By Shelley Means
Ojibwe/Oglala
Northwest Network Weaver
Native Americans in Philanthropy

The 8^th annual Native Philanthropy Institute just ended in the lands of the Cherokee. We had quite a contingent from the Northwest – Native leaders and funders from every state in our region! And, along with several hundred others from around the nation, we lived up to the Institute’s theme of “Philanthropy Ignited.”  On the first day of the gathering, our  Northwest group of 16 even reached rapid-fire consensus on a vision for our region:

“Equal and long term vibrant rural and urban Native communities.”

Not bad, considering we had 10 minutes to compose our vision as a text message in 10 words or less!

Native Americans in Philanthropy’s (NAP) hard-working staff and volunteers brought us a whirlwind of new research, thoughtful dialog, networking opportunities and on our last evening, the very inspiring new film, “The Cherokee Word for Water.”

One critical piece of research that funders will find useful: Native Voices Rising: A Case for Funding Native-Led Change.  NAP Board Member Emeritus, Louis Delgado, led a team of researchers to assess Native-led nonprofits working in five specific interest areas. From the initial lists came case studies exploring the challenges, measures of success, and cross-cultural issues. A second research project of note surveys Native-led nonprofits in Minnesota while providing current data for funders (an excellent model and resource for funders in the Northwest states if similar research were conducted in our region). Both reports will be available on NAP’s website soon.

NAP has been exploring better ways to communicate with members and beyond, and we were treated to the debut of the new tagline, “Powering Reciprocity and Investment in Native Communities” as well as the newly re-vamped website, www.nativephilanthropy.org.

A final Northwest note:  The Tulalip Tribes Charitable Giving received NAP’S “Tribal Philanthropy” award for philanthropic giving grounded in traditional values. Sharon Thompson, executive director of the Arctic Slope Community Foundation, received NAP’s “Flying Eagle Woman” award for community-based philanthropy clearly guided by Indigenous thinking and philosophy, including a holistic, community-centered approach to living and giving. (Sharon is also on the 2013 Philanthropy Northwest Annual Conference planning committee).

Visit these websites for more information about the work of these NAP awardees:

Tulalip Tribes:  http://www.quilcedavillage.org/charitable_fund/index.asp

Arctic Slope Community Foundation: http://arcticslopecommunity.org/

By Mandi Moshay
Communications Manager
Philanthropy Northwest

Funders in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho, are invited to join Philanthropy Northwest for the next Montana-Wyoming-Idaho Funders Teleconference on Wednesday, February 27. Now in its fifth year, the goal of the teleconferences is to share information and build relationships that inspire change in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho.

On the agenda for next week’s call:

• Foundations on the Hill (FOTH) preview:  With issues like tax reform looming, there has never been a more important time for philanthropy to demonstrate the incredible impact it has. Hear from the Philanthropy Northwest delegation about how they will be representing us as they visit electeds next month in Washington D.C. What messages would you like them to carry on your behalf?
• Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP): Regional Action Network meetings serve as a bridge for shared learning between funders and Native communities. What have they been learning? What are some of the regional opportunities to build relationships, explore partnerships and collaborate for collective impact?

Thanks to the support of Philanthropy Northwest members, these teleconferences are currently open to all public and private funders in Montana, Wyoming, and Idaho as a way to build community and share information. Click here to learn more and register for this call.

This post is the first in Northwest Area Foundation’s (NWAF) Giving Voice series. The content originally appeared on the NWAF website and has been re-posted here with their permission.

By Kevin Walker
President and CEO
Northwest Area Foundation

“Call us Invisible Americans.”

That’s what Darrell Robes Kipp, a Northwest Area Foundation board member, says when people ask him for help with terminology. Is the right term for his people “American Indians,” “Native Americans,” “First Nations,” or what? “Call us Invisible Americans,” he likes to reply, because Native people are so often absent from official statistics and from the national discourse.

The Obama White House has hosted annual Tribal Nations Conferences at which he meets on a government-to-government basis with the leaders of the 566 federally recognized Tribes. He has expressed hope that his presidency will be a “turning point…when we began to build a strong middle class in Indian Country,” and his first-term accomplishments were historic. Among the highlights were two landmark legal settlements. The $3.4 billion settlement in Cobell vs. Salazar brought resolution to a 14-year legal battle based on decades of U.S. government mismanagement of Native trust funds. The $760 million settlement in the case of Keepseagle vs. Vilsack brought a degree of closure to generations of discrimination against Native farmers and ranchers by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

It is also noteworthy that the Boys and Girls Club of the Northern Cheyenne Nation in Montana received a Promise Neighborhoods planning grant through the Department of Education, and several reservation communities have been funded through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Sustainable Communities program. In a speech in December, the President specifically singled out our colleague Nick Tilsen of Thunder Valley Community Development Corporation on the Pine Ridge Indian reservation in South Dakota as an example of the dynamism of Indian Country. These are exciting developments.

