Tag Archives: National Urban Indian Family Coalition

Updates on the Joint “Urban Native Project”

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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.

Collaboration & Partnerships Expand in Urban Indian Program

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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

First Nations and NUIFC Launch Urban Indian Project

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First Nations Development Institute and the National Urban Indian Family Coalition (NUIFC), based in Seattle, Washington, recently partnered on a three-year program to build the capacity and effectiveness of urban American Indian/Alaska Native nonprofit organizations. The project is made possible by a grant from the The Kresge Foundation.

In August, First Nations and NUIFC came together to sign the necessary memorandum of undertanding for the partnership, and a few days later we launched the request for proposals for organizations to apply for grants.

Shown here signing the documents are First Nations President Michael Roberts (right), with (L to R) Nichole Maher, who is chair of NUIFC board and president of the Northwest Health Foundation in Portland, Oregon; and Janeen Comenote, executive director of NUIFC.

First Nations and NUIFC will be announcing the first-year grantees soon.

 

First Nations Partners with NUIFC to Add Urban Indian Focus

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In May 2013, First Nations announced it received a substantial grant from The Kresge Foundation that we’ll use to help improve numerous American Indian nonprofit organizations in urban or metropolitan locations. The project will accomplish this by helping build the capacity of those organizations, which means we’ll provide tailored training and technical assistance that will help them better organize, strategize, manage and grow their organizations. In turn, they will become stronger, more efficient and more effective in achieving their missions.

This is a bit of a departure for First Nations. Throughout its more than three decades of existence, First Nations has primarily focused on rural and reservation-based Native communities. We are now expanding into a new focus area that helps address the well-being of Native Americans who happen to live and work in bigger cities.

And in the spirit of cooperation and collaboration that we use in everything we do with Native communities, we have partnered with a great organization that provides us with enhanced “street smarts” in those urban communities – the National Urban Indian Family Coalition, or NUIFC, which is a network of urban Indian organizations that strengthen urban Native families. It is led by Executive Director Janeen Comenote, who founded the organization.

Janeen is passionate about her work. “We know that American Indian families and children are among the most vulnerable of America’s urban populations,” she notes.  “Today, more than 4 million, or 78% of American Indians, live off the reservation and lack a collective national voice.  In culturally and geographically diverse Indian Country, the populations of American Indians residing off reservation often remain the ‘silent majority.’  American Indians and Alaska Natives populate some of the most disproportionately low social and economic standards in every large city in which they reside, with a child poverty rate at  25%, which is nearly triple the national average and unemployment at double the national average.”
Janeen Comenote

Janeen knows first-hand the situation of urban Indians. She was born and raised in Seattle, Washington – she is Hesquiaht and Kwakiutl First Nation from her mother’s side, and Oglala Lakota and enrolled Quinault from her father’s side – and she has worked in this area, in one form or another, for nearly 20 years.  “I am driven to do this. I have worked with Native street youth, Indian child welfare, as well as poverty research and program development,” she says. “This breadth and depth of experience has given me a unique view into the day-to-day realities of Native people living in urban areas as well as provided the impetus to do what I can do to help address some of those disparities.”

The partnership will draw upon First Nations’ extensive capacity-building expertise and NUIFC’s networks, evaluation and data-collection experience, and insider knowledge of urban Indian organizations and their needs. Over the life of the Kresge Foundation grant, which runs to the end of 2016, First Nations and NUIFC with work directly with as many as nine urban Native American nonprofits to help them improve their management and leadership skills and boost their organizational effectiveness, provide customized assistance and training, host an annual capacity building conference for participants, and document the project’s best practices and potential for replication in other Native American urban communities. First Nations Senior Program Officer Montoya Whiteman (Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes) is managing the grant and the partnership.

“For 32 years, First Nations has worked primarily in rural and reservation-based Native American communities, helping them develop much-needed stronger economies by doing our work on several fronts,” noted Michael E. Roberts (Tlingit), First Nations president.  “We’re now excited to take our successful track record and apply it to urban communities of American Indians.  Native nonprofits that are more effective at what they do and how they are managed are a key resource to the health, prosperity and growth of Indian communities, whether rural or urban.”

Urban Indian organizations, some of which were launched in the 1940s and 50s, are an important support to Native families and individuals, providing cultural linkages as well as being a hub for accessing essential services. There are nearly 250 local or state-focused urban Indian organizations in NUIFC’s network representing over 600,000 Indians nationwide.

According to Janeen, one of the primary intentions of creating the NUIFC is to ensure access to traditionally excluded organizations and families, and to focus attention on the needs of urban Indians. “Our primary goal is to contribute to better living standards and develop a resource pool through which we can reach this goal,” Janeen said.  “I cannot overemphasize the importance and impact this innovative work will have in strengthening the urban Indian nonprofit sector and thereby improving the outcomes for our communities. Projects and partnerships like this provide important acknowledgment that the needs of our urban populations are important and being addressed.”

By Randy Blauvelt, First Nations Senior Communications Officer