Updates on the Joint “Urban Native Project”

Posted on November 18, 2015 by rblauvelt

Representatives from the Native American Youth and Family Center (Portland, Oregon), Native American Community Services of Erie and Niagara Counties (Buffalo, New York), Little Earth of United Tribes (Minneapolis, Minnesota), the Chief Seattle Club and the National Urban Indian Family Coalition (NUIFC) (both in Seattle, Washington) met in Denver, Colorado, Oct. 20-21, 2015, to tap into the experience of nonprofit leaders, as part of First Nations Development Institute’s “Strengthening Tribal & Community Institutions” focus area and, specifically, the Urban Native Project.

Through a series of cohort meetings, participants utilize diverse areas of learning, build their professional networks, and gain valuable insights by talking with peers about the ways they have tackled particular challenges at their organizations. These meetings are sponsored by the Comcast Foundation and the Kresge Foundation. The meetings enable leaders to step back from the pressures of their jobs and to look at the big picture, learn new skills, strategize policy or action, leverage opportunities, and reflect on the unique perspectives of their organizations and their programs.

First Nations Senior Program Officer Montoya Whiteman and NUIFC Executive Director Janeen Comenote head up the Urban Native Project, which is a joint effort between First Nations and NUIFC.

Separately, on Nov. 9, 2015, the two organizations announced the newly-selected grantees for the 2015-2016 cycle, which is the third year of the Urban Native Project. Under the effort, First Nations and NUIFC, as partners, are working to build the capacity and effectiveness of American Indian and/or Alaska Native nonprofit organizations by providing project funding, training and technical assistance.

The project is made possible through a grant made to First Nations by The Kresge Foundation. It aims to help organizations that work with some of the estimated 78 percent of American Indians and Alaska Natives who live off reservations or away from tribal villages, and who reflect some of the most disproportionately low social and economic standards in the urban areas in which they reside. Urban Indian organizations are an important support to Native families and individuals, providing cultural linkages as well as a hub for accessing essential human services.

The four projects selected for the 2015-2016 period are:

American Indian Child Resource Center, Oakland, California, $40,000, for the “Positive American Indian Directions” (PAID) program, which is an asset-building and self-sufficiency effort for urban Native youth. The target population is “disconnected” (out-of-school, out-of-work, and not served by any other agency) Native youth living in Oakland and surrounding areas, ages 14-21.
American Indian OIC, Minneapolis, Minnesota, $40,000, for the “Integrated Community Placement Project” that seeks to reduce unemployment for the Native community living in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area by training students for specific occupations such as web designer/developer, computer support specialist, and administrative professional, and providing related apprenticeships in the agency’s own social enterprises.
Hawaiian Community Assets, Inc., Honolulu, Hawaii, $40,000, for the “Building Stability in Housing” project. The goal of the Building Stability in Housing project is to establish an integrated asset-building system within five Native Hawaiian-controlled nonprofit organizations and Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFIs) that will increase access to affordable housing for Native Hawaiians residing in urban trust lands.
Little Earth of United Tribes, Minneapolis, Minnesota, $20,000, for a project to reform its corporate and governance structure in order to better support its mission through asset-based community development. By developing board and governance policies and improving its organizational structure, Little Earth intends to encourage the growth and expansion of the organization in a coordinated and integrated manner.

Little Earth: Promoting Self-Determination & Advancement

Posted on May 20, 2015 by rblauvelt

Little Earth of United Tribes is regarded as the “heart and soul of the American Indian community” in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded in 1973, Little Earth is the only federally subsidized housing complex in the United States for American Indians. The complex, located in south Minneapolis, comprises 212 townhomes and apartments, a community center and early learning center. It is home to nearly 1,000 residents representing more than 30 different tribes and tribal nations.

Seventy percent of the residents at Little Earth are under the age of 30. Approximately, 94 percent of its residents live below the poverty line and experience high rates of unemployment.

