Rachel Vernon Appointed Program Officer at First Nations Development Institute

LONGMONT, Colorado (Nov. 21, 2013) – First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) today announced it has hired Rachel Vernon as a program officer.

Vernon, who is Yaqui and Mescalero Apache, holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Stanford University in Stanford, California, and is currently completing a Master of Arts degree in ethnic studies at Colorado State University (CSU) in Fort Collins. For the past year, she has worked at the Native American Cultural Center at CSU, helping grow the organization’s fundraising capability and assisting with management of Native student outreach projects. At CSU, she also worked forCA7AE: HIV/AIDS Prevention Project, a CDC-funded program geared at improving the capacity of tribal communities to prevent HIV/AIDS among American Indians. She currently is a board member of the Northside Aztlan Community Center in Fort Collins.

Before returning to Colorado to pursue her master’s degree, Vernon was a development associate at the Asian Pacific Environmental Network in Oakland, California. There, she focused her efforts on building the organization’s grassroots donor program.

About First Nations Development Institute

For 33 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 http://www.firstnations.org.