Tag Archives: YouTube

Video Explores Changing Landscape of Native Food Sources

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First Nations Development Institute (First Nations) recently posted a new video on its YouTube Channel titled “Traditional Food Systems: The Changing Landscape of Native American Food Sources” at this link as part of our Native American food security effort that was underwritten by AARP Foundation.

The video features insights from elders and others involved in food-systems work at three pueblos in New Mexico: Cochiti, Nambé and Santo Domingo. In particular, it asks elders to describe what the food systems were like in the pueblos back when they were younger and how they have changed. Today, the goal is to reclaim control of local food systems for better health, nutrition, security and well-being.

The video was photographed and edited for First Nations by students and faculty in the Cinematic Arts & Technology Department at the Institute of American Indian Arts [IAIA] in Santa Fe, New Mexico. A second video from the project is completed and is now being finalized by IAIA.

Statistics indicate that approximately 12 percent of all Native Americans living in poverty are age 55 or older. Additionally, Native American seniors often suffer from higher rates of obesity, diabetes and other diet-related illnesses. Through First Nations, AARP Foundation has contributed significant funding toward improving the health and nutrition of Native American seniors.

AARP Foundation is working to win back opportunity for struggling Americans 50+ by being a force for change on the most serious issues they face today: housing, hunger, income and isolation. By coordinating responses to these issues on all four fronts at once, and supporting them with vigorous legal advocacy, the foundation serves the unique needs of those 50+ while working with local organizations nationwide to reach more people, work more efficiently and make resources go further. AARP Foundation is a charitable affiliate of AARP.

To watch this video, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q3zrLdFbLE.  You’ll also find numerous other videos related to our work on our YouTube Channel.

“My Green” Campaign Releases Music Video

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First Nations Development Institute’s “My Green” campaign, a social marketing campaign focused on financial empowerment for Native American youth, has just released a new music video that addresses “18 Money,” which is the age at which some Native teens receive a significant financial distribution while they often lack the skills to effectively deal with the windfall.

Theodore “Theo” Brown, a member of the Ho-Chunk Nation in Wisconsin, wrote and recorded a song titled “Turned 18” about the challenges and pitfalls of receiving a minor’s trust payment. Working alongside the Ho-Chunk Players, a Native youth theater troupe directed by Sherman Funmaker, Theo and the group produced a music video to illustrate a day in the life of a Ho-Chunk youth who “turned 18.” The video was shot over several days this past summer in Baraboo and Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, and is available on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsLB8vzk-80.

Ho-Chunk Players on location in Baraboo, Wis. Left to right are Sherman Funmaker, Sylvia Bisonette, Dean Funmaker, Mariah Funmaker and Diana Concha.

It can be called “Minor’s Trust,” “Big Money” or “18 Money,” and for a number of Native American youth, it represents a blessing and a curse. A small number of tribes pay out dividends from tribal businesses, or per-capita payments, to their members. Payments for tribal members who are age 17 or younger are usually held in a financial trust until the youth turns 18. At age 18 (although sometimes later) youth receive a substantial payment and are faced with the responsibility of managing their “Big Money.”

With funding from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation, First Nations launched the “My Green” campaign to help Native youth learn to manage their “18 Money.” This includes raising awareness of the challenges and opportunities provided by the minor’s trust payment. The campaign features a website at www.mybigmoney.org that provides a platform for four spokespeople – Native youth ages 17-23 – to present their stories about how they managed their money. They share their lessons learned in several videos, and serve as guides throughout the different components of the website.

Please Join Us on Social Media

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First Nations is active on some social media sites, and we would welcome you to join our social media “circle.”

On Facebook, we are at www.facebook.com/firstnationsdevelopmentinstitute. Please “like” our page and we can be connected that way, too.

On Twitter, we tweet under the name @FNDI303 (our initials and our telephone area code). You can also find us by searching on Twitter for “First Nations” or going to https://twitter.com/FNDI303. Please follow us and we’ll follow you back.

We have a YouTube video channel. You can go here — www.youtube.com/FNDI303 — or search YouTube for First Nations Development Institute.

On Pinterest, we try to do some “pinning” at http://www.pinterest.com/firstnations/.  We’d love to have you follow our boards there!

On LinkedIn, we have both a “discussion group” and a regular “company page.”  To find our active group, just go to LinkedIn and search for “First Nations Development Institute group.”