First Nations Gives 24 Native Youth & Culture Fund Grants Totaling $400,000 to 23 Organizations

LONGMONT, Colorado (Oct. 23, 2014) – First Nations Development Institute (*First Nations* [ http://www.firstnations.org ]) today announced it has awarded 24 grants to 23 American Indian, Alaska Native and Native Hawaiian organizations through its Native Youth and Culture Fund (NYCF) for the 2014-15 funding cycle. The grants, which total $400,000, will help strengthen and renew American Indian culture and traditions among Native youth.

First Nations believes that Native youth are the future of Indian Country. It launched the NYCF in 2002 with support from the *Kalliopeia Foundation* [ http://www.kalliopeia.org/ ] and other contributions from foundations and tribal, corporate and individual supporters. To date, First Nations has awarded 279 grants to Native youth programs throughout the U.S., totaling $4.5 million. This year's generous support comes from the Kalliopeia Foundation and the *Susan A. and Donald P. Babson Charitable Foundation* [ http://www.babsonfoundation.org/ ].

*The 2014 Native Youth and Culture Fund grantees are:*

* *Chickaloon Native Village (Chickaloon, Alaska) – Ya Ne Dah Ah Be'endze – $20,000. *This project will enable Ya Ne Dah Ah School students to connect one-on-one with elders in order to design webpages to share cultural lessons, community activities, the Ahtna language, and elder interviews with a broader network of tribal citizens.

* * Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma (Durant, Oklahoma) – Chahta Native Youth Stickball – $18,150. *This pilot project promotes healthy lifestyles, cultural education and positive youth mentoring through the revitalization of the traditional tribal game of stickball. About 120 youth will participate in a year-long series of activities to improve their cultural knowledge, provide physical activity and nutrition education, and impart character-building and leadership skills. Activities include handcrafting stickball sticks and training youth as coaches.

* *Cocopah Indian Tribe (Somerton, Arizona) – Credit Recovery and Career Exploration: CRACE – $25,000*. The goal of the CRACE project is to provide the resources and materials for at-risk youth and truant students to recover academic credit, provide the resources and networking opportunities for future career exploration, develop opportunities for male youth to experience and develop leadership skills and, ultimately, to reduce school delinquency and increase student performance in school.

* *Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (Portland, Oregon) – Tribal Salmon Camp – $10,000. *This five-day salmon camp will increase the number of tribal youth interested in careers that protect cultural and natural tribal resources. The camp will target middle-school youth and provide culturally relevant Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) experiences and resources to increase awareness of financial aid and college preparation.

* *Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission (Portland, Oregon) – Expand Tribal Fishers Salmon Marketing Opportunities – $9,375. *This program assists tribal fishers as they build new relationships with tribes to develop and expand market opportunities for salmon products. The NYCF supplemental grant will provide eight undergraduate students with a 10-week, paid internship to provide them with work experience and exposure to careers in natural resources and fisheries within their tribal communities.

* *Enemy Swim Day School (Waubay, South Dakota) – Sons and Daughters of Tradition – $20,000. *The Sons of Tradition and Daughters of Tradition cultural resiliency and prevention program will reinforce and introduce tribal cultural knowledge of daily and ceremonial practices governing Dakota life and increase student self-image, personal awareness and tribal identity. This program will be provided to at-risk students as cultural education and culturally therapeutic personal development.

* *Fort Peck Community College (Poplar, Montana) – Wanakonas'a: The Generous Ones – $15,520. *This immersion-style summer language program will provide 196 hours of language instruction to students. This program will also engage parents of students in order to create language learning environments nurtured by families.

* *Hawkeye Indian Cultural Center, Inc. (Red Springs, North Carolina) – Hawkeye's Sacred Traditions – $20,000. *This project provides intergenerational activities to cultivate and strengthen the link between youth and elders. Youth will be engaged through organic gardening, ecotourism activities, nutrition activities and physical fitness activities. Five youth will eventually be trained with the knowledge to become tour guides for the cultural center.

* *Hui Malama O Ke Kai Foundation (Waimanalo, Hawaii) – E Kalai I ka Papa Hee Nalu: Carving a Traditional Hawaiian Surfboard – $20,000*. This project engages 40 youth in creating their own traditional Hawaiian surfboards through 60 hours of training. Youth will increase their knowledge of traditional practices utilizing natural resources and increase their self-awareness and knowledge of cultural beliefs.

* *Keres Children's Learning Center (Cochiti Pueblo, New Mexico) - $1,000*. This language-immersion program seeks to revitalize the Keres language in a preschool setting serving children ages three to six.

* *Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (Harbor Springs, Michigan) – Camp MnoBimaadziwin: The Good Life – $18,325. *This out-of-school-time project uses a land-based education framework to promote positive cultural identity development in youth through summer, spring and after-school activities. Youth will learn how to play lacrosse, identify medicinal and edible plants, identify important members of the community, and gain perspective on the importance of water.

