Grants

2003 Grants awarded to 12 organizations totaling $50,000

American Indian College Fund — United States

This grant expands the Fund for Cultural Preservation and Perpetuation (as described in the 2001 grant award), as the number of both colleges and college students has continued to grow. Some specific disbursements in 2002 were used by Bay Mills Community College in Michigan to support its Nishnaabemwin Language and Instructors Institute, by Crownpoint Institute of Technology in New Mexico to support its Cultural Awareness Week on campus, by Fort Berthold Community College in North Dakota to implement a two-week summer language immersion program for children, and by Nebraska Indian Community College in Nebraska for identification, restoration, and preservation of sacred sites and to maintain Santee and Omaha genealogy projects.

Asociancion Cutivireni (ACPA) — Surquillo, Lima

This project will bring together two native groups of the Ashaninka nation (Arawakan ethno-linguistic family) for the first time in nearly one hundred years. For centuries, the Ashaninka nation was spread throughout Peru, but during the rubber boom at the beginning of the 20th century a group of the Ashaninka was displaced to Brazil, where they formed settlements with no further contact with their origins. Both groups would like to meet in Brazil for a 5 day meeting where they will exchange histories, experience, knowledge, and information essential to them for devising long-term strategies for survival and development of an educational/cultural alliance which would benefit both groups.

Earth & Spirit Council — United States

The Natural Way: Indigenous Voices program provides 8 workshops during the year presented by Native American or other indigenous elder speakers responding to the question: "What are the most important teachings from your tradition regarding sustainable living and living in balance with the Earth?" At these workshops there is an opportunity for dialogue between audience members and the presenter. In addition, a traditional Native American drum group teaches and sings songs from various tribal traditions. Each workshop will be tapes and distributed to community radio stations in urban areas, American Indian Radio on Satellite, and on Indian Nation lands throughout the Northwest, and will be available in the Multnomah County Library. This program not only provides a forum for local urban Indians to access the wisdom of their elders, but also provides an indigenous perspective on sustainable living to an estimated 10,000 members of the community at large.

First Thessalonians Missionary Baptist Church — United States

This summer academic and religious project will be brought directly to the youth of the Lower Ninth Ward section of New Orleans, Louisiana as a means of reducing the rate of juvenile crime and academic failure in the community. The project is an expansion of the existing church-based Summer Enrichment Program and will be dedicated to improving academic performance in the morning hours, then focused on spiritual healing of the participants in the evening hours. Grandparents, parents and youth will all participate in the spiritual enrichment phase of the program in order to bring families and the community at large together to create change.

Healing the Heart of Diversity (HHD) — United States, Senegal, Benin, and Togo

The Sacred Journey for Leaders Program is a one to two week retreat in West Africa where participants generally visit and interact with community leaders, villagers, and traditional healers in Senegal, Benin, and Togo. HHD is in partnership with PROMETRA, a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of traditional medicine and healing in West Africa. Working together, participants come together with African leaders and healers in ceremonies, rituals, and experiences of their heritage and culture. Participants witness and learn traditional ways of being in community, building and sustaining diverse relationships that include different races, ethnicities, theologies, beliefs, spiritual systems, and healing practices.

Indigenous Education Institute — United States

Sharing the Wisdom: Native American Astronomy is a research project working with Diné (Navajo) and Cherokee elders and spiritual healers. Ancient Diné star knowledge is rich and has applications to healing, through stargazing diagnostics and through ritual ceremonies that involve the stars. Very few of these ceremonies exist today, but they transmit knowledge and healing energies through crystal and star readings, sacred songs, sound, and vibration. This project will develop K-12 curricula and classroom activities to be used in Diné and Cherokee schools to teach students about their own astronomy. The project will also involve the development of audio cassettes and CD-ROMs in Diné and English, suitable for K-12 audiences. The cassettes will incorporate indigenous music and stories, told by various knowledge holders, as well as information on how native peoples can still conduct their lives in accordance with star wisdom today.