So – Invisible no more? Let’s not claim victory just yet. There are negatives as well. As crime rates on reservations have surged, federal spending on law enforcement in Indian Country has declined. And of course, crime is not the only scourge afflicting reservation communities. Deep poverty is often a fact of life. Of the 20 poorest counties in the United States, 10 – and four of the poorest five – include Indian reservations.  In urban areas, the Native population is often the poorest and most challenged demographic group. Every on-ramp to prosperity in this country – public safety, quality education, decent housing, job opportunities, and mainstream financial services – remains unjustly difficult for Native people to access.

The President knows these things, and his first term indicates he’s interested in fostering real change. In fact, the record suggests the Obama administration shares the Northwest Area Foundation’s view that the future of Indian Country is not a problem to be solved, but an opportunity to be nurtured. When we look to Indian Country, we see:

• Thousands of Native professionals who are now teachers, bankers, construction workers, and lawyers, as well as doctors and nurses in urban and rural communities.
• Native Americans serving in our armed forces at the highest per capita rate of any population group in the country.
• A generation of young people whose talent waiting to be unleashed.
• Natural resources that could be developed in sustainable ways to strengthen reservation communities.
• Underdeveloped economies that can blossom if new opportunity structures can be created.

These profound assets are also part of the story of Indian Country. Those of us dedicated to advancing prosperity in Native America have an obligation to leverage this administration’s good intentions and make the next four years count. In that spirit, I’ve spent some time in the run-up to Inauguration Day asking Native friends and colleagues what they would like to see from the second Obama administration. Here’s some of what I heard:

Kevin Killer is a young leader from the Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota. He runs the Native Youth Leadership Alliance (NYLA) and serves in the South Dakota legislature.  Kevin writes, “I am hopeful President Obama’s administration will increase funding tribal colleges, specifically towards workforce and eco-energy programs. Tribal colleges are already leading in eco-innovation such as clean energy in the Dakotas and natural resource management in the Northwest.  A great example of this is 24-year old Salish Kootenai College student and NYLA Fellow Burdette Birdinground, who helped create a portable kiln to utilize wood waste (slash piles) by converting it into biochar which is also a great soil fertilizer. These new and emerging fields have the potential to revitalize as well as build rural and reservation economies into world-class research areas. Native communities in the U.S. have the longest histories with the natural resources in our country. Investing in young leaders at tribal colleges will ensure this cultural capital is preserved and carried forward in this new economy.”

Cheryl Crazy Bull, president and CEO of the American Indian College Fund, also stresses the vital importance of tribal colleges, but she places support for these institutions within a broader context of lifelong educational opportunity. Dr. Crazy Bull lists three priorities: “1.) Adequate programming support for innovative and sustained approaches to early childhood and primary school-age children’s health, literacy, and education – I am deeply alarmed at the extent to which our youngest citizens are not receiving the type of loving care and support that is so much a part of the traditional family life that our people had.  We knew that to prepare our youngest children to thrive and prosper meant caring for their physical, emotional and spiritual health. 2.) Adolescent programming that focuses on transitioning young people from childhood into young adulthood – the Lakota had four stages of life – infancy, youth, young adulthood and old age.  We had deliberate approaches to teaching our youth how to be good adults and much of that has been lost. 3.) Education funding that ensures access to secondary and post-secondary education for all – we still don’t have adequate resources to fully fund students to pursue their educations.  Plus for the tribal colleges inadequate operational support threatens our continued operations.”

Nichole Maher is president and CEO of the Northwest Health Foundation. She became a good friend and trusted partner of the Northwest Area Foundation during her years as executive director of NAYA, the Native Youth and Family Center in Portland, Oregon. Nichole points out, “We have not seen any significant gains for Indian Country around poverty or educational indicators for several decades.  This administration has the unique chance to reframe Native issues as an opportunity to create better outcomes for the United States and to view our children and communities as an opportunity.” She also notes with enthusiasm that at the most recent White House Tribal Nations Conference, the President acknowledged that the Federal government must pay attention to Native people on and off the reservation.  “This is significant,” Nichole says “because it recognizes the changing demographics of Indian Country and the reality that if we want to improve overall outcomes for Native people, then we must have comprehensive strategies that support on and off reservation Native communities.  With more than half of Native Americans now living in urban communities, this is exciting and timely.”