* *Native American Advocacy Program (Herrick, South Dakota) – Sunka Wakan Otakuye: Kinship with Horses Program – $19,480. *The Sunka Wakan Otakuye Horse Camp focuses on providing opportunities for Native youth to cultivate their Lakota identity. Camp participants will learn to care for horses, interact with and ride them, and learn about the Lakota cultural relationship with the Horse Nation.

* *Native, Inc. (Denver, Colorado) - $1,100. *College scholarships support for Native American college students attending Colorado colleges.

* * Native Village of Kotzebue IRA (Kotzebue, Alaska) – Linking Kotzebue Youth to Inupiaq Language and Arts – $17,000. *After-school activities from November to March will target 20 youth alumni of the Nikaitchuat pre-K to grade 2 immersion program. These youth will engage in additional language classes, song and dance activities, and learning traditional arts and crafts.

* *Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi (Fulton, Michigan) – Mno Bmadzewen Youth Project – $20,000*. This project seeks to revitalize traditional customs that have been lost or nearly lost to the NHBP tribal community. Youth will participate in a variety of activities throughout the year such as black ash basket-making, playing lacrosse, making clay pots and cattail mats, harvesting wild rice, entering a snow snake competition, and collecting sap for maple syrup production.

* *Ogallala Commons, Inc. (Nazareth, Texas) – Ogallala Commons Community Internships – $6,300*. This project will support four summer or semester-long community internships. Each community intern will work on local food projects and activities that promote and enhance Native food sovereignty.

* * The Oneida Tribe of Indians of Wisconsin (Oneida, Wisconsin) – Oneida Young Entrepreneurs in Agriculture – $25,000*. This project provides tools and skills to youth to share the value of healthy local foods with their peers and community. Youth will learn and explore the farm-to-plate concept through the harvesting and processing of products to produce a trail mix that can be sold in the local school and the marketplace as a fund-raising program.

* *Pueblo of Nambe (Nambe Pueblo, New Mexico) – Nambe Pueblo Community Farm Project – $9,375*. The Community Farm Project creates more traditional meals with locally grown, highly nutritious food items. Nambe Pueblo is a food desert with issues of access and affordability of fresh, local produce. The farm can expand with eventual creation of a marketplace on pueblo land, instituting practices such as composting and seed saving, and working to revitalize Indigenous crops, harvesting wild plants, and raising hormone-free, locally slaughtered meats.

* *Pueblo of San Felipe (San Felipe Pueblo, New Mexico) – The San Felipe Intergenerational Project – $20,000*. This intergenerational project is designed to create a stronger bond between San Felipe youth and elders. About 40 youth will be selected from the San Felipe Natural Helpers program (a peer-helping-peer suicide prevention program). These youth will participate in Keres language instruction, traditional storytelling and arts, traditional dance instruction and visiting traditional and cultural sites.

* *Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma (Ponca City, Oklahoma) – Green House Community Garden Project – $9,375. *This program builds capacity and expands the local community greenhouse. The goal is to produce twice as many fruits and vegetables in the expanded greenhouse. Additionally, the funds will be used to host weekly diabetes health education and cooking classes.

* *Santa Fe Indian School Leadership Institute (Santa Fe, New Mexico) – Pueblo Pathways Project – $25,000*. The purpose of the Pueblo Pathways Project (P3) is to reduce middle school and high school dropout rates within Pueblo Indian communities. The mentorship program seeks to reinforce the cultural values and traditions that are the foundation of Pueblo identity.

* *Tewa Women United (Santa Cruz, New Mexico) – Sengipaa Ing Vi: Journey of Becoming a Man – $25,000. *The Journey of Becoming a Man project is a mentorship program for Native American youth, ages 14-18, that seeks to re-engage youth disconnected from the culture and traditions. The program focuses on intergenerational trauma as well as the concepts of patriarchy and gender roles.

* *Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, Texas) – Empowering Tribal Warriors – $25,000. *The Young Warrior Initiative is a mentorship program that teaches tribal youth how to "walk in two worlds." Tribal youth and their mentors participate in activities such as bow and arrow making, drumming, pottery, and a college preparatory workshop.

* *Zuni Youth Enrichment Project (Zuni, New Mexico) – Zuni Past, Zuni Future – $20,000. *This program creates an opportunity for youth to learn first-hand about the Zuni migration story, one of the most critical components of Zuni traditions and culture. Participants will learn about sites and events via a series of excursions, education provided by community partners, and videography of the youth's own physical and spiritual journey.

*About First Nations Development Institute*

For 34 years, using a three-pronged strategy of educating grassroots practitioners, advocating for systemic change, and capitalizing Indian communities, First Nations has been working to restore Native American control and culturally-compatible stewardship of the assets they own – be they land, human potential, cultural heritage, or natural resources – and to establish new assets for ensuring the long-term vitality of Native American communities. First Nations serves Native American communities throughout the United States. For more information, visit *www.firstnations.org* [ http://www.firstnations.org ].