Jennifer Himmelreich

Jennifer Himmelreich (Navajo) serves as Senior Program Officer on First Nations’ Native Arts, Language, and Knowledge program and is based out of the New Mexico office at First Nations. Jennifer leads First Nations’ Native Arts Initiative and the Native Language Immersion Initiative. Jennifer holds a Bachelor’s degree in Art, with a minor is Sociology, and has pursued graduate studies in library and information science, complementing her professional experience. She brings more than 20 years of experience advancing Indigenous leadership, cultural equity, and community-driven systems change across libraries, museums, archives, and philanthropy. Jennifer was the first Native American to lead a 25+ year federal grant program at Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) supporting Native communities nationwide. In that role, she managed multi-million-dollar grant portfolios while modernizing application and review systems to increase accessibility, efficiency, and impact. She also helped design and advise the agency’s first Native program evaluation framework, intentionally embedding both Indigenous and Western methodologies to strengthen long-term outcomes and accountability. Jennifer’s work reflects a sustained commitment to strengthening Native communities through equitable investment, responsive program design, and leadership development.