Grants to Native American Programs

Over the past 20 years, the Northwest Area Foundation directed more than $60 million to support programs focused on reducing poverty and building prosperity in reservation and urban Native American communities within its eight-state region.   Philanthropy Northwest “Trends in Northwest Giving 2008” reports that the Foundation contributed one-third of all grant dollars to Native communities between the years of 2004 and 2006 in Alaska, Montana, Washington, Idaho and Oregon.

Northwest Area Foundation has been and continues to be a supporter of several poverty-reduction programs among Native American.  These include three initiatives with Native American tribes seeking deep and lasting change.  

Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe is located in central South Dakota, spans 2.8 million acres and contains 18 communities   The Foundation committed up to $9.5 million over 10 years to support Tribal Venture’s 10-Year Strategic Plan to reduce poverty.

Some key accomplishments include:

  • Establishing eight Learning Centers  in remote communities to help low-income tribal members connect with  tribal services, general education programs, and orientation to work opportunities
  • Creating an innovative nationally-recognized Youth Individual Development Account (IDA) program for teen job internships, financial literacy training, and saving for higher education and careers
  • Organizing a Native Chamber of Commerce, including non-Indian businesses, to promote entrepreneurship and to increase the circulation of dollars on the reservation
  • Developing cultural revitalization programs for adults and a Lakota language immersion day care program for infants
  • Designing and operating a Community Development Fund and a Reservation Partnership Fund to spur community and economic development initiatives on the reservation
  • Implementing a system of working with established partners, such as Four Bands Fund, to build local non-profit capacity and leverage overall resources for poverty reduction

Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa is located in Belcourt, North Dakota near the Canadian border.  The Foundation committed up to $10 million dollars over 10 years to support the Pathways to Prosperity initiative to help reduce the reservation’s high poverty rate.

Some key accomplishments include:

  • Creating the Pathways Enterprise Center located downtown to house offices, a cyber-café, training rooms, and shared facilities with the Renewal Community and Turtle Mountain Community Development Financial Institution
  • Preparation and tribal adoption of a comprehensive Land Use Plan, Tourism Plan, and Tribal Utility Plan to guide long-term development
  • Organizing the tribal artists cooperative and helping to establish the Dunseith Native Arts Gallery studios and retail facility
  • Replicating the Cheyenne River  Youth IDA at Turtle Mountain and providing financial literacy training, job skills, role models, and savings opportunities to Native teens
  • Development of a plan to build 22 units of green affordable housing for low-income tribal members

Lummi Nation is located across the bay from Bellingham, Washington, near the Canadian border.  The Foundation committed up to $6 million over 10 years to the Lummi Ventures Community Partnership to reduce poverty rates on the Lummi Native reservation.

Some key Accomplishments include:

  • Design and development of the Gateway Center small business incubator to build economic opportunities for low-income people based on traditional Lummi values and existing assets such as Native arts & crafts and fishing
  • Design and development of the Lummi Teen Mother Day Care Center adjacent to the school so mothers can complete their education and break the cycle of poverty
  • Opening of an art gallery in Bellingham that serves as a financial education training center as well as a retail business for the Lummi Artists Cooperative
  • On-going operation of the Ventures Enterprise Center to provide financial literacy and entrepreneurship training, access to startup funding from Lummi Community Development Financial Institution, and technical support to small businesses
  • Establishing, in partnership with the tribe and State, an initiative to restore revoked drivers licenses to over 100 low-income tribal members so they can get to work and take part in training and development opportunities

Northwest Area Foundation made grants of over $8 million to support strategies to build the ability of urban Indian organizations to reduce poverty and move toward prosperity among Native Americans living in cities.  This was done in recognition that urban Indians often suffer disadvantages just as severe in the city as on their home reservations.   The grants went to five urban Indian organizations:

The Foundation also made a grant of $20 million to establish the Indian Land Tenure Foundation, which seeks to address the root causes of poverty due to inability of Indians to fully utilize and benefit from their land-related assets.

Northwest Area Foundation has supported a number of other Native poverty reduction efforts in the region with grants including: support to OWEESTA to strengthen Native Community Development Financial Institutions, Potlatch Fund to build reservation non-profit capacity, Northwest Indian College to develop tribal leadership curriculum, First Nations Institute for cross-reservation mentorship, Oregon Native American Business and Entrepreneurial Network to promote Native entrepreneurship, and support the Cobell trust land accountability litigation.  These awards amount to well over $1 million. 

Northwest Area Foundation continues to support select Native American concerns to address the underlying causes of poverty and to create sustainable change.  This is our legacy work as well as recognition that Native people are among the most disadvantaged and underserved in the region.

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