foods and Health program area. The nutrition education program was generously supported by the Walmart Foundation.
Read Full StoryCalifornia Native Youth Share Legacy, Build Knowledge
In Santa Rosa, California, Indian culture is being cultivated and shared, thanks to the business savvy of a new generation, and a project with the motto “Selling education and creating opportunity.” Teens at the California Indian Museum and Cultural Center are taking part in Tribal Ambassadors Through Business, an initiative that teaches young people business skills through both online courses and the opportunity to open and run a museum store, showcasing and selling Native arts and crafts.
Read Full StoryCochiti’s Return to Native Foods Brings Better Health & Economy
In Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico, young people are returning to farming and reigniting a passion for their Pueblo ancestry. Thanks to the Cochiti Youth Experience, they are embracing quality food and what it means to their culture, sustainability and future.
Read Full StoryCRITFC Buoys Tribal Fishers & Columbia River Salmon Culture
A resource for fishers and a respect for salmon have been at the heart of the Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (CRITFC) in Portland, Oregon, for close to 40 years. Formed by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation, the Confederated Tribes of the Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon, the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation and the Nez Perce Tribe, CRITFC provides a unified voice in managing fishery resources and exercising the inherent sovereign powers of the tribes.
Read Full StoryFirst Nations Reaches Northernmost Alaska by way of Iḷisaġvik College
Barrow, Alaska, is a very long way from Longmont, Colorado, where First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) is headquartered. Nonetheless, one of First Nations’ grant programs is having a positive effect in the northernmost point of Alaska.
Read Full StoryHawaii Organization Farms Farmers and Drives Change
Something amazing is happening in Waimea, Hawaii. Native Hawaiians are returning to farming, and driving long-term change for society. Families are coming together, and children are being raised in a culture people take pride in. It’s all part of a vision of Mike Hodson, president of the Waimea Hawaiian Homesteaders’ Association.
Read Full StoryImpact! Cultivating Food & Culture at Nambé Pueblo
“If we didn’t have our culture, we wouldn’t be a pueblo. We would just be another town.” This is why the Pueblo of Nambé in New Mexico is ingraining its rich heritage in every crop, and growing pride with every harvest. “It’s an investment in not only food sovereignty, but in the future of our people,” said Nambé Farm Manager George Toya.
Read Full StorySpotlight on Zuni Youth Enrichment Project
In Zuni, New Mexico, Zuni children and teens are getting opportunities to explore their heritage, an experience that is increasing their self-esteem and helping them see new opportunities for the future.
Read Full StoryStrategically Investing in the Hopi Ways
“Helping the Hopi stay Hopi.” While the statement is simplistic, it is the prevailing motive behind The Hopi School and its efforts to increase capacity, incorporate strategic planning, and bolster arts programming. With the help of funding from First Nations’ Native Arts Initiative, this Native-led school in Northern Arizona is taking steps to both solidify and strengthen its infrastructure. And it’s doing it at a critical time when Hopi culture is becoming increasingly diminished.
Read Full StorySustaining Culture and Livelihood in Remote Igiugig Village
In Igiugig, a small village of only 69 people on the Kvichak River in southwestern Alaska, resources are scarce. Food must be flown in, and strategies to keep the village – and the culture of the Yup’ik Eskimos, Aleuts, and Athabascan Indians – flourishing must be seized. Here, with the support of First Nations Development Institute, this close-knit tribe is finding new ways to develop sustainable food sources, and creating opportunities for young people to succeed.
Read Full StoryThunder Valley CDC is Helping Transform Pine Ridge
The people of the Oceti Sakowin Oyate are undergoing a revolution. After surviving generations of colonization, the Lakota, Dakota and Nakota people are rising up from the weight of colonial legacies and building upon the work of their Indigenous ancestors to create a brighter future. On the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, home to the Oglala Lakota, the Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation is helping lead this transformation.
Read Full StoryTraining Brings an ‘Ah Ha’ for Sheep Grower
TahNibaa Naataanii of the Navajo Nation lives on the land where her family has raised sheep as part of their traditional life and culture for hundreds of years. Just south of Shiprock, New Mexico, and the Four Corners area, about half an hour away, is Table Mesa. That’s where you’ll find Naataanii tending to her sheep. She takes pride in being able to raise her Navajo churro sheep and use the wool in both traditional and new ways to provide a living for her and her daughter.
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