Description
The Tiwahe Foundation is a Native-led nonprofit in Minnesota and recently hired a new Executive Director, Niki Pieratos. Tiwahe supports American Indian individuals and organizations through direct resourcing, culturally grounded leadership development, and network weaving designed to build lasting social infrastructure that activates Indigenous leadership and generates social capital that closes systemic wellbeing disparities. This grant will support their two-core leadership programs: American Indian Family Empowerment Program (AIFEP) and Oyate Leadership Network (OLN). AIFEP offers micro grants to Native community leaders in the state to support their professional and cultural development. F or example, one of their AIFEP fellows, Tara Perron utilized her AIFEP grant to launch Blue Hummingbird Woman, an Indigenous “Heart Medicine” shop in downtown St. Paul, caring for her community through plant medicine while uplifting local Indigenous artists and creators. The bult of support will help support the relaunch of the Oyate Leadership Network (OLN). OLN will create four interconnected leadership circles: 1) Youth, as embodied by a Wakayeja Council (meaning youth in D/Lakota, literally translating to “sacred gift”); 2) Emerging, current and past Ozhigin Fellows; 3) Governing, those leaders participating in other Oyate fellowships and networks; and 4) Elders , those who guide and mentor through the Oyate Wisdom Council. They will convene these four leadership cohorts individually and together throughout the year, centering Indigenous definitions and practices of leadership. They plan to hold regular sessions to share strategies and models for restorative and culturally centered work cultures and organizational structures, relationship management with people at different places in their healing journeys, and more. THE OLN will be a co-designed by participates in each cohort. The relaunch of OLN will create networks of leaders that will be poised to continue to solve community challenges and support Native communities across Minnesota.
This grant supports program goal 1b: To ensure that knowledge makers and keepers have access to and are supported by a robust infrastructure of organizations, programs, projects, and resources . This grant will also support program goal 1a: To nurture and sustain Indigenous knowledge leaders and their work.