I would add one more thought to this list. Like many Americans, I hope and expect that comprehensive immigration reform will be enacted on President Obama’s watch. As he uses the power of his office to advance that urgent priority, I would like to hear messaging from the White House that goes beyond the cliché that “we are a nation of immigrants.” In truth, we are a nation where immigrants have, from the beginning, interacted with indigenous Tribal nations. There were millions of people here when the first European settlers arrived – and there remain millions of Native people in urban, rural and reservation communities all over the continent. Their ongoing struggle for self-determination and prosperity is central to the American experience, as are the aspirations and contributions of immigrants. The President should pursue a better policy framework for the newest Americans while also – deliberately and explicitly – expanding opportunities for Native Americans as well.

Those are big ideas – and they should be. After all, as Lyndon Johnson famously said, “What the hell is the Presidency for?” The question before us is whether a leader to whom Native people are not invisible can work with them to make real progress. Barack Obama has the opportunity to be remembered as the man who resoundingly affirmed, “Yes we can!” – and then expanded access to opportunities for all Americans, including those who should be invisible no more.

By Mandi Moshay
Communications Manager
Philanthropy Northwest

The Alaska Funders Group will be meeting next week for a special conversation on Alaska Native Philanthropy, facilitated by Alaska Natives themselves.

Alaska Natives have long recognized the importance of reciprocity and building strong communities. A successful subsistence harvest was often shared among the entire community. Potlatch gatherings were held to nurture the spirit, redistribute wealth among the community, and honor significant and meaningful life events. Alaska Natives have maintained and practiced strong philanthropic traditions for generations – even if the actual word “philanthropy” is not used explicitly. During the past 40 years, the regional corporations formed through ANCSA have shaped contemporary Alaska Native cultures and communities in a significant way. Many regional corporations have successfully blended traditional values and indigenous philosophies into a vibrant, contemporary context. Under their leadership, regional corporations have transformed both Alaska Native identity and the State of Alaska.

Join your fellow grantmakers and speakers Susan Anderson of The CIRI Foundation, Diane Kaplan of the Rasmuson Foundation, and Jason Metrokin of the Bristol Bay Native Corporation to discuss Alaska Native Philanthropy on January 18 in the new Alaska Community Foundation offices in Anchorage. Alaska funders who are interested in participating but are unable to attend in-person are invited to participate via teleconference. Click here for more information and to register.

By Kristen Holway
Associate Partner
The Giving Practice

Last month I attended the National Indian Child Welfare Work Group meeting in Palm Springs, California. Supported by Casey Family Programs (Seattle, WA), the convening brought together tribal leaders and judges, national Indian child welfare advocacy organizations, and federal government representatives to identify the strengths and challenges in current federal policy and state practices related to the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA). The ultimate goal of the work group is to improve outcomes for vulnerable American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children and their families who are already involved, or at risk of becoming involved, with the child welfare system.

Many of you are aware that children of color and children from ethnic minorities are not only overrepresented, but are more likely to experience negative outcomes within state foster care systems. Less commonly known is the severity of over-representation among AI/AN youth, who are 2.2 times more likely to be in foster care compared to the general population. In fact, a study conducted in the 1970s found that nearly 35 percent of all AI/AN children were removed from their homes and placed in the welfare system. The majority of these children (85 percent) were placed in non-Indian homes, a practice long believed to cause emotional trauma due to familial and cultural isolation.

The ICWA, passed in 1978, was a direct response to these misguided practices. The law seeks to minimize the disproportionate amount of AI/AN children in state welfare systems by ensuring Tribal jurisdiction over custody proceedings (unless existing federal law precludes).  The law also states that preference for adoptive placement should first be given to a member of the child’s extended family, followed by other members of the Tribe, and finally, by other American Indian or Alaska Native families.

Unfortunately, over 30 states are believed to be noncompliant with ICWA.  And, even as encouraging models of state-Tribe systems emerge, complex funding and infrastructure requirements could pose a threat to successful implementation in other states.

