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Northwest Area Foundation Awards Grant to United Indians of All Tribes Foundation, Seattle, WA
Focus is on Reducing Poverty, Developing Community Economy
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Susan Buckles, APR Judy Leask Guthrie
Northwest Area Foundation UIATF
651-225-3865 206-829-2221
sbuckles@nwaf.org prosperity@unitedindians.org
St. Paul, Minn., October 10, 2007- Today the Northwest Area Foundation announced the award of a two-year, $3.5 million grant to the United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (UIATF) located in Seattle, WA. UIATF will utilize the funds to implement the "Pathways to Prosperity," project, a holistic community development initiative designed to systematically address the determinants of poverty faced by urban Native American populations. This initiative is a union of in-depth community-based research and cutting edge community development theory.
"We are working from a cultural and spiritual foundation that recognizes poverty as much more than simply a lack of money", states UIATF CEO Phil Lane, Jr. (Yankton Dakota/Chickasaw) "Poverty is many things braided together. It's an interdependent web of social, cultural, political, economic and personal factors that combine to trap families, and whole communities in patterns of ill health, deprivation, and dependency. The only way out of the trap is to truly engage these same families and communities in a journey of learning, healing and building."
"We believe, and experience is demonstrating, that poverty reduction initiatives have greater chance of success if they are owned by the community," said Kari Schlachtenhaufen, interim president and CEO of the Northwest Area Foundation. "We are excited to make this grant and hope other funders and partners will join in this effort to reduce poverty long term."
Key project elements include:
• The BernieWhitebearCenter-a neighborhood-based community development and outreach center providing "one-stop" wrap-around human services
• The DaybreakStarCollege-providing learning opportunities needed for personal and community transformation
• Economic development activities assisting Native American individuals, families and groups to succeed in employment, small business development.
• The NorthwestCanoeCenter at South Lake Union-a high-profile Native American cultural and interpretive center that will provide public activities as well as serve as a Native Social Venture business.
"The primary goal of the project is to develop the capacities of our Native American community to get out and stay out of poverty, said Lane. "At the core of this process is a focus on families."
"In the first year, we will begin by focusing on thirty families within our Head Start and Early Head Start programs, who are, by definition, families struggling with raising children in poverty. Our plan is to engage these families in an extended journey of learning, personal growth, social and professional support and expanded opportunities that will assist them to grow into new patterns of living that produces wellness and sustainable prosperity in their lives. In the second year, we will expand to 100 families and extend services to more individuals and families in Seattle's Native American Community," he added.
Janeen Comenote, (Quinault/Hesquiaht/Kwakuitl/Oglala) facilitator of the Seattle's Shelengan Coalition-that conducted the community-based research for this initiative-states, "The work that United Indians is embarking on is timely and critically important to Seattle's Native American community in the path towards self determination and ultimately reflects the voice and needs identified by our own community members."
Native youth and Shelengan Coalition member Ernesto Ortiz (Spokane) said, "My prayer is that through this work we can reach out to all of our relatives and families so that everyone knows that they are not alone."
"Many foundations, our own included, search for initiatives that will bring deep and lasting benefit to families and communities," said Gary Cunningham, Northwest Area Foundation Vice President for Programs and Chief Program Officer. "We also look for communities and organizations that bring both experience and innovative thinking to their efforts. We appreciate both the lessons we've learned in this grant-development process and the opportunity to support UIATF in its important work," said Cunningham.
The funding to UIATF is one of three grants made by the Northwest Area Foundation to help build capacity and programs to reduce poverty among urban Indian populations. The other recipients are the Native American Development Corporation, Billings, Montana and the Native American Youth & Family Center Portland, Oregon.
For detailed information regarding this initiative, including the Executive Summary and full proposal, visit www.unitedindians.org/updates.html
About United Indians of All Tribes Foundation: United Indians of All Tribes Foundation (UIATF) is a non-profit, community-based organization with headquarters located at the DaybreakStarIndianCulturalCenter within DiscoveryPark in Seattle. The mission of the Foundation since its inception has been to foster and sustain a strong sense of identity and tradition among Native American people of the area by promoting their economic and social welfare.
For more information:www.unitedindians.org or 206-285-4425.
About the Northwest Area Foundation: The Northwest Area Foundation realizes its mission - helping communities reduce poverty - by supporting strategic efforts within a small number of urban, rural and American Indian communities in: Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Oregon. These states were services by James J. Hill's Great Northern Railway. Hill's son, Louis W. Hill, established the foundation in 1934. Since 1999, the Foundation has invested approximately $193 million in community-based poverty reduction programs, and expects to invest an estimated additional $75 million within the next two years. The Foundation does not accept unsolicited grant requests.
For more information: www.nwaf.org, or 651-224-9635.
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