Robert Lilligren

Robert Lilligren, president and CEO of Little Earth, does not believe these statistics are an accurate representation of the community’s potential. He says, “Little Earth residents are smart, energetic and enterprising, but lack the skills and tools to engage in the economy more fully.

Over the past year, Little Earth has restructured its governance system and improved management practices with the goal of engaging and empowering its residents. To this end, Little Earth established several new programs that emphasize financial literacy, self-sufficiency and access to homeownership.

In 2014, First Nations, with generous support from The Kresge Foundation, awarded Little Earth $40,000 to assist with efforts to grow and improve these new programs. With this grant, Little Earth launched the Community Wealth Creation and Employment Program.

The Community Wealth Creation and Employment Program is a three-year program that assists residents with personal and business financial planning. Recently, 20 residents completed the first year of the program, which focused upon basic financial skills, job search skills and professional development.

The second and third years of the program will introduce residents to the key steps and tools required to start a small business. Little Earth leaders will work with residents to establish Little Earth’s Food Truck and Catering and Little Earth’s Online Market. Little Earth’s Food Truck and Catering is expected to launch in 2015 and Little Earth’s Online Market is tentatively scheduled for early 2016.

The Community Wealth Creation and Employment Program is intended to increase employment rates and decrease poverty rates in the community. Lilligren says, “We expect program participants to gain the experience, motivation and wherewithal to achieve their employment and entrepreneurial goals, and to inspire others in the community.”

Additionally, completion of this program will allow residents to take advantage of Little Earth’s other programs such as the new homeownership initiative. The Little Earth Homeownership Initiative provides support services to help Little Earth residents purchase their first home. To qualify for this program, residents must have a reliable and steady source of income.

The Community Wealth Creation and Employment Program functions as a pipeline that will helps ensure that potential applicants are prepared to meet this criteria and achieve their long-term goals. Through these innovative programs, Little Earth is able to promote self-determination and community advancement. Little Earth reiterates that American Indians have the knowledge, power and resilience to strengthen their own tribes and tribal communities.

By Sarah Hernandez, First Nations Program Coordinator

“Crazy Cash City” for a Crazy Cash World

Posted on May 19, 2014 by rblauvelt

A scene from a similar "Crazy Cash City" event in Gallup, New Mexico.

What’s the best way to learn about personal finance? How about a workshop where you get to make financial choices – and sometimes mistakes – but all with play money?

First Nations Development Institute partnered with the Native American Youth and Family Center (NAYA) in Portland, Oregon, to offer a “Crazy Cash City” workshop just yesterday, May 19, 2014. NAYA sponsors an alternative high school known as the Early College Academy that emphasizes student empowerment and academic excellence while integrating core American Indian and Alaska Native values in partnership with parents, families, elders and community members. First Nations is working with the Early College Academy to provide innovative financial education programming, including the “Crazy Cash City” workshop where more than 100 youth will learn the basics of budgeting, bill paying and financial responsibility.

“Students learn best in experiential settings,” noted Shawn Spruce, First Nations’ financial education trainer coordinating the event. “Kids like to hear, see, think and do. They are not just learning the concepts, they are carrying out the actual activities of budgeting and bill paying. Research shows that this is a much more effective learning model for youth than classroom lectures.”

The “Crazy Cash City” workshop is a 90-minute reality fair in which students have to navigate a series of simulated financial tasks designed to teach basic budgeting and banking skills. It is designed to be fun — since they are spending play money and not really buying things — but it is also informative and highly interactive. All participants are given a folder containing a fictitious family profile that listed what their income was, the income of a spouse, the age of any children, and any outstanding debt or benefits they received. The high school kids then visit about 10 booths that provided various choices for housing, transportation, child care and more, and are asked to make smart financial decisions based on their family profile. At the conclusion of the seminar, the students were expected to have a fully balanced budget that they logged in their check register and budgeting sheet. This workshop has been held multiple times with high schools in Gallup, New Mexico, and is based on the Credit Union National Association’s “Mad City Money” program.