When reflecting on the history of child welfare in Indian Country and Alaska, it quickly becomes clear that, at its very core, this is an issue of sovereignty. I heard many tribal leaders say that the legacy of child welfare in Indian Country is one of cultural and spiritual extinction. A young advocate, an alumnus of a state foster care system and member of the Oglala Lakota Tribe, spoke of his loss of identity and community connection when he was placed with a non-Native foster family. And while I can hardly fathom this profound, cross-generational grief, I find inspiration and optimism in the collective determination, leadership, and political wisdom of the National Indian Child Welfare Work Group to ensure culturally appropriate and improved outcomes for American Indian and Alaska Native children and their families.

I had the opportunity to ask a few individuals what role they felt philanthropy could play in this work. Several leaders stated that private funders can help by supporting technical assistance efforts or the training of state judges, who are ultimately responsible for enforcing ICWA. One leader’s response was a good reminder that cultural competence is key to successful engagement: “We have 600 Tribal members, and our youth are all over the state and country. As a small Tribe, we cannot meet federal or state funding requirements and therefore struggle to bring our youth home. Private funders can help us meet these requirements, but they also need to realize that, as we build our own capacity, changing funder priorities only complicate the issue. One year funders want to support evidence-based practice, another year outcomes-based practice…what about culturally appropriate practice?”

By Mandi Moshay
Communications Manager
Philanthropy Northwest

In one of the last sessions of the conference, participants came together to continue discussions that were started six years ago at our Annual Conference – allowing grantmakers and grantseekers to speak honestly about the barriers between Native leaders and philanthropists. Philanthropy Northwest president and CEO Carol Lewis shared the story of our organization’s journey into Indian Country, and invited those in the session to join us on this remarkable path.

Philanthropy Northwest began our journey by examining our role as a regional representative of philanthropy and asking, “what does it mean to be in the Northwest?” Naturally, it is impossible to be a part of this region and without paying attention the 265 registered tribes in our six state region – the most tribes of any region in the country. As we began to explore philanthropy’s connections with Native communities nationwide, it became clear that there were virtually no models of a strong intersection between philanthropy and Indian Country anywhere in the U.S.

We set out initially with the questions, “what can we do?” and, “how can we make a difference?” Luckily, we had some members on our board enlightened enough to inform us that those were the wrong questions. They encouraged Philanthropy Northwest, instead, to ask, “what can we learn?” The first step in that process was to invite Native leaders and funders from around the region to a special session entitled” Everything You Wanted to Know About Working in Indian Country but Were Afraid to Ask.” Those conversations sparked a journey that is now several years long, and far from over.

“You don’t know from the beginning how to do things right,” said Carol Lewis when talking about the process of developing our Journey Into Indian Country report. “It’s that you try, make mistakes, and figure out what those mistakes are and move forward. In Indian Country you have wonderful guides who are patiently helping you and not punishing you when you make mistakes.” Philanthropy Northwest has gained so much from this ongoing journey, and our organization is richer for it.

For the remainder of the session, participants were invited to participate in small group discussions led by various members of Native communities in our region. Everyone was given the chance to listen to a Native leader share some of their experience, expertise, and wisdom, and invited to tell their own stories, ask questions, and challenge assumptions. One Native leader even offered to send a jar of smoke salmon to any participant that joined her group because, “it’s all about giving!”

The conversations covered a wide variety of topic areas, including, but not limited to:

• How to support Native people living in urban areas as a growing number of individuals are living outside of Tribal land
• How to create partnerships with other minority groups to share resources
• The concept of reciprocity – giving to and within Native communities
• How to bring indigenous world views to western thinkers to take advantage of new and differing perspectives
• Understanding the role of language to shape new ideas
• How the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has moved from being open and responsive to being much more focused and how community input helped them to settled on a few priorities for their work in Indian Country
• Native leadership development and capacity building
• Rise of emerging Native nonprofits and forms in which they are chartered and incorporated
• The loss of Native languages and the importance of Native language preservation
• Native arts and culture and how to support innovative and contemporary Native arts practice and preserve artifacts

The learn more about Philanthropy Northwest’s work with Native communities in the Northwest, read our Journey Into Indian Country report.