Na Na Kila Institute — British Columbia, Canada

The current project is development of a two to three kilometer cultural interpretative trail in the Kawesas watershed which will provide an opportunity for both Haisla and non-Haisla to experience cultural information about the area. The work on the trail will provide Haisla members with skills and knowledge to build other trail in Haisla territory, will add to the existing infrastructure already in the watershed, and will promote the development of Haisla eco-tourism operators. It is our intention that the trails disturb the forests as little as possible, will use fallen wood and recycled materials for bridges and resting areas, and will play a major role in the long-term protection of the watershed.

Native American Youth Enrichment Program (NAYEP) — United States

NAYEP exists to address the academic, social, and cultural needs of Native American children in Boston. Although many ethnic communities are settled in a specific area of Boston, the Native American community is scattered throughout many areas, and therefore does not experience the cohesiveness that many other local communities do. NAYEP summer camp is often the only time that children can experience others like them. The camp offers seven weeks of daily instruction and enrichment activities, teaches at least three hours of academics five days a week, offers at least two hours of group field trips four days a week, offers at least two hours of supervised group reading four days a week, engages the campers in reflective class discussions about their experience, and fosters self-esteem through an emotionally and physically safe environment.

Na-Way-EE Center School — United States

Center School believes that the preservation of tribal custom and values are core to its curriculum. The school will provide access to traditional healers for urban Indian families living in the metropolitan Minneapolis area. This access is uncommon in the urban environment, as traditional tribal healers often reside in rural and sometimes remote reservations. The Minneapolis Indian Health Board's clinic does not currently provide access to traditional healers. The Center School will provide access to Ojibwa and other woodland tribal sources and will sponsor local healing ceremonies on a seasonal basis. These ceremonies will create an environment were family and individual community members may seek help for a variety of emotional and physical problems. In addition, young adults in grades 7 through 12 will be taught the proper etiquette of traditional ceremony and when appropriate act as helpers or assistants to the elder practitioners.

QQS (Eyes) Projects Society — British Columbia, Canada

Before the extensive introduction of imported produce, the Heiltsuk were self-sufficient and harvested their own fruit and vegetables through the cultivation of orchards, as well as berry and vegetable gardens. Traditionally, plants were managed in a complex and sophisticated way. The elders say that their conservation practices benefited the land, the plants, and the animals, and that the traditional Heiltsuk lifestyle was a healthy one. QQS' vision is to involve Heiltsuk youth and elders in the development, sustainable cultivation, harvesting, and use of traditional community edible and medicinal gardens. These gardens will include berry patches, and potato and wild root gardens, and will demonstrate traditional ways of tending the gardens, ways of building soil such as through application of composted kelp, harvesting the produce, preparing and cooking food such as pit cooking, other uses of garden by-products such as leaves, stems, bark, cedar, and alder in the production of clothing, cordage, fish hooks, and digging sticks.

Tradipractitioners Health Vigilance Programme — Cameroon

The Mbo'Nso Tradipractitioners Center participated in a massive survey of Cameroonian medicinal plants for use in treating HIV/AIDS as well as other maladies affecting the indigenous population. These medicinal plants are prepared in various ways and are ceremoniously administered by Tradipractitioners accompanied by incantations and invocations which are prayers to the spirits in order to heal the patient holistically. This grant will provide the resident Tradipractitioners with further training, help build institutional capacity to aid in the improvement of their practice, promote the project nationwide and globally, and help remove barriers to access to Tradipractitioners.

Ujima Enterprises, Inc. — United States, Ghana, Guinea, Senegal, and Zimbabwe

This project promotes the training in African Traditional Religion/Spirituality (ATRS) and herbal healing practices for children of African descent who are at risk of school underachievement and drop out. The study of ATRS, herbal healing practices, African dance, drum, music and crafts serves to restore the missing parts of the African heritage which were lost during enslavement and dispels the myths and stereotypes surrounding ATRS. Ujima Sasa (formerly the Ujima Project) has created a cultural center and children's craft and garden workshop and housed culture classes for the 2002-2003 school year. The funding will allow us to expand the curriculum to include after school, weekend, and summer workshop activities to teach the children skills and values. These workshops are staffed by trainers from the overseas cultural immersion study program.