Students calculate expenses at a similar event last year in Gallup, New Mexico

The purpose of the event is to give the youth opportunities to practice good spending and budgeting habits prior to entering the “real world” after graduation. The idea is to promote smart and informed decisions that will last a lifetime. This event was made possible with the support of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. First Nations is honored to be partnering with NAYA on this project, and proudly supports their work in an additional grant supported by The Kresge Foundation. “This event really brings together community partners and it is always great to work with the students and teachers,” said Michael E. Roberts, president of First Nations Development Institute. “We are happy that we found an exciting way to teach youth practical budgeting and banking skills that they can soon apply in the real world.”

By Sarah Dewees, First Nations Senior Director of Research, Policy & Asset-Building Programs

Recent Grants Give Big Boost to First Nations’ Mission

Posted on March 19, 2014 by rblauvelt

Over the past couple of months, First Nations has received several grants that will go a long way toward fulfilling our mission of strengthening American Indian economies to support healthy Native communities.

In March, we received a $1.2 million grant for a project that aims to build the sustainability and vibrancy of Native American organizations that are specifically targeting Native artists and Native cultural institutions. Under the project, we expect to award between 18 and 55 grants ranging from $500 to $30,000 each over the next three years. The grants will help develop the effectiveness and capacity of reservation-based and select non-reservation-based Native museums, cultural centers, community development financial institutions (CDFIs), nonprofit organizations, tribal programs and Native chambers of commerce that have program initiatives in place to support Native art and Native artists. There also will be additional grants, scholarships and travel stipends awarded for professional development opportunities, conferences and related convenings.

The grant was awarded by the Margaret A. Cargill Foundation of Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

In February, we announced that AARP Foundation granted us $250,000 to expand a project that addresses hunger, nutrition and food security of Native American tribal elders. The new grant expands work that began in 2012 when AARP Foundation provided First Nations with a $187,660 grant to begin the Native American Food Security project.

Under the first grant, First Nations awarded funding to four projects that have been successfully completed and evaluated. They were to the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma, the Pueblo of Nambe and Santo Domingo Pueblo in New Mexico, and Sipaulovi Development Corporation (Hopi) in Arizona. Under the new grant, First Nations will award funding to additional Native American projects.

Earlier in February, we announced that the Comcast Foundation provided a $50,000 grant to supplement a 2013 grant of $1.1 million from The Kresge Foundation. Together, they are being used to enhance the capacity and effectiveness of American Indian nonprofit organizations located in urban settings, as well as providing training and technical assistance services.

This is just the latest from the Comcast Foundation. Last year the foundation gave First Nations funds to produce television announcements along with more than $1.5 million in donated airtime on the Comcast Xfinity cable TV system. This allowed First Nations to run its public service advertising spots more than 113,000 times on various channels. In turn, these announcements helped build awareness of First Nations and the work we do to address pressing issues in Indian Country.

Collaboration & Partnerships Expand in Urban Indian Program

Posted on November 20, 2013 by rblauvelt

Jay Grimm, executive director of the Denver Indian Center, talks about the project

The Denver Indian Center, Inc. and the Denver Indian Family Resource Center are partners in the “Building Strong American Indian/Alaska Native Communities” effort, which is a three-year project that is funded by The Kresge Foundation.

As grant recipients in First Nations’ 2013-2014 Urban Indian Organization program, their project strategy is to improve and expand collaborative opportunities for the two organizations, as well as other partner organizations in metropolitan Denver. They plan to increase participation in new and existing programs, build resources, explore new ways of working together, and enrich communication that creates the most impact. Proposed activities involve resource development, case management, outreach, marketing, information exchange, database management, and developing best practices.

The National Urban Indian Family Coalition (NUIFC) and First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) are also strategic partners in this project. The main objective of their partnership is the amplification of services to the grantees to aid in sustainability and growth. It is the right business match. We are committed to the design and co-management of the program with open access to information, networks, resources and skills. Our tasks are to deliver technical assistance and training along with assessments, site visits, media development, and information-sharing forums.