By Mandi Moshay
Communications Manager
Philanthropy Northwest

A key component of the Philanthropy Northwest Annual Conference is the annual meeting of our members. It’s a time for the official business of re-electing board members, as well as an opportunity for board and staff leadership to share more about the key organizational accomplishments from the past year, and the exciting things to come. At yesterday’s meeting, Tim Nowlis’ term as board chair wrapped up, allowing Sue Coliton of The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation to step in as the new leader of the Philanthropy Northwest board of directors. Sue’s former role as Treasurer is filled by Jock Edwards of the Sherwood Trust. The remainder of board members and officers were re-elected, with the exception of Jeff Clarke, who is retiring.

Sue’s first act as board chair was to award the second of two Volunteer of the Year Awards (the first was given to Lawson Knight of the Blue Mountain Community Foundation at Monday’s opening lunch) to Shelley Means, a community volunteer who has been a bridge-builder between Philanthropy Northwest, Potlatch Fund, and Native Americans in Philanthropy. She was instrumental in the development of our recently released Journey into Indian Country report, and is known for her ability to respectfully and gracefully connect philanthropists with members of Native communities in our region. Congratulations, Shelley!

The majority of the meeting was spent hearing from president and CEO Carol Lewis as she shared the story of our organization’s growth since 2005. “Our values remain unchanged,” Carol said, citing Philanthropy Northwest’s ongoing commitment to high quality services and programming, and focus on connecting our members in meaningful ways. However, a lot has changed in the past several years. In 2005, Philanthropy Northwest was an organization with seven staff members that put on 15 programs in the Seattle area. Since then, we have grown to become an organization with double the amount of core staff as well as a full consulting arm in The Giving Practice, and a valuable partnership with Mission Investors Exchange, and have hosted 50 programs throughout the region in the first nine months of this year. While the numbers are interesting, the story of the organization’s growth is truly captured through the shifting focus of our board leaders, or “the tale of three chairs,” as The Giving Practice’s Ted Lord put it.

In 2008 Jeff Clarke stepped into the chair role and immediately expressed his belief that the information age meant the end was near for traditional membership organizations. Because of his leadership, Philanthropy Northwest jumped at the opportunity to forge a strategic partnership with Mission Investors Exchange, updated our business model, expanded our services, and commit ourselves to becoming a national leader in philanthropy. When Tim Nowlis took over, he challenged Philanthropy Northwest to recognize the diversity of our membership, and talk to each individual member to ask them what resources they needed, and how we could help. This advice could not have come at a better time as we all faced a devastating recession and funders began to turn to Philanthropy Northwest for help developing new strategies to deal with problems they could not have imagined. Our members stuck with us, and with each other, with the knowledge that relationships mattered now more than ever.

That bring us to the present, and we look forward to seeing Sue Coliton in action as board chair. She was instrumental in the development of our strategic plan, giving us a mission statement that emphasizes betterment of communities as a whole (not just the philanthropic sector) through philanthropic collaborations. In addition, her leadership helped Philanthropy Northwest to secure a three year knowledge-sharing grant from The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, allowing us to take the time to listen to our members’ stories, visit your communities, learn about your successes and failures, and reflect and share what we have learned. Because, as Carol so eloquently put it, “when we’re open, honest, and willing to listen, we can get a lot done.”

By Kelly Brown
Director
D5 Coalition

At D5, we’re in constant conversation with philanthropic leaders working to advance diversity, equity and inclusion. We’ve been struck by a recurring theme: This is challenging work. Even the foundations that have been at the forefront of this movement for decades still struggle to advance this work inside and outside of their organizations.

It’s stories like those captured in Philanthropy Northwest’s most recent report, Journey into Indian Country, that give us heart about what’s possible. Yes, it’s hard. It’s slow. But it’s worth it.

Despite philanthropy’s long track record of working to advance diversity, many communities are still excluded from full participation in US philanthropy. As the report points out, less than half of one percent of foundation dollars are directed to Native people. When Philanthropy Northwest decided to promote more philanthropic engagement in Indian Country, it took the important step of recognizing how hard that would be, particularly with little knowledge of and few relationships with Native communities. In acknowledging that this journey would take effort, they prepared themselves for an in-depth exploration about how best to do it.

Byron Mallott explains that investing in diverse communities “is not just about putting dollars into programs.” It’s a long-term, relationship-building endeavor that begins with listening to the communities that you are trying to engage. Building the internal will within a foundation to invest in a community previously overlooked is the first, sometimes challenging, step. But it opens foundations to the important and enriching work of learning, understanding the unique need and figuring out the most impactful investment.