Partnerships and collaboration are motivating philosophies at First Nations. Collaboration builds the Native American nonprofit sector. It is a process that prompts individuals with diverse interests to share their knowledge and resources to improve outcomes, innovate and enhance decisions. When we share our expertise we become deeply involved in the design and delivery of outreach, programs, and services. As partners we solve problems, meet objectives, build support, and utilize our strengths more effectively for greater success.

Under the Kresge project, First Nations and NUIFC also selected two other organizations to receive grants. They are the Native American Youth and Family Center in Portland, Oregon, and the Little Earth of United Tribes in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Each of the three projects is receiving a $40,000 grant.

First Nations’ and NUIFC’s overall effort aims to help organizations that work with some of the estimated 78 percent ofAmerican Indians and Alaska Natives who live off reservations or away from tribal villages, and who reflect some of the most disproportionately low social and economic standards in the urban areas in which they reside. Urban Indian organizations are an important support to Native families and individuals, providing cultural linkages as well as a hub for accessing essential services.

To learn more about these organizations and the project, please see the First Nations/NUIFC press release at this link: http://www.firstnations.org/node/645.

By Montoya A. Whiteman, First Nations Senior Program Officer

18th Annual L.E.A.D. Conference a Huge Success

Posted on November 20, 2013 by rblauvelt

First Nations President Michael Roberts opens the conference and introduces the first keynote speaker.

In early October 2013, First Nations held its 18th Annual L.E.A.D. Institute Conference at the Mystic Lake Casino Hotel in Prior Lake, Minnesota, at the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community. It attracted a record number of attendees – almost 200 – who journeyed to the event from numerous Native nonprofits, tribal governments, businesses and other entities across the U.S. It also attracted foundation and corporate executives, many of whom presented at workshops or on panels during the conference.

Lori Watso of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community talks about renewable energy and sustainability efforts.

Although the group was diverse, they all shared one common purpose: they are deeply interested in building, rebuilding, growing and improving Native American communities and economies. This is a purpose that aligns directly with First Nations’ own goal and mission.

L.E.A.D. stands for “Leadership and Entrepreneurial Apprenticeship Development” program. It is a First Nations effort designed to provide training, mentorship and networking opportunities to emerging and existing Native American leaders and other professionals, particularly those engaged in nonprofit work but also for those involved in Native businesses and governments.

The conference kicked off with intensive pre-sessions that included the areas of agriculture and Native food sovereignty, financial capability, and urban Indian programs. Co-sponsors of these pre-sessions included the Shakopee Farm, Intertribal Agriculture Council, Northwest Area Foundation and The Kresge Foundation. The pre-sessions ended and the main conference began with a networking reception sponsored by Comcast|NBCUniversal.

The Funders Panel draws lots of interest and questions.

The next day and a half featured keynote presentations and breakout workshops on a variety of topics related to First Nations’ focus areas of asset-building, nonprofit capacity-building and Native food systems. Among the keynote speakers were Lori Watso, secretary/treasurer of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, who spoke about some of the tribe’s renewable energy and sustainability initiatives; and Bill Black, vice president and executive director of the Comcast Foundation and director of community investment for Comcast Corporation, who addressed why and how his company is supporting organizations in Indian Country. The breakout sessions covered areas such as marketing, communications and social media, financial and investor education, good agriculture practices, nonprofit incorporation and board development, Native food policy, and financial management.

Comcast Foundation's Bill Black keynotes about why and how Comcast is supporting Indian Country.

The conference ended with the ever-popular Funders Panel comprised of representatives from foundations that support Indian Country. They provided insights, guidance and tips on dealing with their foundations in seeking support for projects and initiatives. Panelists included representatives from Northwest Area Foundation, Otto Bremer Foundation, CHS Foundation, Bush Foundation, Margaret A. Cargill Foundation, Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, and First Nations.

By Marsha Whiting, First Nations Senior Program Officer