Philanthropy exists to serve the common good. For a regional association like Philanthropy Northwest, that means ensuring that those in greatest need in a given geography are being included by philanthropists—or at least that foundations are aware of this need and can then determine if meeting it fits with their missions. This effort to listen to and highlight ways to engage this underserved community is a fantastic example of the role an association can play: Helping its members make fully informed investment decisions that take into account the rich diversity of the people they serve.

The philanthropic world has been talking about diversity for a long time. People are often sensitive about it, and some grow weary when progress seems slow. Journey into Indian Country acknowledges that yes, progress is slow, but it is steady and there is so much to be learned along the way. And when we decide to be more conscious about who we include when we think about philanthropy, we build relationships and gain knowledge that help us become more strategic grantmakers—empowering both our institutions and the communities we serve.

Kelly Brown is the Director of the D5 Coalition, a five-year effort to grow philanthropy’s diversity, equity and inclusion. To learn more about D5, visit D5coalition.org.

By Ken Gordon
Consultant

The level of engagement between philanthropy and Indian Country is qualitatively and quantitatively different, and better, in the Northwest. The degree of these differences is beautifully documented in two recent reports from Philanthropy Northwest: Lessons for Philanthropy: A Journey to Indian Country; and Giving to Indian Country: Trends in Northwest Giving 2010.
These reports track the development of giving relationships with Indian Country that bisect the normal grantor/grantee relationship. A major learning for philanthropy was that in terms of working with Indian Country the most important thing is not to talk about money, but to instead focus on relationships.

In philanthropy it is hard to not have a focus on money as money so often defines what we do. When we talk about the biggest foundation in the world – do we think that they are the biggest because of their impact on the world, or because of their staff numbers, or because of the size of their buildings or because of the size of their endowments? The IRS perpetuates this focus on dollars, with payout ratios getting much more attention than impacts. Even the league tables published by groups like Philanthropy News Digest put dollars paid out front and center in their analysis. Ten of the 16 stories on the PND website’s front page on July 26, 2012 mention a dollar amount in the headline!  Only one of these headlines talked about the impact of a program in the world.

It’s an amazing truism that we have to learn and relearn that focusing on just dollars turns all relationships into transactions. That would be like saying, “I will love you, have children with you, grow old and die with you because there is a net present positive value to me from doing so.” The Philanthropy Northwest reports document how an effort to actually build real and rich relationships with Indian Country has broken through years of mistrust and abuse. The reports also note that gains from these relationships are mutual. The Philanthropy Northwest members that have participated in this dialogue have learned more about themselves, their communities, their local and national histories, and begun to think about their lives and their own places in the world in a different way.

This is not a short-term or easy process. Philanthropy Northwest’s commitment to this dialogue has stretched across the better part of a decade and has now permeated most every aspect of how the organization works. But the big question here is, “So what?” The “so what?” is that something different is happening in the Northwest. Native and Tribal communities are now looking to philanthropy as a partner they can work with to start to deal with some of the intractable issues that are an artifact of the vicious and genocidal colonization processes followed in the United States. A community that has had every reason to distrust people coming in to “help them” is now starting to co-create indigenous solutions. Philanthropy is joining this party because it is the right thing to do. It is the right thing to do because our wealth – our commonwealth – has been based on the gifts given to us by Native Americans. It is right because we have been blind too long to the injustices that have been carried out often in our own neighborhoods. It is right because it makes sense. We all want to make a difference in the world – and we can make the biggest difference in those areas where the need is the biggest.

I commend Philanthropy Northwest for these reports, and the commitment and leadership displayed in building a new way of giving to Indian Country.

By Mandi Moshay
Communications Manager
Philanthropy Northwest

On July 30th, President Obama signed into law the Helping Expedite and Advance Responsible Tribal Homeownership (HEARTH) Act. The legislation is a demonstration of the Administration’s commitment to strengthening tribal communities by giving tribal leadership the ability to control their own futures.

The HEARTH Act gives tribes the ability to create jobs and gain greater self-determination by allowing restricted lands to be leased for residential, business, public, religious, educational, or recreational purposes without the approval of the Secretary of the Interior. Tribes will now be able to quickly lease lands – a change that many believe will contribute to an increase in investment opportunities and economic development throughout Indian Country.

Read more about the HEARTH Act and additional accomplishments made for Native Americans and Native Alaskans by the Obama Administration on the White House Blog.

To find out more about the work that Philanthropy Northwest is doing in Northwest Indian Country, check out our recently released report: A Journey into Indian Country.